Friday 10 August 2012

The Nukeib Action 1962


Introduction: My interest in this Israeli military action stems from my personal participation in it. 

In 1959 I was enrolled for my compulsory national army service. This had been deferred until after I had completed my medical studies in Jerusalem and had graduated. In this way the army gained qualified doctors for two and a half years - at the derisory conscripts’ salary.

After a short course of military medicine, I was posted as Medical Officer to battalion 12 (‘barak’) of the Golani Brigade. I had become 214600 lieutenant doctor Yitzhak Loebl.  My work consisted mainly of inspecting the camp's hygiene and sanitation and dealing with the young soldiers' fairly trivial routine medical complaints. After a year, I was promoted to become the Brigade Medical Officer, with the temporary rank of captain. It was 1962 and my army service was due to end some months later.

The following article was published 50 years later on 25.04.2012 in a special illustrated edition of the ‘Yediot Achronot’ newspaper. Ruth is a 'friend' of Alon, a kibbutz member of Ein Gev. She found the item in his Facebook and forwarded it to me. I translated it from Hebrew and added some more details from the web plus my explanations – [they are shown in brackets].


REVENGE, HEROISM AND FAILINGS ON THE KINNERET

JUBILEE OF THE ‘SNUNIT’ [SWALLOW] OPERATION

“The Syrians have been fishing in the Sea of Galilee” shouted the newspaper headlines of 11 March 1962. “The Syrians have continued their provocations in the Sea of Galilee. Syrian fishermen penetrated the lake’s waters at its north-eastern shore [in more than 10 boats] and fished [for over 4 hours] under the protection of the Syrian military positions. As before, the Syrians first fired on the Israeli fishing boats [using machine guns and recoil-less canons].

This further infringement of the cease-fire agreements between Israel and Syria was recorded in the operations diary in the office of the Chief of Staff. The clash about the sovereignty over the lake at the foot of the Golan Heights, which had been looming for a long time, was only a question of time.

Yediot Achronot newspaper cutting of 11th March 1962 
Israel kept warning repeatedly. Again and again they conveyed messages to the Syrians through the U.N. that they are playing with fire, and that there will be no avoidance of a sharp and painful response that will paint the border in bright red blood. Yet the violations continued, the Syrian fishermen cast nets in the water of the lake, shots were fired at the Israeli guard boats and at the fishermen of Tiberias at the height of the fishing season. The Armed forces, commanded by Zvi Tzur, were asked to prepare an operational plan for a retaliatory action – and the file of the “Snunit” operation was placed on the desk of the prime minister and defence minister David Ben Gurion 50 years ago.

Signboard: Mitzpeh Nukeiv [View of Nukeib]. (Top left corner: the oak symbol of the Golani Brigade).


The green light was given on 15th March 1962, following the latest Syrian action. “This was again a planned Syrian provocation”, wrote Major Mordechai Shai, operations officer of the Northern Command, in his report to Meir Zorea, Commander of the northern sector – part of the file of the operation which has been disclosed courtesy of the military archive. “Immediately after the previous provocation the Syrians expected a response from us which seemed to them inevitable. We assume that they interpreted the absence of response as our weakness and allowed themselves repetitions of the provocation. If it were to be decided not to respond, the result would be the loss of our standing in this sector - in the eyes of our fishermen, and of the Syrians”.

That very night, the retaliatory action was on its way. Chief of staff Tzur handed the baton of command to the Golani [infantry] brigade, under the command of Motta [Mordechai] Gur. This was a precedent for the army – a large retaliatory action that was not allocated to a parachutist brigade. The target was the [Syrian] army post of Nukeib and the village of that name, overlooking the Sea of Galilee.

Rehav’am Ze’evi
(Gandhi)
Arik Sharon (on the left)
during a different Action
Yaakov Dvir: not
located to this day

Briefing before the action. The photographer received a medal
Removal of an injured soldier during the battle
No less than 19 ‘mentions in despatches’, ‘recommendations of honour’ and medals were awarded after the action. The unwritten equation according to the tradition of the defence forces suggests, that the number of decorations that are awarded is in proportion to the amount of errors and blunders.

From the very first minute, the intended clean surgical reprisal turned into a noisy clash, under heavy fire from fortified Syrian forces. Although the Nukeib action was recorded in the annals as a success - Golani had accomplished the goals that it had been set and proved that human resolve can be almost limitless - the price in blood was heavy. Seven fighters were killed and another is still listed as ‘missing’.

“Very quickly the business became complicated”, remembers former major-general Shlomo Gazit, who was the deputy commander of the Golani brigade at the time. “We had no element of surprise at all. The fighters did perform their task – the position was destroyed. But from a national point of view, such an action, at such a price, was not justified in those circumstances”.

The armistice agreement determined that the border between Israel and Syria should run at a distance of 10 meters east of the Kinneret and that the Syrians should have no fishing rights. But the rich fish stocks, at the estuaries of brooks flowing into the lake and the pumping installation, induced Syrian fishermen, backed by their army, to violate the agreement – to cast nets and “to paddle” in the lake. Israeli protection boats patrolled to prevent this and removed the Syrian’s fishing nets. The Syrian army, thanks to their topographic advantage, repeatedly attacked the Tiberias fishermen and fired on the Israeli protection boats from their positions at Nukeib and Kursi.

[Israel was at a double disadvantage as a result of the 1948-9 armistice agreement with Syria: Not only did the Syrians on the Golan heights have a clear view (and easy range) of the Israelis fishing in the lake, but the territory east of the lake was demilitarized and out of bounds for the Israeli military.] 

Historical research points to another Syrian motive for breaking the armistice agreement – the political instability in Syria following their military coup, and their struggle vis-à-vis Nasser’s Egypt. In those years Syria and Iraq were conducting negotiations for contracting a military pact. The increasing Syrian confidence in their national power and their realisation that a firm line against Israel would assist their internal stability – all these motivated the Syrians to seek an escalation of the hostilities - and to be prepared to pay the price.

To break the monopoly of the parachutists

March 1962 was the climax. After the firing on the Israeli protection boats on the 15th, despite Israel’s sharp warnings, it was clear to the area military staff that the telephone call [from the ministry of defence] might come any minute – and it did. Operation “Snunit” to conquer and destroy the positions of Nukeib and Kursi was launched. Motta Gur had been appointed as the commander of the Golani brigade exactly for just events. Until then it had been customary for reprisal actions to be carried out by the parachutists’ brigade. When Ben Gurion asked the Golani and the parachute brigades how long each would need [to prepare] for such an action, Gur answered enthusiastically “today”. The parachutists would have needed four days. Thus, recount the fighters of that event, the die was cast – the operation was Golani’s.

