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This is a unique document. It was published in Yediot Aharonot, Israel's most widely circulated paper, on May 31, 2002. It is the first absolutely sincere Israeli eyewitness testimony on what actually happened in the Jenin Refugee Camp, by one of the soldiers who did it. He is quite proud of his mission. Apart from the shocking revelations, this is also a startling human document. After publication - and in spite of it - the unit to which the man belongs received from the army command an official citation for outstanding service.
This interview is extremely disturbing. It contains strong language and adult themes. Parental Discretion is Advised.
His story may be extreme and this man must
answer to many serious questions. But Moshe Nissim is not much different
from thousands of other frustrated and violent football fans who terrorize
cities in Europe after a football match. But then again, of course it is unconceivable that the British army would send a drunken and frustrated Manchester fan into Belfast riding a D-9 bulldozer. Therefore, the really troubling questions must be directed at the system that sent him into Jenin on this mission of destruction. This system is the Israeli army.
We hope that after reading this sickening interview, you will find ways of sending these questions, and others you might have, to the Israeli government through it's ambassadors, to the Israeli army, who we are sure will not tolerate it's fine tools being used in such a brutal and unlawful manner. TOP
Jenin: A
Soldier's Triumph _____________________________________
By Tsadok Yeheskeli, for Yediot Aharonot., Israel
Moshe Nissim, nicknamed "Kurdi Bear” the D-9 operator who became the terror of the Jenin refugee camp inhabitants, speaks with no censorship about his time of glory. TOP __________________________________________
"I entered the Jenin
Palestinian Refugee Camp driven by madness and by desperation feeling that I
have nothing to lose,” explains Moshe (Kurdi Bear) Nissim. “I rationalized
that even if I 'get it', this is no big deal. I told my wife, ‘If anything
happens to me, at least someone will take care of you!’
Prior to this accusation, I found myself in debt for hundreds of thousands of Shekels. Had I taken bribes, I would have had the money to pay the debts. But I couldn't even pay the lawyer. Since the arrest I have been suspended. My wife was fired as well and I have four children to provide for.
This accusation is not the first blow. A few months earlier I injured my back; my wife was fired and my son after being run over had to be operated on to save his leg. Today he is OK but his big dream and mine, that he will one day be a player on the Beitar Jerusalem soccer team is probably gone forever. Pity. He was really talented. I had already promised him I would get him onto the children's Beitar team. TOP
For two years, my family and I have suffered one blow after another. I haven't got a cent, but I love people. I cannot be indifferent. Every holiday, I distribute food packages to the needy. Likewise at Passover I run around like crazy. And just then I started getting phone calls from the guys, ‘Kurdi’, they said. ‘We are all being recruited to do reserve service, but you are not being called.’
I understand why my commanders did not call me. Hey, I've been doing my reserve duty for 16 years now and I was useless. I did nothing but make trouble. During my obligatory Military service I was constantly sentenced to prison because I refused to be a vehicle electrician. In my unit, the bulldozer unit, I was supposed to be an electrician; but in truth I did nothing. I just messed around. I would come to the unit and immediately open a card table and open a bottle. If any officer would dare send me to guard duty, I would send him first. Kurdi always did his thing. If I felt like going to a Beitar football match or going home, no one could stop me. I would just start the car and go. Truth is, they didn't know me. When I am given responsibility, I act differently. During the Versailles Disaster I was in Mine of all the inspection team on location. When I was seen by one of the guys of my military unit he was shocked. TOP
He said: ‘In the army you can't tie your shoelaces and here you are a big chief?’
