Whatever ones views of Israel and its role in the instability of the Middle East, the story of its creation as a modern state is remarkable. Mr. Kaniuk, an Israeli journalist and playwright, has isolated just one of the threads of that creation tapestry and, here, spins it dramatically, revealing in the process a brave mission, commanded by a hero, meant to right a terrible wrong.
In 1947, coming off the unspeakable crime of the Holocaust, and attempting to create a Jewish state in what was then Palestine, a mission was launched by the fledgling state that would come to be known as Israel to gather up Holocaust survivors and to transport them, by boat, from Europe to Israel. The intent was not only to populate a new Jewish state but to protect the persecuted and to attempt to reunite them with what was left of their families. When we think of missions, however, we imagine technical expertise and fast ships and well-armed guerillas making sure the Holocaust survivors were safe. But in 1947, Israel was barely an idea being kicked around by a collection of Jewish settlers squatting on British-controlled Palestine. Even pooling their efforts, they could barely manage to requisition a couple of beaten-down, 20-year-old ships which had to be stripped down to take on as many passengers as possible. They were nothing more than floating refugee columns, drifting across the seas towards Palestine, praying for a miracle.
This new Exodus, this time from Europe, was commanded by Yossi Harel, a brave and dynamic young soldier who, amongst an assortment of dangers, faced down British patrol boats in order to see his refugees safely to their destination. His harrowing exploits are painfully captured by Mr. Kaniuk who describes in vivid detail the acquisition of the boats, the retrieval of the Holocaust survivors, the transportation of the survivors across the seas to Israel and, finally, the heartless conduct of the British soldiers who turned them away at the threshold of freedom. Shameful and heartbreaking. Surely there is no more poignant symbol of Jewish helplessness in the face of the crimes committed against them than this act of dishonorable indifference to their plight. Not that this stopped Harel from trying again, unwilling to give up before his mission was complete.
Mr. Kaniuk has penned a powerful story, one which feels as though it's taken some license with real events in the name of good narrative. But this in no way diminishes Harel's stalwartness or the refugees' desperation, both of which set this tale of woe alight. (3/5 Stars)
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