New Heavens (29 page)

Furthermore, it may make it easier for our Muslim neighbors, our erstwhile enemies, to understand something of what has driven us to return to our ancient homeland.

The wars between Israel and the Arabs have been a bitter struggle between two just causes for one territory, and it is a matter of deep regret that fate and history have made us enemies on so many battlefields. Also, since the Six-Day War of 1967, a great number of Arabs have come under our rule in the conquered territories. I believe that we cannot for long continue to rule over people who oppose our reign. Not all Israelis are sufficiently aware that for the Arabs, their struggle is for a state of their own just as ours was. It is incumbent upon us to make peace at the price that must be paid, and to do it now while we are still strong, not in the
future when Israel's strategic position may be less favorable than it is today.

After we have a final peace with all our Muslim neighbors, there will be no reason for us to fear the future, for if we look back into history, the Jews have throughout the ages invariably lived with less harassment in the Arab countries than in the West. There is no reason not to expect an enduring peace that will be to our mutual advantage. I believe that, despite the long exposure of Israelis to the culture and lifestyle of the West, we will get on well with our neighbors when peace is finally achieved.

We shall always have to face the dilemma of two claimants for one small piece of land. Without attempting to put into any equation of suffering the dispossessing of the former Arab residents of Israel with the horrors of the Holocaust for the Jews, however, it must be understood why we cannot seek to act only in accordance with hypothetical points of justice. Anyone who has any doubt about either the need, or the justice, of the struggle for a national home for Jews in Israel should be exposed to scenes of the Holocaust before passing judgment.

It is obligatory for all of us to remember how an advanced civilization went mad, believing that the mass murder of 6 million could provide the basis for the establishment of a New Order in the world. We must also recall how the world stood by and witnessed this greatest tragedy of human history without using every resource on earth to stop it.

With the passage of time, the maturing of Israel, and its final and complete acceptance by its neighbors, I believe
that a shining future lies ahead for this old-new land, and there will be a fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah:

For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever that which I create: for, behold, I create Yerushalayim a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And the voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying. Isaiah, chapter 65 verses 17 and 18

aircraft

Aerovan,
156
–158

Auster AOP,
92
,
95
,
125
,
134

Beechcraft Bonanza,
140
,
143
–146,
153
–154,
167
,
176
,
187
,
192
–193

Boeing B-17,
190
–191

Consolidated Cataline (PBY/OA-10),
4
,
20
–21

Curtiss Kittyhawk (P-40),
1
–2,
8
,
11
–12,
56
,
138

de Havilland Tiger Moth,
52
–54

Douglas DC-4 Skymaster,
219

Hawker Hart,
49

Martin Marauder (B-26),
4
,
10

Messerschmitt
109
(Avia
199
),
185
–186,
205
–208

Norduyn Norseman,
154

North American Harvard,
54

RWD
13
,
119
,
121
,
129

Supermarine Spitfire,
18
–19,
62
,
209
–210,
214
,
226
,
227

Alon, Moddie,
234

Alon, Yigael,
99
,
219
–220,
229

Altalena
,
199
–204

Augarten, Rudy,
236

Barak, Flt. Lt., EAF,
179

Begin, Menachem,
102
–103,
202
–203

Ben Gurion, David,
150
,
169
,
177
,
199
,
247

Bernadotte, Count Folke,
198

Cohen, Eddie,
109
,
228
–229

Cohen, Sid,
237

Degania, Kibbutz,
174

Dunn, Jackson S.,
23

Feliksa, Sgt. Al,
23
,
248

Fredkins, Freddie,
242

Golani Brigade,
172

Katz, Sam,
86
–87

Lagodimus, Lt. George, Greek AF,
50

Lamed Heh,
128

Lithuania

during WWII,
29
–30

village of Naumiestis,
28
–30

Meridor, Jacob,
104
–105

Palmach,
99

Peake, Wayne,
231
–232

Pomerantz, Sam,
214

Rabin, Yitzhak,
99
,
153
,
230

Remez, Aharon,
182

Sadeh, Yitzhak,
99
,
119
–120

Senior, Boris

childhood in South Africa,
33
–35

family heritage,
28
–30

Senior Leon,
25
–27,
35
,
49
,
56

Sherut Avir (Air Service),
101
,
106
–107

squadrons

101 Squadron, IAF,
24
,
227
,
231
,
246

250 Squadron, RAF,
1
,
3

Velveta, Operation,
213
–220

Weizman, Ezer,
79
,
82
,
91
,
100
,
108
,
131
–132

Weizmann, Chaim,
36
,
82
,
86

Yadin, Yigael,
168
,
176
–177

Zeibel, Zvi,
160

Born in 1924 in South Africa into a prosperous Jewish family, Boris Senior volunteered for service in the South African Air Force (SAAF) in 1943. In forty-five missions he flew fighters with a British fighter squadron in the Mediterranean theater. In March 1945 he was shot down off Vienna and after parachuting into the Adriatic almost died in the frigid water. Rescued by an American Catalina crew, he returned to his squadron and continued to fly until war's end.

Senior left the SAAF, and while attending college in London in 1947, he learned of the Holocaust. News of this atrocity, in which some six million Jews died, convinced him to join one of several underground organizations fighting for the establishment of a Jewish state.

He used his training and family connections to buy aircraft for an air force that would help the new country defend itself against its enemies, who were already massing to invade. One of the first nine Israeli pilots, he flew missions in such diverse aircraft as Messerschmitt 109 fighters purchased from Czechoslovakia and Bonanza light aircraft,
which he bought with his own money from the American manufacturer Beechcraft.

He retired in 1952 as a colonel and deputy chief of the Israel Air Force. He continued to serve when needed, however, and returned to active duty during the conflicts in 1956 and 1967.

In retirement Senior was involved with private industry and flew his own aircraft, having ferried it from the United States across the Atlantic via Greenland and Iceland. He also managed his farm and orchard in the settlement of Kfar Shmaryahu. The Seniors had four children, all of whom live in Israel. Boris Senior passed away in Israel in April 2004.