A former Tunisian farmer is in line to become the first Arab to be named among the Righteous Among the Nations, a title given to non-Jews who saved Jews from the Nazi’s during World War II.
Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Centre confirmed Tuesday that Khaled Abd al-Wahab had been nominated for the award, but said testimony of his deeds is still being collected and his candidacy still has to be presented to a committee which approves the award.
According to the testimony of Anny Boukris, who settled in Los Angeles after the war, al-Wahab, a well-to-do farmer at the time, rescued her and 24 of her relatives from their hiding place and hid them on his farm until the German occupation of Tunisia ended in 1943.
Al-Wahab died in 1997.
Some 85,000 Jews lived in Tunisia on the eve of World War II. While the sympathetic Vichy French governor implemented only some of the so-called Statut des Juifs (Jewish law), the Germans, when they took over the country in November 1942, were much harsher.
Jews were rounded up for forced labour, Jewish property was seized, they were fined and made to wear special badges, and 20 Jewish political activists were sent to Germany, where they were killed.
Over 21,000 people have been awarded the Righteous Among the Nations title by Yad Vashem. In some cases the award is given personally, in other cases it is given to the rescuer’s descendents.
The Muslim recipients of the title – around 50 in all – have to date all come from countries such as Bosnia, Albania and Turkey.
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6 Responses
Your headline ‘Yad Vashem to give award to Arab’ is not correct and it has an insulting tone. This is part of the fuller report that appeared in Haaretz. ‘Anny Boukris, a 73-year-old Jewish woman from Los Angeles in a letter [to researcher Dr. Robert Satloff], described how Abd al-Wahab rescued her and 24 relatives from their hiding place and hid them on his farm until the end of the German occupation. Boukris, who was 11 at the time, related that al-Wahab risked his life when he stopped a German officer from raping her mother. Satloff managed to obtain detailed testimony from Boukris just weeks before she died. He then traveled to the farm and interviewed witnesses who verified Boukris’ testimony.’ Even if this is not enough to warrant the Yad Vashem award it is worthy of more respect and hakoras hatov than your headline gives. Maybe the headline should read “Yad Vashem considering recognizing first Arab Righteous Gentile”.
Hey First Direct:
READ the last two lines of the article. He is not the first Arab to receive this award.
I did not see that the headline was negative at all.
It is probably good that the award is posthumous because if here were still alive and received the award the Fatah/Hamas would kill him for aiding jews.
Joe Shmo, I dont agree…first direct is 100% right. When I saw the headline I immediately clicked on it and though that Yad Vashem was NUTS.
YW Editor – PLEASE change your headline. It is very misleading.
thank you,
Albert
Mrsk makes it an obvious fact that hatred between Arab and Jews will ALWAYS exist no matter what.
Here we have an Arab who was one of the Chasidei Umos Haolom and YET we
CANNOT give him credit WITHOUT G-D FORBID mentioning that there is still evil amongst them and we are NEVER to forge that!
Interesting counter reaction…..hmm…very interesting!
Joe Schmo –
Please reread the first line and the last two lines. He is the first arab, but not the first muslim. Slight, but still a distinction.