A 91-year-old Dutch man
honoured by Israel for shielding a Jew from the Nazis has handed back his medal
after six of his relatives were killed in a Gaza air strike. Henk Zanoli
returned his Righteous Among the Nations award to the Israeli ambassador in The
Hague this week after an Israeli F-16 destroyed his great niece's Gaza home, killing all inside. "It is with
great sorrow that I am herewith returning the medal I received as an honour and
a token of appreciation from the State of Israel for the efforts and risks
taken by my mother and her family in saving the life of a Jewish boy during
the German occupation," Zanoli said in a letter dated Monday (08/11/14).
According to Zanoli's
letter addressed to the Israeli ambassador, the bomb dropped by the Israeli
military on July 20 during its massive Gaza
offensive, flattened a four-storey building at the Bureij Refugee Camp, killing
all inside. "The great-great grandchildren of my mother have lost their
grandmother, three uncles, an aunt and a cousin at the hands of the Israeli military," Zanoli said in the letter,
published by liberal Israeli newspaper Haaretz and widely circulated in the
Dutch media. "It is particularly shocking and tragic that today, four
generations on, our family is faced with the murder of our kin in Gaza. Murder
carried out by the State of Israel," Zanoli said. The Israeli Embassy in
The Hague on Friday (08/15/14) confirmed it was "familiar with the
issue," but declined to comment or give details. The nonagenarian was too
frail to deliver the letter in person, but instead sent it, with the medal, to
the Israeli embassy in The Hague - the
same place he receives the accolade three years ago. "For me to hold on to
the honour granted to me by the State of Israel under these circumstances,
would be an insult... to those ...
in the family, four generations on, who lost no less than six of their
relatives in Gaza," Zanoli said. Zanoli's family were outspoken opponents
of the invading Nazis and his father was murdered in Mauthausen concentration
camp. Zanoli's own brother-in-law was executed in the dunes outside The Hague
for being in the Dutch Resistance. The Righteous Among the Nations is an honour accorded by Israel to non-Jews who
risked their lives to protect and save Jews during the Holocaust. Almost 2,000 Palestinians most of
them civilians, have been killed in Israel's withering offensive on isolated
Gaza Strip aimed at ending militant rocket fire. "The actions of your
state in Gaza these days have already resulted in serious accusations of war
crimes against humanity," wrote Zanoli. "As a retired lawyer, it
would be no surprise to me that these accusations could lead to possible convictions
if true and unpoliticized justice is able to have its course. What happened to
our kin in Gaza will no doubt be brought to the table at such a time as
well."
Footnote: This appeared in Yahoo News headline, "Dutch man
returns Israeli WWII honour after family killed in Gaza."
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