The truth is that when I finally decide to do something, I am one stubborn guy. I will pursue it until the end. This time was one of those moments. What have I done that would cause them not to take me? I sent the guys to twist the battalion commander's arm. I phoned the company commander and I drove him mad. ‘I promise to work’, I pleaded with the battalion commander. Finally, he agreed to give me a chance. I said to myself: ‘Kurdi, you can't let them down. No more running wild!’” TOP ____________________________________________________________
The speaker is Moshe Nissim, AKA "Moshe Nissim Beitar Jerusalem". In the Jenin Refugee Camp he was referred to on the military radio as "Kurdi Bear". Kurdi because this is the name he insisted on. Bear after the D-9 bulldozer he used to demolish house after house. Within Jenin every soldier knew his name. Kurdi Bear was considered the most devote, brave and probably the most destructive D-9 operator. He is a man the Jenin camp inquiry committee would want very much to have a word with. For 75-hours with no break, he sat on the huge bulldozer with mines exploding around him as he erased house after house. His story he tells openly and with no inhibitions. It is far from being a regular war myth. Medals one would think will not be awarded for his actions. His company is later awarded a citation for outstanding service by the Israeli government.
___________________________________________________________
The experience
"The humor in this is
I didn't even know how to operate the D-9. I have never been an operator.
But I begged them to give me a chance to learn. Before we went into Shekhem
(Nablus), I asked some of the guys to teach me. They sat with me for two
hours and taught me how to drive forwards and make a flat surface. I quickly
learned to operate the machinery without problems and told them, 'That's
it. Move aside and let me work.' This is what happened in Jenin as well. I have never demolished a house before, or even a wall. I got into the D-9 with a friend of mine, a Yemenite. I let him work for an hour and then told him, 'OK. I got the idea.' TOP
But the real action began on the day 13 of our soldiers were killed up that alley in the Jenin refugee camp. When they brought us in, I knew that nobody wanted to work with me. They were afraid to be with me on the bulldozer. Not only did I have a reputation as a troublemaker, but also of a man who knows no fear. They were right about that. I have no fear. They knew I had no fear and that I don't give a damn. They knew that I will go anywhere without asking questions, without an escort of tanks, APC's or anything. Once in Jenin, I left our tank escort. I wanted to have a spin around the camp and see what was going on. Gadi the other operator who was with me nearly fainted. He started getting excited and concerned. 'Get back,' he shouted. 'We have no escort!'’ But I had to get to know the place better and find an exit, just in case we needed one. I was not afraid to die. At least I was insured. This would have helped my family.
The Flag
When we got into the
camp, the D-9's were waiting. They had been brought in from Shekhem (Nablus).
My Yeminite partner and me got the big D-9. First thing I did was to tie the
Beitar team flag to the machine. I wanted my family to be able to identify
me. I told my family and children, 'You will see my bulldozer on
television. When you see the Beitar flag, you will know it is me.' And
this is exactly what happened.
TOP I know it sounds crazy but for me to hang this flag was completely natural, like eating. Here look at this Beitar pendant around my neck. It never comes off. Not off me and not off my children. I carry the Beitar flag everywhere I go. Look at my car. It is covered with these flags. This is who I am. I always go to the Beitar matches wearing a Beitar colored Galabia (an Arab man's dress) and a big drum of the Kurds from the C. Once, after our first national championship, I took a ride on the roof of a car carrying the drum all the way to Jerusalem. TOP
Beitar is a kink in my brain. There is no other way to explain it. After my family, it is the most important thing in my life and the only thing that can kill me. In Jenin, I was not scared for a moment, but I cannot go to the Beitar matches for half a year now. The suspense kills me, and I am constantly afraid of getting a heart attack. Sometimes I can walk around 'Teddy' (the main Jerusalem stadium) with a ticket in my hand and I can't go in. During a match in Beit Shean, I fainted after the team scored a goal. I know how this sounds, but that's the way it is: incurable. At home, my family knows better than to talk to me if Beitar lost a match.