Facsimile of the operations order courtesy of the Army archive. It is classified as ‘most secret’. It lists the following participating units: the infantry, the navy, armour [tanks], artillery and floodlight


"There was no time for preparations" 
Motta Gur divided his force into six teams.
# Force A under the command of Tzvika Offer, the head of the Golani special reconnaissance unit, was responsible for occupying the Nukeib position and blowing it up.
# Force B, which included a unit from the school of commanders under the command of Beni Inbar, the school’s commanding officer, was responsible for occupying and purging the village, and also demolishing the observation post to the south of it.
# Force C under Uri Shilo, the commander of battalion 51, would be a reserve force, riding on ten half-tracks, for use as an extraction unit or to assist the fighters.
# Forces D and E, part of them recruits who had been in the army four months at that point, under Yehuda Gavish the commander of battalion 13 and his deputy Moshe Gat, were responsible for isolating the battle zone and blocking and removing any Syrian reinforcements.
# Force F, the mortars regiment 334, will wait in Ein Gev for development.
# Avraham Vered, a photographer of ‘Bamachaneh’ [the official army journal] also joined the force.

The naval force consisted of 20 fighting men. They were meant to occupy the Kursi position. But the higher command expressed their reservations about the task, fearing an early detection that would neutralize the element of surprise. That night there was a full moon illuminating the lake. “The navy on the eve of the action raised doubts about the possibility of executing the action” said Yitzhak Rabin, head of operations and the deputy chief of staff, at the investigation that took place a few days after the action. “But on the day, they still rolled the matter forward”. The air force also had their reservations, based on the meteorological forecast of clouds that would hinder their ability to back up the fighters.

The plan had been submitted to the minister of defence (Ben Gurion) weeks before, but the details of the action were kept secret until the very day. The forces were briefed on the ground, but most had little time to study the task and all its components. “The forces set out to the area with the units of Tzvika [Ofer] and Beni [Inbar] knowing what they had to do. The commanders’ knowledge of the area was not bad, but that of unit A was ‘so – so’,” said Gur at the investigation. “There was no time for preparations”, says today Ya’akov Even, the deputy commander of Force B.

Sketch map of the action.

'Blocking force 2'.
Trenches - bunkers.

The army post.


New Nukeib village.

Position that was blown up.

Machine gun ambush.


Anti-vehicle minefield.


Old Nukeib village.

The routes taken by the forces
Beni (dashes left)
and Tzvika (solid curved)


At the bottom – northern building of Ein Gev.
“When I reached Ein Gev I was shown a picture – the size of a postcard. That was the map of the action. On the map the intelligence officer pointed to a field of beans on the route leading [northward] from Ein Gev in Israel to Syrian Nukeib. Hours later the fighters would realize that this field of beans was a field of mines.

The intelligence collected towards the action missed something else – information that turned out to be critical for the action from the moment that it began to get complicated: [It was not realized, nor investigated] that the Syrian forces were well prepared [and alert], as a result of their assumption that Israel would have to respond. The enemy forces turned out to be larger and much more determined than the Israelis expected. The Syrian soldiers demonstrated stubborn resistance. The element of surprise was totally absent.

According to the brigade’s operations diary, which was on file in the archive, the forces received confirmation at 21.25 and started to move. Force B under Inbar marched first, climbing the slopes towards the village of Nukeib. Already along the way the force encountered firing from a position in the village. The surprise vanished. Yaakov Even, Inbar’s deputy, was sent to clear that position, and simultaneously the force of Inbar began its assault. A group of Syrians soldiers started to run away, and not before they had managed to warn the adjacent position.

Platoon commander Judah Peled, who was seriously injured, being evacuated

"All the trenches opened fire"
 Force A commanded by Ofer heard the shooting from the village clearly. “The sector began to wake up”, Ofer related at the de-briefing. “I heard the clash of Beni’s force below, but of course that was not part of our task. We started quietly to get nearer and tried to penetrate the target. But the intensity of the shooting grew, the exchange of fire turned into a battle”. Force A Suddenly noticed a horde of people streaming down the slope in flight. “Herds of sheep, women and children started to flee”, described Ofer. “Civilians started to intrude between me and the target”.

“They were waiting for us”, remembers Zeev Kishon, a fighter in Force A. “We lost the element of surprise when we encountered an ambush on the way to the army position. From that instant the entire sector woke up. The civilians who started to escape separated us from the target and there was nothing we could do. We were instructed by radio not to shoot until the last civilian had passed. That gave the army post more time to get organize and to wake the entire sector”.

When the commander falls to the ground

At that moment the post opens heavy fire on the force of Ofer. “All the trenches began shooting, including tracer bullets. With the first shots I sustained an injured commander. The fighters were shocked when they saw their commander fall to the ground. Ofer the commander grasped the situation immediately and before the soldiers could develop paralyzing shock, he ordered an assault. As he led his force towards the post, they mingled with the crowd of civilians who were escaping from the village.

Ofer and his men reached the trenches of the post. They discovered that the Syrian positions were well fortified and the enemy number was greater than they had expected. Whoever stepped forward was hit by the gunfire. Each bend in the trench required its own battle. [Ofer’s men had insufficient magazines [five each] and grenades. Ammunition was passed forward along the trench to the active fighters. And they also used the weapons of the dead Syrians.]

At 23.21, according to the action diary, Ofer called for help and requested the extraction of a wounded soldier. “I am subjected to strong fire”, he reported to the command in Ein Gev. “I cannot outflank on the right. Stubborn fighting in the trenches, from the direction of the village. I am being fired on, I have many wounded”.
 “Are you continuing” Ofer is asked.  “Yes, continuing” he replies.
“Beni cannot help yet, but he will soon”, the command replied.

A minute later, at 23.22, the command instructs Force C (the half-tracks) to move and help to occupy the army post. [Only nine half-tracks had reached Ein Gev in time, and one later shed its track]. Commanded by Uri Shilo, force C left Ein Gev. On their way [north] they crossed the bean field that separated the kibbutz from Nukeib. That revealed the mistake – one half-track struck a mine. Very quickly the force realizes that they were caught in a Syrian minefield. Due to the urgency of the action, no mine clearing personnel had been included. The half-track of the commander Shilo also struck a mine, he was injured and lost his hearing. “I told my commander that we shall enter some 70 to 80 meters and skirt around it” Shilo’s deputy said at the de-briefing. “I reckoned that we might have to throw some stones [to trigger the mines?]; but while I was still considering, we struck a second mine”. The help force itself now required help and extraction by the civilian tractors of Kibbutz Ein Gev, [and Ha’on and Tel Katzir. One of the tractors also struck a mine].

