Senior IDF officer says "pullout plan similar to deportation of Berlin Jews to crematoriums"

Maariv Interational - Sept. 28, 2004

Senior IDF officer says "pullout plan similar to deportation of Berlin Jews to crematoriums"

Colonel (Res) Gadi Dorchler tells NRG Maariv that actions of Disengagement Authority chief Yonatan Basi "chillingly resemble the activities of the Jewish Yudenrat".

A senior reserve IDF officer has escalated the public discourse regarding the disengagement plan. Colonel (res) Gadi Dorchler, who is still active in the IDF's Northern Command, told NRG Maariv, "The pullout plan is extremely similar to the plan to deport Berlin Jews to the crematoriums".

Dorchler, a member of the religious Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu, has no hesitation to attack his fellow kibbutz member and head of the Disengagement Authority Yonatan Basi.

"His actions chillingly resemble the activities of the Jewish Yudenrat who collaborated with the Nazis in order to complete a smooth and problem-free expulsion", he said.

According to Dorchler, "I know this is an outrageous comparison and that it is a fellow member of my kibbutz, but that's exactly how I feel about the contemptuous role he is carrying out".

The reserve colonel said that he had formulated the comparison to the Yudenrat after noticing the reactions of the elders of the kibbutz, Holocaust survivors in their 80s and 90s, to the letters Basi sent to settlers slated for evacuation.

"These Jews told me with tears in their eyes that they hadn't slept in three days after they had found out their fellow kibbutz member is the one in charge of uprooting Jews from their homeland", he concluded.