Haimovitz. Only to Taba
Photo: Seya Egozy
Scene of Monday's attack
Photo: AP
Holocaust victim in Sinai: I'm not afraid
Yosef Haimovitz crossed southern border to distance himself from Holocaust memorials, special television broadcasts; upon returning to Israel following Dahab terror attacks, he says 'I was part of Hitler's death brigade and rescued many Jews'
About 30 Israelis out of the 1,600 currently staying in Sinai crossed the border terminal back to the southern town of Eilat Monday night. The series of terror attacks, which took place in the tourist resort of Dahab, did not manage to frighten the vacationers at the beaches closer to the border.
On Tuesday morning, two buses carrying Arab Israeli tourists crossed the border toward Sharm al-Sheik.
Itzik Chai, general manager of the Taba crossing, said: "The border terminal is prepared for great waves of Israelis returning home, should there be such people."
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One of those who did return to Israel was 74-year-old Yosef Haimovitz from Eilat, who chose to spend this year's Holocaust Day at the Hilton Taba casino. The hotel suffered a terror attack two years ago and is far from Dahab, where terror struck Monday night, but Haimovitz chose not to take any chances.
As a Holocaust survivor, Haimovitz is aware of the fact that there are those who will be amazed over his decision to spend the evening at a casino, but he explained that he chose to distance himself from the memorial ceremonies and the special television broadcasts because "all these sights (of the Holocaust Day films) are too difficult for me."
'Casino filled with Israelis'
On Tuesday morning, when he crossed the border back to Israel, Haimovitz announces that he would be returning to Taba, but not to the southern part of the peninsula.
"There were many Israelis at the Hilton casino, hundreds. The casino was full," he told Ynet. "We heard about the terror attack because there were many phone calls from Israel. Some of the Israelis escaped immediately, while the others stayed."
"I am not afraid of anything. I was part of Hitler's death brigade and I saved many Jews during the Holocaust because the Nazis didn’t know that I was Jewish," he said.
Haimovich plans to return to the blackjack and roulette tables, "but not to Sinai, only to Taba."
He didn't hide his criticism of the State of Israel, saying that he had very good reasons to spend his free time south of the border.
"There are casinos filled with Israelis all over the world, only in Israel there is no casino. There will be more terror attacks, and it's the Israelis' fault. A hotel in Eilat is expensive, while the hotels in Sinai are cheap," he charged.
While Haimovitz and two other yeshiva students returning from the Taba casino were making their way back home, three young Israeli arrived at the border terminal carrying three large backpacks. To the surprise of the border's security guards, they asked to cross the border to Sinai.
"A terror attack doesn’t happen twice in the same place," one of them said before continuing toward the terminal.
One person who will most certainly not be returning to Sinai in the near future is 18-year-old Gdalia Cohen, who was dining in a fish restaurant in Dahab when terror struck and suffered a shock in light of the difficult sights. Only last week, Cohen lost his grandmother Marcel in the Tel Aviv central bus station terror attack.