‘Mivza Arnevet’

Simultaneously, the fighters of Flotilla 13 were on their way across the Kinneret from Ginossar [kibbutz on the western shore of the lake, opposite Ein Gev] to Kursi. “During the last briefing - reported the navy commander Yochai Bin Nun at the de-briefing, “I received a phone call from the regional commander that the [infantry] force had encountered an ambush and therefore the element of surprise will not have a big chance”. The moon shining on the sea rendered the fighters particularly exposed. “The Kinneret was like a shining mirror”, Gazit remembers, “the Syrians saw everything”.

When the fighters neared the shore, the Syrians fired two coloured rockets. Still, the swimmers were instructed to enter the water. “Confirmation for immersion arrived” related the flotilla commander Shapira. Then shooting began towards the fighters, and the factor of surprise was lost. The naval action was cancelled before it had even begun. Under fire, the fighters returned to their boats and left the area. [This episode was later called unkindly in navy circles the ‘rabbit operation’ – Mivza Arnevet].

Extraction of the half-tracks from the minefield – from the de-briefing recordings

Force B commanded by Inbar completed the clearing of Nukeib village after a bitter battle. When Inbar heard of the trapped half-tracks, he suggested to Motta Gur that he combine with force A, under the command of Ofer, and overpower the post where exchanges of heavy firing were taking place. In the fog of the battle, when it seemed that everything was being disrupted, the resourcefulness of Inbar and Ofer brought the task to its successful completion in the end. While they were on the move, they modified the task, and fixed a common boundary for their actions to avoid mutual shooting. Inbar’s deputy, Even, told the de-briefing: “I got to the edge of the trench of the post. Five or six soldiers lay [at the bottom] on their sides with their weapons pointing upward and whenever we advanced they covered us with a salvo. I felt a rustling near my ear. I pulled the safety pin and waited until there was only a second to the explosion”.

The overpowering of the Nukeib army post - from the de-briefing recordings

The Nukeib post was occupied and blown up. The fighters then made their difficult way out. In the absence of the half-tracks, which were stuck in the mine field, the wounded were evacuated carried on stretchers – all under an artillery barrage that constantly ranged and pin-pointed the fighters. [As the soldiers moved towards Ein Gev,] the shelling advanced towards the kibbutz and the heavy bombardment also hit other settlements in the region. [Some 2,000 shells were fired by the Syrians during the action.] The command wanted to launch the air force to silence the shelling, [and 3 (or 5) Vaotour aircraft* were launched. Two batteries of 120 mm mortars were also used.]  But dense clouds interfered with the accuracy of both the aircraft and the artillery.

[*Sud Aviation – French. Israel was their only foreign customer. They purchased 28, withdrawn in 1973.]

The evacuation back to Israel took a long time. Half-tracks that could not be extracted were stripped of their weapons and blown up, but four were salvaged by the Syrians and exhibited as loot in Damascus.


At 05.25 the operations officer reported that “Beni and Yossi have passed Congo” – the code for Ein Gev. The action was complete.

Where is Ya’akov?

In Ein Gev the work of treating the 43 wounded was progressing. Also at that point the number killed was established. Six soldiers were dead – and two were missing. After a few days it became known that one body had been found by the Syrians, and some days later the body was returned in exchange for the single Syrian prisoner who had been captured during the action, But the second missing soldier, Ya’akov Dvir [Ravkind] from Petach Tikva, has not been located to this day.


The report about the missing soldier
The memorial to the missing soldier Ya’akov Dvir
During the weeks following the action, elite army units were sent to the area to search for any detail that might shed light on Dvir’s fate. But all the investigations were in vain. Intelligence work has found no indication that the Syrians held Dvir. The assessment was that he had sustained a direct hit from a Syrian shell and his remains were never found. The Israeli spy in Syria, Eli Cohen, also tried to discover details – without success.

“The searches continued all the time”, said Dvir’s sister, Yochi Eisenberg. “They tried to find the beginning of a thread but they did not succeed. Even today they are still searching, but until now we know nothing”.

Later, in December 1968, one of the heroes of the action, Tzvika Ofer, was killed during an exchange of fire with marauders in Wadi Quelt.

“An orgasm of an assault”

On the day following the action, the prime minister and minister of defence David Ben Gurion got to Yavne’el, met the fighters and congratulated them on completing the task. On that very day, incidentally, the Syrians fired towards the Kinneret, before relative quiet prevailed. The newspapers reported an impressive operational success. The number of casualties and injured on our side was concealed. Radio Damascus, on the other hand, reported that about 200 Israeli soldiers had been killed and much plunder had been found in the area. It was the BBC that discovered contradictions in the Syrian reports. Some 40 Syrian soldiers had been killed and some of their bodies were exhibited as dead Israelis.




Ben Gurion visits the fighters at Yavne'el the following day

The De-Briefing


On 26th March the general staff forum was convened to investigate the action and to discuss the failings that were found. The discussion was opened by major-general Yitzhak Rabin. “The Israel army is strong and good”, he said, “the achievements of the ‘Snunit’ action are great and numerous. I think that we need to have sufficient courage to define the faults that have been revealed in the preparations for the action and in its execution”.

Each of those who participated in a command role in the battle presented his actions during the combat. Much praise was given by the generals to Tzvika Ofer, who had led the assault on the syrian post while under fire – just as the force was absorbing a volley of shots and its fighters were being hit.

After the fighters had presented their descriptions of the battle, general Ariel Sharon requested leave to speak. Sharon, the acknowledged ‘father’ of the parachutists’ retaliatory actions, wished to cool the enthusiasm a little.

“I had the opportunity on Friday, in common with a large part of the audience here, to know that there was going to be an action. I exploited my authority and entered the operations centre, where I could follow the course of the battle” began Arik – at the time a brigade commander who was not associated with the ‘snunit’ action. “This is an achievement for the signals setup, that one can follow events right into the bunker. One can hear the breathing of the fighters.

I do not wish to talk and deal with the topic of the fighting, I think that this makes no difference. The unit has good commanders and trained soldiers. They did assault - it is a fact that they assaulted. I don’t know if I should use the term ‘Orgasm of assault’. We were all excited by the fact that the soldiers had assaulted – but we are not in the year ‘52 but in ‘62 and there is no reason for the soldiers not to assault. We are full of admiration but there is no reason to exaggerate – they did exactly what they were trained for years to do.”