Now you understand why the Beitar flag was on the bulldozer in Jenin. Someone told me that my commander wanted me to take it off. But no way! If I had a say in the matter there would be a Beitar flag on the top of the mosque in the camp. I tried convincing the Golani (an infantry brigade of the Israeli army) officer I worked with to let me go up there and hang it, but he refused. He said I would be shot if I tried. Pity. TOP
The flag was the most outstanding object in the camp. Reservists who went home on short leave came back with Beitar flags, just to imitate me. It made a lot of noise, my flag. The Golani soldiers were stunned. 'You brought Beitar here?' they asked me. And I replied, 'I am going to make a Teddy stadium here. Don't you worry.'
The military radio operators wanted to refer to me as 'Moshe-Bear'. I insisted on Kurdi. I told the Golanis, ‘I am Kurdi and I won't answer if you call me by any other name.' That is how 'Kurdi Bear' was born. This is my name and I am stubborn. In the reserves they were accustomed to my handle, 'Moshe Nissim Beitar Jerusalem' For a while they asked me to stop it but finally they just gave up. TOP
Going in
The moment I drove the
bulldozer into the camp, something switched in my head. I went mad. All the
desperation caused by my personal condition vanished at once. All that
remained was the anger over what had happened to the Israeli soldiers. Until
now I am convinced as are the rest of us, that if we had been allowed into
the camp earlier twenty-four soldiers would not have been killed in this
camp.
The moment I went into
the camp for the first time my only thought was how to help these soldiers.
These fighters, children the age of my son, I couldn't grasp how they could
worked there in a place where a mine can blow up on you with every step you
take. With the first orders I was given, to open a road inside the camp, I
understood what kind of hell this was. This task was voluntarily and
required I bring the soldiers food. I was told, 'The only way to get food
in there is with the D-9'. The soldiers haven't eaten in two days. And
the danger was such that you couldn't even poke your nose out of a tent. I
filled the bulldozer to its roof, and drove it right up to the door of the
soldier’s post. By doing this they would not have to take even one step
outside their shelter, one step that may cause him to lose an arm or a leg.
TOP
The mines were hidden
below the surface and we had no way of knowing where they were. They (the
Palestinian fighters) dug holes in the ground and planted the mines. You
could start driving and suddenly you would hit a 3" pipe mine welded on both
ends. As your wheels or feet touch the mine, it goes off. Everything in the
camp is booby-trapped, even the walls of houses. Just touch a wall and it
might blow up. Or they (homeowner) would shoot you the moment you enter.
There were mines in the roads, under the floor and between the walls. As you
level an opening you hear something explode. I saw a birdcage blowup in a
pet shop window where we had flattened the store to created a new road.
Watching the flying birdcage, I felt sorry for the birds. They
(Palestinians) planted mines and booby-traps everywhere.
TOP
For me in the D-9 I
was unaffected by the small bombs and mines. I didn't mind. I just heard the
explosions and kept working. Even 80-kilos of explosives only rattled the bulldozer's blade. The machine weighs three and a half tons.. It's a monster. A tank can be disabled through a direct hit in the belly. With the D-9 I only had to look out for RPG's or 50 Kilos of explosives on the roof. But I didn't think about it then. The only thing that mattered was that I must make it safe so the soldiers would no longer need to risk their lives to eat or drink.
I fell in love with those children (soldiers). I was willing to use my bulldozer however they asked. I begged for work: 'Let me finish another house and open another road.'
They in turn protected me. I could leave the bulldozer without weapons, bullet proof vests or any protection and just walk in. They told me I was crazy to do this but I said: 'Leave me alone. Anyhow, the armored vest will not save me.' This is how I worked, without a shirt and half naked. TOP
Do you know how I held out for 75 hours? I didn't get off the bulldozer. I had no problem with fatigue because I drank whisky all the time. I had a bottle in the bulldozer at all times that I had placed in my bag in advance. Everybody else brought clothes, but I knew what was waiting for me there, so I brought whisky and something to munch on. Clothes? I didn't need any. A towel was enough. Besides I could not leave the bulldozer. If I opened the door I would get a bullet. For 75 hours I didn't think about my life at home or about all my problems. Everything was erased. Sometimes images of terror attacks in Jerusalem crossed my mind. I had witnessed some of them."
