EFRAIM ZUROF: Using “bloody fist” and not knowing its meaning

ISRAELI historian of the Holocaust and one of the world’s most prominent experts in the field, Efraim Zuroff, wrote an article for “The Jerusalem Post” in which he warned that the “bloody fist”, which has become a trademark of student protests in Serbia and which was highlighted by actors in the National Theater after the play “Krcko Oraščić”, in fact a symbol of Hamas.

The actress and one of the initiators of the Proglas initiative, Svetlana Bojković, reacted to this, saying that Zurof should “leave us alone”.

– It would be better for this historian to remain silent than to spout such nonsense, which has nothing to do with our reality here in Serbia. It doesn’t matter. It is known what the bloody hands are here, and what they are there – so let them discuss among themselves who is guilty. Therefore, leave us alone – said Bojković.

In a statement to Euronews Serbia, Efraim Zurof repeated that bloody hands are a symbol of Hamas and pointed out that if protesters use them without knowing their meaning, it is a matter of lack of education.

– When we see people with fists painted red, without any explanation, it is very confusing. In other words, as I said in my article, this is either total ignorance of what the symbol means and who popularized it, or identification with a terrorist organization that committed the worst possible crimes on October 7, be it killing children, killing families, raping women, doing the most disgusting things. It’s Hamas. That’s them. So, if the demonstrators in Serbia use those symbols as a sign of identification with the “values” and crimes of Hamas, that is absolutely terrible. And if they don’t know what they are doing, it means that they are simply a group of uneducated people doing something that will be completely misinterpreted – said Zurof.

Where does the bloody fist symbol come from?

The symbol of the bloody fist was first used by the Palestinians during the “Second Intifada”, that is, the uprising from 2000 to 2005, where it represented revenge for the occupation.

It was created in 2000 after two Israeli reservists were killed in Ramallah, in the West Bank, who took a wrong turn in a civilian car and were stopped at a Palestinian checkpoint. Vadim Noržič and Josef Avrahami were brought to the police station, but at the same time, in another part of the city, the funeral of Palestinians who were killed by Israeli forces in a skirmish a few days ago was in progress.

When those gathered at the funeral heard that Israeli soldiers had been captured, the mob stormed the police station and brutally lynched the Israelis, desecrated their bodies and removed their organs. Then a photo of one of the killers, Aziz Salha (43), proudly raised his bloody fists in the window. Salha, as announced by the Israeli army in October last year, was killed in an airstrike in Gaza.

FOTO: News

As Fox news wrote, the bloody fist was recently “appropriated” by the Open Society Foundation (OSF) of billionaire George Soros and used in anti-government protests around the world, similar to the famous clenched fist used by the “Resistance” movement in demonstrations. October 5, 2000 in Belgrade. It is now being used by protesters in Israel, which is especially interesting given the long-standing conflict between Netanyahu and Soros.

The bloody fist also appeared last year in the “Artists4Ceasefire” campaign, an American group of celebrities advocating for a cease-fire in Gaza. As Fox News wrote at the time, this group received support from two organizations associated with the Open Society Foundation, “Action AID USA” and “Oxfam America”.

The Open Society Foundation has been a major donor to Oxfam America since 2016, with nearly $14 million donated from 2016 to 2022. In addition, OSF’s former chief strategy officer, actress Smita Singh, is the chair of Oxfam’s board of directors. America”.
According to reports, ActionAID USA’s 2021 and 2022 Open Society Institute, currently known as the Open Society Foundation, is listed as the number three donor in both funding documents.

Photo: Printbox

Operations to prepare the celebrity campaign for a truce between Israel and Palestine began shortly after the October 7 attacks. According to the Internet domain registration tracking portal WHOIS, approximately 10 days after the terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7 (October 17), a domain for “Artists4Ceasefire.org” was registered.

The historian pointed out that he followed what happened in Novi Sad, as well as the protests that followed.

– I know about the collapsed canopy of the railway station in Novi Sad and the tragic accident in which 15 people died. I know about the demonstrations in Serbia. So I know what it is about, but the question is why use such a symbol? They have something to say and have been demonstrating for some time. The question is what exactly do they expect? As far as I know, some of the people suspected of being responsible have already been detained and the investigation is ongoing. And that’s exactly what needs to happen. And if they were part of corrupt actions, if there was corruption, those people should be punished – he said.

The symbol of the bloody fist was also used by some pro-Palestinian non-governmental organizations in the United States of America, when they painted the streets red and left handprints on the concrete. Zuroff claims that behind everything is an attempt to make Hamas a victim, even though the fact is that this organization massacred innocent Israeli civilians on October 7.

Photo: JS

– This is a crazy world we live in, where those who committed crimes suddenly become victims, and the victims are those who committed crimes. This is a sick world. In less than three days, Hamas was already saying that the Israeli people, or IDF soldiers, had killed these people. That’s such idiotic nonsense! Who in their right mind would believe something like that? But it is very easy to lie in this world of ours. And listen, think about what people are saying. You see in the narrative that the countries that transitioned from communism to democracy and that were helping the Nazis in the crimes of the Holocaust, to this day do not take full responsibility for the crimes committed by their own people. What did they say? The Holocaust was a tragedy. The Germans came and killed all our Jews. Of course, it wouldn’t have happened without the Germans. But the Germans were not the ones who killed all the Jews in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary, Romania, Croatia, etc. My professor Juta Bauer, who was the most important professor on the subject of the Holocaust, once did a podcast about Holocaust distortion and he said very simply: ‘People want a convenient historical narrative that they can be proud of.’ Like in Lithuania, where almost 200,000 Jews were killed by Lithuanians, it is not a very convenient history and it is not something you can be proud of – he pointed out.

Photo: News

The historian added that he heard that among those who support the protests in Serbia is the professor of the University of Novi Sad, Dinko Gruhonjić, who once, as I claim, joked that he has a “nice name like Dinko Šakić”.

– He has a sick sense of humor. This is scandalous! Tell that to Milo Bošković’s brother, who was shot in the head in Jasenovac, and to all the other people whose relatives were killed by Šakić. It’s not funny and it’s pointless. And how can anyone take seriously a demonstration supported by an idiot like this professor? How can I take them seriously? People need to set their thoughts on the right path and their history on the right path. Dinko Šakić is a mass murderer! Dinko Šakić is a Ustasha fascist who wanted to be buried in his Ustasha uniform and who said, when he was caught and put on trial, that if he had the chance, he would take over the job of commander of Jasenovac again. For him, the problem with Jasenovec was that they “didn’t let him finish his job”. You know what that means? Kill all Serbs, all Jews, all Roma and all honest Croats who fought against the Ustasha – said Zurof.

Zurof also added that there are political disagreements in Israel, and that great tragedies have occurred, but that no one has called for a revolution because of this.

– We are a nation that was without a homeland for 2000 years. When we finally achieved, I would say, the miracle of the founding of Israel, we do not take the existence of this Israeli state lightly. For us, this is one of the most precious things that the Jewish people had, especially after the Holocaust. So it’s part of our DNA, you could say – he said.

(Euronews)

BONUS VIDEO: INCIDENT IN NOVI SAD: Demonstrators beat and humiliate a grandmother