Sharon also did not spare those who had determined the targets of the action. “I think that we demonstrated a total lack of imagination regarding the topic of the targets. If one wishes to cause casualties, then to tackle an army position is not the right thing. Either the enemy force escapes and then you do not cause losses, or they fight and possess all the elements of combat and of inflicting losses. In practice the losses will then be balanced. It is worth demonstrating more imagination and not adhering to routine actions”.


The fog of battle. "There was really no surprise".

General Rehav’am Ze’evi [‘Gandhi’], chief of staff of the central command, criticized the surgical method that the armed forces use, of a measured penalty directed only at the post’s soldiers. “There was once a chief of staff who said that every attack on the border has to be totally destroyed. It seems to me that this motto has not lost its relevance. If [the destruction of] Nukeib is wanted, it has to be done with threshing sledges. It could be done by the air force. The aim at Nukeib was not only to enhance the image [?] of the defence forces. The main aim was to emerge victorious.

Gandhi also criticized the way that the number of Israeli casualties was concealed in the media. “When they say within the defence forces that there are 40 injured whereas in the newspapers they reported 10, that will result in the army not understanding how many there really are. The difference between us and the Arabs is that we publish the truth. We must not be allowed to create a policy of false publications.

[Later, In 2001, while he served as a government minister, Gandhi was assassinated by 4 Arabs at the Hyatt hotel].

The chief of staff Zvi Tzur wound up the discussion and replied critically to the words of Sharon. “After the deed, everybody is clever. I did hear those who had imagination. There was one possibility, with much imagination, to take a unit of 15 men, move them by air to the Syrian lines and to establish [?] artillery targets. I am not sure whether we would have succeeded.” With regard to the compliments lavished on the assault Tzur said: “I do not understand why one should not get excited? It is a seal of honour for Golani. But I’m sure that the paratroops can also do it, and we also have other units. We should be proud”.

“We marched with our head into a wall”

Memorial ceremony above the Kinneret [March 2012]
Recently [in March 2012] the fighters of Golani marked the jubilee of the ‘Snunit’ action. The ceremony was held on the shore of the Kinneret, near the memorial to the action’s dead. For the army, ‘Snunit’ was the first action that put Golani on the map. “We proved that Golani can perform such a task even in condition that proved to be very difficult”, summarizes Gazit. “Much harder than was expected in the initial assessment.

In retrospect, we should have delayed. That method of an immediate strike was shown to be a mistake – it would have been better had we waited for optimal conditions”.

“We did not lose the element of surprise - because from its onset the action did not include such an element” – Ya'akov Even is certain. “The Syrians knew that the blow will come and it will come in the area of the Kinneret. If not tomorrow then the day after. We marched with our head into a wall, and went to fight without any surprise; and we paid a heavy price for completing the task. That was a mistake”.






Walter’s Additional Information

[I copy here parts of my blog from 2008].

In March 1962 the Israel government decided to attack and demolish the Syrian position. The task was given to the Golani Infantry Brigade, in which I served at the time as the Brigade Medical Officer. So I was put in charge of the casualty clearing station for the action.

As the brigade medical officer, I had been able to attend the weekly medical rounds at the Rambam hospital in Haifa. But just as I was scheduled to present a case at the next meeting, I was told to cancel my visit - without revealing the planned action at Nukeib, of course.

On Friday 16th March 1962 all the infantry units reached kibbutz Ein Gev under cover of darkness. I was met by my cousin Reuven, a veteran of the kibbutz, who was in charge of local security. He suggested that I set up my clearing station in one of their underground shelters. But I decided on a location with easy access from the battle area and for medical evacuation, in an open yard just inside the kibbutz gate.

Later an enclosure for ostriches stood on that spot. We erected the tent for receiving casualties and by the light of the incandescent kerosene lantern we prepared our medical equipment, assembled some intravenous drip sets - and waited.


Map of the Kinneret. Note Syrian Nukeib and Israeli kibbutz Ein Gev on the eastern shore of the lake, opposite Tiberias on the western shore, with Poriya hospital nearby. Further north is kibbutz Ginnosar – the starting point of flotilla 13.

When the attack on Nukeib started, the Syrian artillery on the Golan ridge above began an intensive shelling of the area. Some of the shells exploded in the kibbutz yard, quite near to our tent. Several shrapnel fragments actually penetrated the tent’s canvass, but nobody was hit.

Before long, casualties from the battlefield began to arrive. Ignoring the continuously exploding shells around us, we examined and treated the injured, completed their documentation and arranged their ambulance transport around the lake to Poriya hospital. Several soldiers were dead on arrival at my tent. I cannot now recall the numbers - but later I ascertained that all 30 casualties who had arrived alive at my clearing station also reached the hospital alive.

One of the dressers in my team had forgotten his steel helmet in camp. I found it most cumbersome to perform my work while wearing my helmet. So I gave it to him. One of my Battalion Medical Officers actually did sustain a penetrating head injury - despite wearing his helmet. Luckily Yochanan later made a full recovery.

After some hours, the stream of the casualties ceased and I assumed that the fighting was over. But the field telephone wires to the command post had been cut by the shells, despite being repaired twice. Dawn was breaking, but the Syrian shelling was still going on. Thanks to my previous visits to Ein Gev, I was the only person in my tent who knew where the shelter with the command post was located. So I retrieved my helmet and ran there across the kibbutz to ask for instructions. They had forgotten about my medical clearing station. “Of course”, I was told, “dismantle your tent and withdraw to the force's assembly area in the Yavne'el Valley, across Lake Tiberias”.

When we got there, I lay down in one of the ambulances and promptly fell asleep. As a result, I missed the visits by David Ben Gurion the Prime Minister and by the Chief of Staff Zvi Tzur. In the afternoon we returned to our camps and I was given home leave. For the following few weeks, whenever a door was slammed loudly, it made me start and duck instinctively.

The next morning two Army reporters arrived at our flat in Jerusalem. They said that I had been recommended for mention in dispatches by the Chief of the General Staff and they required photos. I regarded myself as primarily a doctor, not a soldier. So I was photographed wearing a civilian shirt and tie.

During the next Independence Day celebrations, I attended President Yitzhak Ben Zvi's customary reception to honour soldiers who had been mentioned in despatches. As usual, this was not followed by any sort of party.

Some months later I was demobilized. I moved to London for postgraduate medical training. The specialty of rheumatology was not well developed in Israel at that time. Ten years later the Israel embassy unexpectedly phoned us one day. We were told that according to an Act passed in the Knesset in 1973, I was entitled to receive the Israel ‘Medal of Courage’. [There is one higher grade medal – the medal of bravery, in which some of its recipients actually died during their action.] The medal of valour is awarded 'for an act of gallantry, at the risk of life, during fulfilment of combat duty'. It may be worn on independence day, but the red bar may be worn at any time. Until then, during the first 34 years of Israel's existence, it had been awarded to only 220 soldiers.