The purity of our weapons What is 'opening a road?’ It means erasing buildings by flattening them on both sides of the alley. There is no other choice because the bulldozer is much wider than the alleys. But I am not looking for excuses or anything. You must 'shave' them. I didn't give a damn about demolishing their houses because it saved the lives of our soldiers. I worked where our soldiers were slaughtered. They (Palestinians) didn't tell all the truth about what happened. They had drilled holes in the walls for gun barrels. Anyone who escaped the mines was shot through these holes. TOP
I had no mercy for anybody: men, women or children. I would erase anyone with the D-9 to prevent our soldiers from being exposed to danger. That's what I told the authorities, that I was afraid for our soldiers. I saw them sleeping together, forty soldiers all crowded in a house. My heart went out for them. This is why I didn't give a damn about demolishing all the houses I've flattened. And I have destroyed many. By the end of my seventy-five hours I had flattened enough homes to build the 'Teddy' soccer stadium there.
Was this difficult? No way, you must be kidding. I wanted to destroy everything. I begged the officers over the radio to let me knock it all down from top to bottom. I wanted to level everything. It's not as if I wanted to kill people, just the houses. We didn't harm those who came out of the houses we had started to demolish waving white flags. We only screwed those who wanted to fight, (or refused to leave their homes).
No one refuses an order to knock down a house; there is no such thing. When I was told to bring down a house, I took the opportunity to bring down some more houses. Not because I wanted to but because when you are asked to demolish a house, other houses usually obscure it. There is no other way. I would have to do it even if I didn't want to. These houses stood in the way. If I had to erase a house, come hell or high water, I would do it. And believe me, we demolished too little. The whole camp was littered with detonation mines. I was actually saving the lives of the Palestinians too because if they had returned to their homes, they would be blown up. TOP
For three days, I destroyed and destroyed. The whole area and any house that gunfire came from I brought down. To knock one down, I tore down several more. The residents were warned by loudspeaker to get out of the house before I came, but I gave no one a chance to get out. I didn't wait. I didn't sound the horn or wait for the residents to come out. I just bull dozed over the house using the full power of my D-9 to bring the building down as fast as possible. I wanted to destroy other houses. I wanted to destroy as many as possible. Other drivers may have restrained themselves or so they say. Who are they kidding? Anyone who was there and saw our soldiers in the houses, would understand they were in a death trap. I thought about saving them. I didn't give a damn about the Palestinians, but I didn't destroy the buildings without reason. It was all under orders. TOP
Many people were still inside the houses while we demolished them. They would come out of the houses we where working on. I didn't see with my own eyes the people dying under the blade of my D-9. I didn't see the houses falling down on live people. But if there were any (live people), I didn’t care. I am sure people died inside the houses, but it was difficult to see and there was dust everywhere. We worked much of the time in the darkness of night. I found satisfaction as each house came down. I knew they (the Palestinians) didn't mind dying but that they did care about their homes. When you knock down a house, you bury 40 or 50 people, generations. If I am sorry for anything, it is that we did not tear the entire camp down. TOP
Satisfaction
I didn't stop for a
moment, even when we were given a two-hour break. Rather than rest, I
insisted on continuing to prepare a ramp so I could destroy a four-story
building. Once I cut too sharply to the right and a whole wall came down.
Suddenly I heard shouting on the radio: 'Kurdi, watch it! It is us!'
Israeli soldiers were inside and they forgot to tell me this.
I derived substantial satisfaction from my work. I really enjoyed it. I remember pulling down the wall of a four-story building. It crashed atop my D-9. My partner screamed at me to reverse direction but I let the wall come down on us. First we toppled the sides of the buildings and then flattened them. If the walls were stubborn and hard, we had a tank shell it to break it apart.
