Did the Jewish fighters massacre the residents of Deir Yassin? Were innocent unnarmed men, women and children butchered and mutilated?
* The first of the Jewish fighting units to reach Deir Yassin was led by a truck armed with a loudspeaker. An Iraqi-born Jew, who spoke fluent Arabic, called out to the residents to leave via the western exit from Deir Yassin, which the attackers had left clear for that purpose. Soon after entering the town, however, the truck was hit by Arab gunfire and careened into a ditch. Repeated efforts by Lehi men to extract the truck, while under fire, proved unsuccessful. Whether or not the truck’s message was heard by the villagers is unclear. Several hundred Deir Yassin residents did flee, although it is not clear if they were responding to the announcements, the sound of gunfire, or word-of-mouth warnings from fellow-villagers close to the battle sites. The IZL and Lehi commanders had expected that large numbers of the residents would flee, and the remaining would surrender, perhaps after token resistance.
Related Questions
- Did the Jewish fighters massacre the residents of Deir Yassin? Were innocent unnarmed men, women and children butchered and mutilated?
- Isn the massacre account of Deir Yassin more believable given the terrorism that the Jewish thugs normally employed?
- Did the Jewish fighters rape Arab women during the Deir Yassin battle?