So my wife Judith and I were invited to the embassy. There, an official made a speech, and handed me the medal in its olive wood case [see photo] and a certificate. No hospitality was provided. I had not experienced any fear during that night's shelling and I did not regard myself as being particularly brave. Had I taken part in this action as a combat officer, instead of as a doctor, my conduct might not have been regarded as all that outstanding. I have never worn the medal, nor had I told any of our friends about it.

To my knowledge, I only derived benefit from this honour on one occasion, when I applied for a medical post at Bethnal Green hospital. During the interview one of the consultants seemed particularly interested in my award. I was appointed to that post, and later I discovered that Dr Ian Gilliland was a staunch supporter of Israel. He had previously been a volunteer on Yigael Yadin's excavations at Masada.




Post Script

Recently, when I decided to write this blog [in 2008], I could not remember the number of casualties that had passed through our casualty clearance tent. I thought that perhaps Dr Eliyahu Gillon, who had been at the time the Commander of the Army Medical Corps and my professional superior, might be able to obtain access to the relevant archive. I managed to ascertain his address from a mutual acquaintance: he was retired but still doing research at Tel Hashomer hospital. I wrote him a friendly letter asking for his help. I never received a reply. Many Israelis are well known for their reluctance to write letters.

So I was prepared to skip the casualty figures, but I contacted the Public Relations Section of the Israel Embassy in London. I wished to ensure that my description was no longer classified; and incidentally, could they possibly obtain the casualty data that I was seeking. They replied promptly and assured me, that they did not 'censor' such texts as my memoir. As to the number of casualties - that would be very difficult or impossible to ascertain at this time.

Like Baldrick (of television notoriety), this gave me the idea for a cunning plan: One of my relatives in Ein Gev is a qualified midwife, who had worked for many years at Poriya Hospital. Perhaps she would be able to obtain the information from the records of her hospital's casualty department? I knew that all the injured had been evacuated to Poriya during that one night, of 16 - 17 March 1962. Within a fortnight she e-mailed me the answer that she had received from the archive: there had been thirty casualties, including two shell-shocked. So now I could write my blog.

Motta Gur

I liked Motta Gur, the brigade commander. He was clearly intelligent, competent and kind. The newspaper article that I translated above diminishes his achievement in the ‘Snunit’ action. But this is written 50 years after the event. 


In any case, Gur’s career continued successfully. 

He was chief of Staff from 1974 to 1978; and in 1981 he was elected to the Knesset. Later I heard that in 1995 he had developed widespread cancer. One evening he went into his garden in Tel Aviv and shot himself. He was 65, married, with 4 children. He was honoured with a military funeral.

Towards my discharge in 1962, I assessed my future prospects. Medical employment in Israel was uncertain: the country had one of the highest ratios of doctors to the population. Israel’s socialist government had created a perverse medical salary structure: low wages were boosted by generous artificial ‘extras’. But these supplements ceased at retirement, resulting in a derisory pension. Later I heard of senior surgeons who still had to augment their income by rotas in the casualty room. As an ‘army reservist’, I was liable for annual compulsory military service to the age 50. That would swallow up my leave, again at very inadequate wages. For any travel abroad I would have to get permission from the army, and also to pay the exit travel tax. So I decided to leave Israel. Judith and I moved to England, where Judith had relatives.

I arranged my British medical registration and looked for medical employment. I also signed on at the Israel embassy – I was still an Israeli army reservist. However, after the ceremonial award of my medal, when the embassy obviously knew my whereabouts, they never contacted me again. I was not invited to Independence Day celebrations, or notified of any other events. I suspect that in their chauvinistic arrogance they regarded me as a 'Yored', an emigrant from Israel and therefore a renegade - practically a traitor.

For example, shortly after I had left Israel, a friend described to me his guided tour of Jerusalem’s Talbiyeh quarter. When the group passed our former house at 20 Balfour street, the official guide mentioned that I had lived there, having being mentioned in despatches by the chief of staff – ‘‘and now he is a doctor in Dimona’’. The Israeli nuclear reactor is located there. That was a remote and highly secure location in the Negev, where nobody would be able to locate me. This concealed the fact of my unpatriotic emigration.

The Yediot Achronot feature that instigated my present work on this subject, and the creation of this blog, was published for the 50th anniversary of the ‘Snunit’ action. It reports the reunion of the participants in March 2012 near the original location of Nukeib, just north of Ein Gev – photo above. I knew nothing about all this until Ruth sent me the newspaper article. Clearly the organizing authorities had decided not to invite me or even to inform me. But by then I was a permanent resident in Britain, and no longer even an Israeli citizen…

28th July 2012


Sunday 19 September 2010

64. Synagogue readings

After several months, I'm resuming my blogs.
There is no particular order - this one is topical.

Judith allocates the readings of haftarot at her synagogue. I have asked her to allocate the reading to me, when the subject is rheumatological = the vision of the dry bones of Ezekiel 37 - one of my favourites.

To support her, I offer to step in when she cannot find a willing volunteer.
That happened for yesterday's service. Too many services in the week and nobody available. However, the Reform calendar have their own list, often different from the designated haftarot. So instead of the official listing for Shabbat Shuvah / Ha'azinu [David's prayer of thanksgiving from II Samuel XXII] they stipulated some verses from 3 prophets. Not very impressive.
So I decided that I would choose my own: 2 Samuel chapter 11, v.1-15. My reasons were -
# it is on the subject of planned sins and crime - to be atoned for on Yom Kippur;
# it's related to my forthcoming oneg on Bathsheva with some lovely slides,
# it's a brilliant literary episode.

Our rabbi is quite lenient, and he agreed to my suggested choice.
To save you the trouble of searching, I have included the passage [in italics] - I modified my translation to be as accurate as possible. The key words are, of course, 'hara anochi'. Judith said that my reading of it was very good. Ahh, I love this episode: but for the grace of God... If I was younger, and we had a flat roof, and there was a horny young neighbour whose husband was absent...


