Middle Eastern Studies ( IF 0.450 ) Pub Date : 2022-09-19 , DOI: 10.1080/00263206.2022.2122448 Benny Morris 1 , Benjamin Z. Kedar 2
Abstract
This article describes Israel's bacteriological warfare campaign during the first Arab-Israeli war of 1948. Over the decades following that war rumours circulated that Israel had used bacteria, alongside conventional weaponry, in its battle against Palestine's Arabs and the surrounding Arab states. The declassification of files in the Israeli military archives, our discovery of a crucial letter in private hands, and the publication of a handful of memoirs relating to 1948 have enabled us to bridge the divide between rumour and fact; to explain the campaign's origins; to reconstruct its stages, beginning in April 1948; to identify who was involved – including Israel's prime minister, David Ben-Gurion and the Israeli army's de facto chief of general staff, Yigael Yadin, as well as leading Israeli scientists – and who actively opposed it; and to delineate and assess what the campaign actually achieved or failed to achieve. In sum, this study helps to understand various aspects of the 1948 War.
中文翻译:
“投出你的面包”:1948 年战争期间以色列的生物战
摘要
本文介绍了 1948 年第一次阿以战争期间以色列的细菌战行动。在那之后的几十年里,战争谣言四起,称以色列在与巴勒斯坦阿拉伯人和周边阿拉伯国家的战斗中除了常规武器之外还使用了细菌。以色列军事档案中档案的解密、我们在私人手中发现的一封重要信件以及出版了一些与 1948 年有关的回忆录,使我们能够弥合谣言与事实之间的鸿沟;解释该活动的起源;从 1948 年 4 月开始重建舞台;以确定谁参与其中 - 包括以色列总理大卫·本·古里安和以色列军队事实上的总参谋长伊盖尔·亚丁,以及以色列领先的科学家——以及积极反对的人;并描述和评估该活动实际取得或未能取得的成果。总之,这项研究有助于了解 1948 年战争的各个方面。