I couldn't stop. I wanted to work and work. There was this Golani officer who gave us orders by radio. I drove him crazy as I kept begging for more and more targets. On Sunday after the fighting was over, we received orders to pull our D-9's out of the area and stop working on our 'soccer stadium'. The army didn't want the cameras rolling and the press to see us working. I was really upset. I had plans to knock down the big sign at the entrance of Jenin with its three poles supporting a picture of Arafat. But on Sunday they pulled us away before I had time to do it. TOP
I bitched with them to give me more work. I would tell them, over the radio: 'Why are you letting me rest? I want more work!' All this time, I was really sick. I had fever. I got back from Jenin wiped out and torn to bits. The next day, I went up again. One of the guys was ill and I volunteered to help. I got back there. The battalion-commander was in shock when he saw me. The other operators were all cracked up and needed rest, but I refused to leave. I wanted more.
I had lots of satisfaction in Jenin and am quite proud. It was like taking 18 years of doing nothing and culminating it into three days of action. The soldiers came up to me and said: 'Kurdi, thanks a lot. Thanks a lot'. I empathize and mourn for the thirteen. If we could have moved on the building from where they were ambushed, we would have buried all those Palestinians alive. TOP
I kept thinking of our soldiers. I didn't feel sorry for Palestinians who were left homeless. I did feel sorry for their children who were not guilty. There was one wounded child who was shot by Arabs. A Golani paramedic came down and changed his bandages until he was evacuated. We took care of the children. The soldiers gave them candy. But I feel no mercy for the parents of these children.
I remembered the picture on television of a mother stating how she will bear children so that they can explode in Tel Aviv. I asked the Palestinian women I saw there: 'Aren't you ashamed?'
After I finished the work I got out of the bulldozer, piled up some clothes on the side of the road and fell asleep. The soldiers looked after me so I would not get run over by a tank or something. All the fatigue of the past 75 hours finally hit me. I felt a great sense of accomplishment and excitement over what I had done. The fact that I did a good job operating the bulldozer, the fact the soldiers who came to me after it was all over and thanked me. This was enough for me. I miss them. I've invited all of them for Kubeh at my place. Their commander Kobi, the one I worked with throughout the 75 hours, was amazed by the invitation. TOP
'Do you want the entire company to come over to your house?' he said. I told him, 'As far as I am concerned, bring the whole battalion.' I phoned my mother from the D-9 and told her that the whole battalion was coming. She said, 'No sweat. I am waiting for them’.
Politics I know many people will think that my attitude stems from me being a 'Beitar' and 'Likud' member. It is true. I am heavily on the right. But this has nothing to do with what I have done in Jenin. I have many Arab friends. And I say if a man has done nothing, you don't touch him. But if a man has done something, as far as I am concerned hang him. Even a pregnant woman should be shot without mercy if she has a terrorist behind her. This is how I thought in Jenin. I answered to no one and I didn't give a damn. I was there to help our soldiers. If I had been given three weeks, I would have had more fun. That is fun if they allowed me tear the whole camp down. I have no mercy.
All the human rights organizations and the UN that messed with Jenin and have turned what we have done there into such an issue are just bullshitting and lying. Several walls in those houses exploded by themselves at our slightest touch. It is true that during the last days we smashed the camp. And yes it was justified. They mowed our soldiers down with bullets in an ambush. They had a chance to surrender. TOP
No one participating has expressed any reservations about doing it, not even me. Who would dare speak? If anyone had opened his mouth in protest, I would have buried him under the D-9. This is the reason I didn't mind seeing the hundred meters by hundred meters we’d flattened. As far as I am concerned, I left them with a soccer stadium. Now they can play. This was our gift to the camp and better than killing them. They will sit quietly now and Jenin will not return to what it used to be.”