At the end of the year, when kings go forth to battle, David dispatched Joav [his army commander] to war, together with his servants, and with all
Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and laid siege on Rabbah.
But David stayed in
Jerusalem.
Towards one evening David got up from his bed and strolled upon the roof of the king’s house.
And from the roof he saw a woman washing herself. And the woman was very beautiful. David sent to make enquiries about the woman. And someone said, ‘is this not Bat-sheva, daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?’
And David sent messengers and fetched her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. She had been purified from her uncleanliness.
Then she returned to her house.
And the woman conceived; and she sent word to David and said 'I am pregnant' [hara anochi]
.
And David sent word to Joav [his commander] 'Send Uriah the Hittite to me'. And Joav sent Uriah to David.
And when Uriah came to him, David enquired how Joav was, and how the men were, and how the war was progressing. Then David said to Uriah, 'Go down to your house and wash
your feet’. And Uriah departed from the king’s house, followed by the king’s gifts.
But Uriah lay down at
the entrance of the king’s house, together with all his master’s servants, and did not go down to his own house. And they told David ‘Uriah has not gone down to his house'.
David said
to Uriah ‘Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not gone down to your house?’ Uriah said to David ‘The Holy Ark, and Israel, and Judah, all sit in tents, and my master Joav and my master’s servants are camped in an open field – shall I, then, go into my house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? Upon your life, and upon your soul, I shall not do such a thing.’
David
said to Uriah: ‘Stay here today, and tomorrow I shall dispatch you.’ So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the following day. And David invited him, and he ate and drank before him, and he made him drunk. And in the evening he left – to lie on his bunk together with his master’s servants. But he did not go down to his own house.
And
the following morning David wrote a letter to Joav and sent it by the hand of Uriah. And he wrote in the letter as follows: ‘Place Uriah opposite the fiercest fighting, and then retreat from behind him, so that he shall be hit and he will die.'

When we toured Hittite sites in central Turkey, I entertained our fellow passengers on the coach with the story of this mercenary Hittite, whose wife had 'got a bun in her oven'. One of our fellow-travellers later checked his Bible and was impressed by my accuracy.

In my planned oneg, I'll elaborate some further points:
#' Bath-sheva' in Hebrew cynically refers to her marriage oath to Uriah, an oath which she broke.
# 'feet' in the Bible is often a euphemism for 'genitals'.
# I hope you'll agree that their adultery was initiated by the woman, and not by David.
# Uriah clearly knew of their adultery, and by staying away from his wife, he refused to accept paternity.
# Therefore he knew that he was now doomed to die - he did not have to read David's letter to Joav.
# It is interesting, that Uriah's wife did not come to see him during his visit to Jerusalem. I seem to remember some Talmudic law about such duplicate intercourse being forbidden.
# The Bible leaves out David's 2 obvious questions:
1. 'Are you sure that you're pregnant?' [-'My period is late, and I'm sick each morning'].
And 2. 'Are you sure your pregnancy is mine?' [-'I lay with nobody else, and you will see that the baby will have red hair'. Like Pricess Diana's second son?].
Nowadays there is science: a urine test detects pregnancy, and DNA will establish paternity.

But that's not the end of this particular Bible narrative. Read on!
.

Monday 15 March 2010

63. A Weekend of celebrations and more

After a time in the doldrums, things were looking up. It started towards the end of February, when Heather began to celebrate her birthday/month: it's never just a day. Her friend Sally suggested secretly the creation of a book of contributions and photos - and it succeeded brilliantly. Heather had no idea until it was actually presented to her. This took place at the National Gallery. She had invited about 30 of her friends for an hour's guided tour of four paintings from different centuries - from ven der Weyden to Turner, followed by a meal in a reserved section of their restaurant. What her friends did not know was that Heather would be the guide.
A week before, we had gone to listen to a rehearsal and she did very well on the day. In fact some casual gallery visitors joined her guests to listen. The book organized by Sally is a brilliant summary of her life. You will not be surprised that I am quoting here just my own contribution:-

About Heather
Recording memories about Heather is hard - I'm getting old and do not remember a lot. And I'm also getting forgetful. She is my favourite youngest and tallest daughter, and now she is forty... kilograms - no, forty inches - no, forty something. Ah, years. I had been sure that our babies were going to be boys and therefore I would choose the name: William, in memory of my grandfather. So Judith chose Daphne for the first baby. And when we made the same agreement for our second child, Judith told me when I came to visit that she had chosen the name Ruth. For the third baby we agreed to choose the name together. Still no William. The Forsythe Saga was on television and the character of Irene was a lovely person. But we already had a close relative called Renee. At Westminster hospital one remarkable ward sister was called Heather, and Judith agreed. I cannot remember the conception or the pregnancy. Heather was born at Mile End Hospital. We refused a single room, because it was less safe for calling help in an emergency. The other 3 women in Judith's ward were all unmarried mothers. Judith's father was quite amused. Heather's birth was induced - we suspect that this was because the obstetrician was due to go on leave. With her first breath Heather inhaled a very keen cockney bargaining talent - unlike her elder sisters. From Judith, Heather inherited much tact and common sense. And an excellent talent for cooking. From me she inherited an overcrowded dentition that needed correction, but not the myopia - that went to Ruth. Her judgement and analysis of peoples' characters are superb. She has also inherited my sense of humour - and I'm telling everybody.

Alas, Sally herself herself was highly pregnant and could not come.

The next happy event was Jeffrey's upgrade of my computer. There were snags and setbacks, and required several visits, but with a new motherboard and a faster processor life now is certainly vastly less frustrating.

Lastly, the weekend just past. On Saturday we attended the Bat Mitzvah of Hannah, the daughter of David, the son of Judy's cousin
. It took place in an orthodox synagogue. Therefore, for a girl, the ceremony took place after the conclusion of the Sabbath service, without prayer shawls, and with the women now sitting (separately) down in the main hall. Hannah gave her dissertation in a clear loud voice, pausing brilliantly between paragraphs: she is a clever girl. The rabbi praised her and presented her with a prayer book, but gave no blessing. After hospitality in the synagogue hall, we walked to the nearby parental home for a lovely fish-based meal. Naturally there was grace after the meal and an entertaining poem written and recited by David. They really are a lovely family.

Then, on Sunday, we attended the celebration of Harold's 90th birthday - in the premises of our [former] reform synagogue. Another tasty fish-based meal, and some humourous speeches. No grace after the meal, of course. Unfortunately there was live music throughout, which made conversation almost impossible. But it facilitated the post-prandial dancing - at which point we thanked Harold and Betty and departed.

Later we discussed our impressions and agreed that we would certainly not wish to celebrate
our own possible event in that format. But there is still plenty of time.

Sunday 17 January 2010

62. MOONFLEET

.
After some 65 years I have read again Moonfleet by J M Falkner, written in 1898. Although I still remembered all the main events, it was as exciting to read as the first time round and I finished the 250 pages in two days.

