We warned of Israeli neo-Nazis, Holocaust survivors say

Holocaust survivors shocked, but not surprised at uncovering of neo-Nazi cell in Petah Tikva. 'Anyone celebrating Hitler's birthday doesn't belong in Israel,' survivor says

Yael Branovsky
Published: 09.10.07, 01:06 / Israel Jewish Scene

The uncovering of the neo-Nazi cell in Petah Tikva recently, left many Holocaust survivors shocked, but very few were actually surprised.

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Gitta Keufman, a Holocaust survivor and head of the organization for concentration camps and ghetto survivors, told Ynet, "We've been hearing of this for quite some time now, but every time we tried to warn someone, that such things were going on, we were told it was an insignificant, local occurrence," she said.

The mere existence of a neo-Nazi cell in Israel made her visibly uncomfortable. "I'm afraid. We don't even have any laws against it… these teens came to Israel, received every opportunity the country had to offer and this is what they do?"

She said she had mixed feelings after hearing of the arrests.

"On the one hand, it's incomprehensible, especially for those of us who have survived the Holocaust. On the other hand, it was a relief that they were finally caught… this exposure might make the government do something so this won't happen again," she said.

"I hope they get sent back. Anyone celebrating Hitler's birthday is not a part of the Israeli nation and does not belong here."

Sergei Sushon, who was 13-years-old when World War Two broke out and lost his entire family in the

Holocaust, told Ynet "when someone such as myself sees these things it is infuriating, especially since this is not new to us and we wrote and warned but no one understood how serious this phenomenon was.

"The government must severely punish the cell members and annihilate these barbarians," he said.

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