Epilog Two days after leaving Jenin, Kurdi Bear was admitted into hospital suffering from pneumonia. The 75 straight hours in the D-9 took their toll. Several days after he returned home, a phone call interrupted him in the middle of the night. TOP _____________________________________________ I got home one night and for some reason I couldn't sleep. I was uncomfortable. Until 4 AM I wandered about and suddenly the phone rings, 'Are you Nati's father?' I asked what had happened. 'Get over to the hospital,' she instructs. ‘Tell me the truth,' I told her. 'I must know'. She said, 'Things are not good. Come'. I sped to Tel Hashomer hospital. A nurse and a social worker were waiting for me. They told me my son was gravely ill and was brain dead on my arrival. They suspected he was finished and with serious brain damage if revived. They asked me to donate his organs. Suddenly she ran back into the operating room and returned. They had drained blood from his brain and the prognosis was looked like he will survive. We will know within 72 hours. We hurried to get an amulet from Rabbi Caduri. The amulet had helped with the Beitar team when it almost dropped to a lower league. On Friday we were called back to the hospital. The staff was in shock: My child tore the respiration tubes off. He woke up."
Twenty year old Nati Nissim lying on a bed in the fifth floor of the Beit Levinstein hospital is draped from head to toe in the black-yellow uniform of the Beitar soccer team. "Daddy," he says suddenly "Don't forget. I need to get to the semi finals."
Kurdi Bear with a bristly chin and red eyes freezes for a second and tries to bring his son back into reality. "Nati", he says softly. "I've already told you, Beitar has lost."
Nati laughs. "No way! I am going to the match," he says as he tries to get up. His father suppresses his frustration and gives up the struggle. The accident has caused the son to lose his short-term memory. Just like in the movie Momento, he can recall with astonishing precision any Beitar goal going ten years back or more, but forgets within minutes who he is talking with. "Why am I here?" he asks his parents again and again and bows his head with embarrassment when an acquaintance reminds him of a conversation they had just the day before.
Kurdi sits in the ward and tries to look as optimistic as possible. The doctors predict a lengthy recovery process. They say there is no telling if and when Nati's memory will return to normal. The financial situation is not bright either. He and his wife Ronit can hardly buy gas for his battered Subaru that tries to make the journey from the Castel neighborhood to the hospital. Kurdi wants to build himself a tent in front of the hospital. For the time being he sleeps in the car. TOP
"Jenin has strengthened me," he says. "It helped me forget my troubles. I had hoped it would be some turning point until this hit me. But what happened to Nati taught me what really is important. I am living now for my son. The rest is really not important." The friends from his reserves unit are helping him. TOP
"He stood up when it really counted. He was there in the most trying moment", says Haim Tamam a soldier serving with him. "No one has functioned like he has. And I don't know if any of us could go through the nightmare he went through without putting a bullet through his head. We are all amazed by him." Yeffet Damti, his bulldozer partner from Jenin says one thing is certain: "On the next mission, I am only going with Kurdi". Kurdi for his part thanks his commanders that gave him the chance. For the time being they are wrapping him with attention and sympathy. They came to the hospital just to be with him. Just so he won't be lonely. They are talking about raising funds to help him. When they meet him next to his son's bed, back come the memories from those 75 hours. The chats around the son's bed continue till the management of the hospital call and beg them to stop bragging about destroying Jenin. There are Arab therapists who might be hurt and one of the Arab patients has already complained.TOP ----------------------------------
Notes: 1."Bear" is the army code for the D-9 bulldozers. Kurdi means a person of Kurdish origin. 2.In Israel, men are recruited at the age of 18 for 3 years of obligatory military service. After being released, at the age of 21, they enter the reserve corps. The reserve duty usually demands 30 days of service each year, till the age of 45. 3. In January 2001, a building in Jerusalem collapsed during a wedding in a hall named Versailles. Some 25 people were killed. 4. The D-9 actually weighs 48.7 tons, without Armor. The armor brings the weight closer to 60 tons. 5. The operator is referring to the day in which 13 Israeli soldiers were killed by Palestinian fighters in an ambush in Jenin. 6. Two right-wing movements. Beitar, the youth movement, is more nationalistic. Likud is the major right-wing party. 7. This is the size, in meters, of the part of the camp that was totally demolished.
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