Young John Trenchard's peaceful life with his aunt in the Dorset fishing village of Moonfleet ends dramatically when he discovers an underground passage leading from some tombstones in the churchyard to the
burial vault of the Mohunes under the church. Soon he is drawn into a dangerous world of smugglers and contraband, and the mysterious legend of the Mohune's cursed diamond.

The plot and the narration are very well constructed, with a mixture of gripping descriptions and very touching emotions - all ending happily, of course, despite the killings and the tragic drownings. I agree with the blurb, that the story is 'as exciting to read today as it was when it first appeared in 1898'.

But I now realize that our primary school English teacher Miss Frankel actually read us a very simplified version [ see my post # 60 ]. So the verses which indicate the location of the diamond are much more cleverly compiled in the full text than the simple wording
that I remembered; and the language and nautical terms are those of Falkner's times of 1898. But then, my English has improved too. My intention was to give the book to the children of my niece in Seattle and my nephew in Israel - but I now realize that they are still far too young.
.

Tuesday 5 January 2010

61. Second Bar Mizvah

.
NOTE: I have been advised not to divulge names in my blogs. To quote captain Mainwaring in Dad's Army,
'Don't tell him, Pike!'. Some readers will still guess, presumably, who Z.G. and D.V. are.

We attended Mr.Z.G.'s party to celebrate his second bar mitzvah. The scriptures mention 70 years as a full life span - so if you add another 13, you've qualified for another bar mitzvah celebration when you're 83. It's an excuse for a meal and over the years more and more people live long enough to achieve it.

We did not plan to attend the synagogue service on the Saturday, when he would read his original Haftarah portion and receive the current rabbi's blessing. But we had been invited to the party on Monday evening - a cleverly lettered invitation to dinner at Me Tsu Yan restaurant [it means 'excellent' in Hebrew] in Golders Green. The web site confirmed that it serves strictly kosher Chinese food - and it's quite expensive.

It was purely and typically Chinese, a multitude of quite delicious dishes too numerous to list. The 'spare ribs' were of course not pork but sheep or lamb, and the final dish was sorbet, and not milky ice cream. And tea was without milk either. The waitresses were, what Prince Philip would call, genuine 'slit-eyed', and most efficient. The chopsticks on their porcelain rest configured a 'John the Baptist' type cross, but nobody commented.

Z had taken over the entire restaurant for the evening and we were 60 people. Judith and I knew absolute nobody: neither his relatives - he has 2 children, and a sister in law, all with their numerous families. Nor did we know any of his friends from Israel or in the UK. We were invited because of our long term friendship. Z and I both speak Hebrew, and we were active in the British Association of Palestine-Israel Philatelists (BAPIP). Z used to supply me with Israeli stamps, and I gave him some advice and support when his wife developed cancer and later died - about 7 years ago. Best of all, D.V. had not been invited. I was told at the time that he had blocked my nomination to honorary membership, at the conclusion of my editorship of the BAPIP Bulletin.

Z assured me that dinner jackets were not required - just shirt and tie. In the event, we could recognize the Israeli guests. Despite the bitter cold, they came without ties. I had brought my skullcap - but half the men did not wear one. So my worry about an orthodox separation of the genders for seating was unfounded, and I also guessed correctly that there would be no blessing before the meal nor grace afterwards.

When I wrote to accept Z's invitation, I had made one of my customary 'bad' jokes. I had suggested that Judith could tutor Z on his Torah reading - as she does for the bar-mitzvah children at her synagogue. Naturally I knew that there was no need. I also tried to frighten Z by offering to give a 'speech' at the dinner. That one, Z accepted in part - he suggested, '
could you tell a joke when there is a gap between courses?'

Z was wearing a splendid embroidered Bokharan gown and matching skull cap. In due course, he invited me to tell my 'story'
.

I chose the Catholic story that I had used some years ago, about Norman Leonard's imaginary 'audience' with the Pope in Rome. I converted it to an Israeli Jewish setting.
Stop me if you know it.


Visiting his barber, I began, Z told him of one of his planned regular trips to Israel.

On this occasion, Z told the barber, his friends had managed to get him to meet the President.
The barber was not impressed.
'You are flying El Al? - Oh dear, It's the worst air line. Never on time. Rude stewardesses.
And you are booked into the King Solomon hotel? -
Oh dear, It's a dump.
And your friends have arranged for you to meet the president? - Take binoculars, you won't get near him...
Still, enjoy your trip.'


At his next haircut, after Z had returned, the barber remembered his conversation about Z's journey. 'Well, how did it go?' asked the barber. Z had been quite annoyed by the pessimistic advice that he had received. But now he was able to get his revenge, as he reported: 'Not only was El Al on time, but there were some free seats, and they chose to upgrade me to first class. Very comfortable. And the king Solomon hotel has been renovated and raised one more star rating.'
'Yes, yes' asked the barber, 'but did you see the president?'
'There were only 5 people present. We had a very pleasant talk: he is a very nice man.'
'But what did the president say to you?'
Z imitated the president's Israeli accent: 'He took one look at me and said, ''Meester G, where did you get this awful haircut?'' '

They liked it. And Z had explained that in addition to the age of 70 (plus 13), also 80 years plus 13 can be celebrated - offering a third bar mitzvah at 93. So Z gave us notice of his intention, but I doubt whether anybody will invite me then as an after dinner speaker... if I'm still alive... and whatever the food.
.

Friday 11 December 2009

60. Death

.
My first English teacher in primary school in Jerusalem was Miss Fraenkel - her father was a professor of mathematics at the university. She was a pleasant person. Later she developed pulmonary Tb and had to drop out. Once we understood some English,
at the end of each lesson Miss Fraenkel would read to us, as a treat, installments of a simplified version of 'Moonfleet' by John Falkner [1898]. After more than 60 years, I still remember the poem on the scrap of paper the boy found in the tomb:

man may live some Sixty years
his Feet walk Down a path of tears
use your life Well for death comes soon
from north or South at night or noon...

After some guessing they noticed the words written in capitals and
worked out that these revealed where the diamond was hidden: 'sixty feet down well south'. A clever idea!
I loved that story. Soon I bought the paperback and read ahead.

In recent years, a growing number of our relatives, friends and acquaintances have 'walked down' that path. Sometimes their path was medically fairly obvious to me, and sometimes treatments have been effective. Others were killed by their chemotherapy.
The BMJ obituaries [which I always read first] usually give the cause of death of former colleagues: mainly strokes, heart attacks, and cancers. My own current afflictions are somewhat disabling, but not lethal - so far. Nevertheless, I have obviously given some thought to my own death.

My own death may not be rapid but lingering. So if I start to suffer intolerably, I shall commit suicide. The religious ministers of Judaism and Christianity claim falsely, that they forbid it, but the Bible in fact does not criticize it: prior to explosives, Samson was a 'suicide killer' and king Saul tried to fall on his sword - although in the end his servant had to help him. And Judas, the disciple of Jesus who has betrayed him for 30 pieces of silver, hanged himself. Nobody complained - only the cock crowed...

I will have no need to travel to Switzerland to be helped to commit suicide: A choice of medicaments is available to me at home - as long as I am not discovered prematurely and saved. A recent BMJ issue pointed out the risks to someone who might assist me in any way - they can be accused of murder. So it will need some very careful planning in secret, on my own.

It may still come as a shock to Judith, to my daughters and to some of my close relatives. But by now at least I'm not too young to depart. And I am absolutely sure that there are no after-life or reincarnation: the end is final. The disposal of the dead body is not important. Quite possibly the only comment said during that activity will be that ''he did love cheese''.

For some years I have been fully paid up for cremation. Unlike David Hulbert, I am not worried about the pollution caused by the fumes of mercury from the amalgam in my fillings. The undertaker can extract them first - as the Nazis did for gold. And unlike the widow of king Mausolus, whose passion for him made her eat some of his ashes every day, my ashes can be dumped unceremoniously on the nearest tip. Ruth thought that I might fancy having them scattered on the sea of Galilee. But there may be security, customs and
public health obstacles. For me that would be a wasted journey: I'd rather visit once more, while I'm still alive. (*See end-note)

My father is buried in Jerusalem and my mother in Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv. The distance between them after death is irrelevant, and I have not visited either grave in more than 35 years.
Yet I do not remember them less, just because I cannot touch a slab of stone. But one of my second cousins finds my attitude shocking.
When I ordered the grave stone for my mother, the stone mason asked what type I had in mind. I replied: 'the heaviest'. He did not comment. But he told me that his own occupation was actually based on a Jewish ritual deception: he was a Cohen, who was not allowed to enter cemeteries. So he had changed his surname - and nobody knew...

I regard the undertaking industry as profiteering from the bad conscience of the relatives. Embalming, elaborate coffins, funeral masses, family plots and matching tombstones are all a waste of money. By then it is too late for the deceased to benefit from their generosity.
Why not be kinder to them during life, or endow a memorial lecture instead?

When Daphne was little, we found a dead chick that had fallen out of the nest overnight. We put it in the dustbin. Daphne understood: ''When daddy dies, I'll also put him in the dustbin''.
I agreed.

--------
*note (27.03.10): I've just had a comment from my cousin in Israel - in Hebrew, of course. Amos enjoyed reading this blog post but he doubts the possibility of scattering my ashes on the sea of Galilee. By that time, he remarks, there will no longer be water in the lake. That depends on my survival, and the survival of the lake.
I am sure that Israel is now trying to slow down the depletion of the water. Formerly, despite available technology and abundant sunshine,
for many years they neglected action to de-salinate sea water. It is my personal view that they preferred to keep up the pressure on Syria and Jordan, stopping them from using more of the water that they were obliged to pass to their Israeli enemies.
.

Sunday 18 October 2009

59. Medical Gloom

This week's BMJ contains an excessive dose of sad or worrying news. And a lot of the problems are insoluble.

It begins with an editorial on obesity. Fat people suffer more anxiety and depression, and depressed or anxious people get fatter. Antidepressants cause weight gain - and the manufacturers do not warn of this, as it would reduce their sales.

We are all aware of cases of sudden infant death syndrome - SIDS. There have been some notorious cases, including the enigmatic statements in court by professor Meadows. Yet mothers remain ignorant: they continue to sleep together with the baby, especially on a sofa; they smoke, and they drink. Avoiding these factors would reduce SIDS by more than half. Furthermore, mothers' smoking during pregnancy increases stillbirths by 38% and infant deaths by 31%. Perhaps, at the funerals, the priests should tell the parents that it was their fault?

Fraud and greed in medical research is frightening. All journal editors have just agreed on a stricter honest and transparent disclosure of their competing interests'. But greed is likely to continue.
The bribes involved are enormous. For example, the US government compelled manufacturers of prosthetic hip and knee joints to declare all payments to doctors in 2007. They compared this with the payments from these manufacturers that were declared by orthopaedic surgeons at their annual meeting in the following year, when these products were discussed. Sixty doctors concealed payments of 12 million dollars in total !

In Germany, another scam is being used. Drug companies pay GPs up to £1,000 per patient for prescribing their new drug - and providing them with documentation of its effect. It is estimated that 25% of all
German GPs take part in such 'trials', on more than 200 drugs. The patients are not aware, that they are being used as guinea pigs without their consent; and that they are providing the GP with a lot of extra income. Furthermore, the patients, or their insurers, have to pay for these often expensive drugs - they are not donated by the manufacturers.

Corruption goes deeper still. Dr Hurlstone, an award-winning consultant gastro-enterologist at Sheffield university, has just been discovered falsifying results and forging the signatures of co-authors in 3 published papers since 2007. Such dishonesty does not emerge suddenly: How was he not unmasked during more than ten years of his career progression?

And inevitably, fraud by drug manufacturers continues. GlaxoSmithKline are being sued in Philadelphia. They appear to have concealed their research findings, that the antidepressant Seroxat caused serious birth defects in infants of mothers who took it during pregnancy. Remember Thalidomide?
Sometimes the fraud is discovered almost by chance.
GlaxoSmithKline (the same) manufacture 'ready-to-drink' Ribena in cartons. They boast that it contains 'four times as much vitamin C as oranges'. Two girls aged 14 in a school experiment found that Ribena in cartons contained almost no vitamin C. They received a 'brush-off ' from GSK but went to a newspaper and a TV company. They won, and in court GSK were fined a hefty sum. The two girls have now been voted New Zealanders of the Year.

Among all this gloom, there is one column-inch of good news. Recently a kind and caring nurse exposed poor standards of care at the Brighton and Sussex university hospitals NHS trust. She was tricked by television to give some innocent particulars. For this, the nursing and midwifery council struck her off: she lost her income and her career. [Later addition: I have just watched this council's spokeswoman explain their verdict: the bitch was brazenly defending the cruelty and incompetence of the Brighton hospital management's mistreatment of these helpless old people!]
So I was delighted to read that after appealing to the high court, the nurse has been allowed to return to work.

I know what I think of
the nursing and midwifery council... and of the drug manufacturers... and of some academic researchers... and greedy German GPs... and of some members of our parliament...