Talk:Yoel Palgi

Hannah Szenes

Didn't Yoel Palgi parachute into Yugoslavia in March 1944 with Hannah Szenes, as per her entry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Szenes? — Preceding unsigned comment added by SurakVHC (talk • contribs) 19:14, 23 May 2016 (UTC)

Removed quote

Removed completely chopped up quote which appears intended to smear the subject. The full quote is "Everywhere I turned, the question was fired at me: Why did the Jews not rebel? Why did they go like lambs to the slaughter? Suddenly I realized that we were ashamed of those who were tortured, shot burned. There is a kind of general agreement that the Holocaust dead were worthless people. unconsciously, we ave accepted the Nazi view that the Jews were subhuman." Drsmoo (talk) 16:52, 31 October 2017 (UTC)

You are saying Alan Wolfe chopped up the quote. Alan Wolfe's quote was given in its entirety. (b) So you are objecting to the source, but Wolfe and the publishing house are unchallengeably RS. (c)You have the full quote? Then supply from an RS the full quote from another RS (d) you didn't do (c) which means you don't like the quote, partial or complete. (e) To assert a quote on a dead person must be removed because it smears him is farcical, and has no grounds in Wikipedia policy. Nishidani (talk) 19:21, 31 October 2017 (UTC)

By the way stop following me around and reverting my edits or contesting anything I do here, as if I were a scourge on Wikipedia. Keep it up and you'll be reported.Nishidani (talk) 19:23, 31 October 2017 (UTC)

The full quote is from Tom Segev's book The Seventh Million I won't re-add it due to 1rr, so will ask at a noticeboard. Drsmoo (talk) 20:56, 31 October 2017 (UTC)

If you can provide the ref for that source, then it certainly makes sense to provide the full quote. That being said, I don't think any of the quote needs to be included. Putting it in, especially as it is now, is just for shock value I think and adds nothing. Sir Joseph ^(talk) 21:46, 31 October 2017 (UTC)

I added the full quote since it is reliably sourced to Tom Segev. Sir Joseph ^(talk) 21:54, 31 October 2017 (UTC)

Thanks SJ. The point surely is, editors should have the same criterion for every page. One can't jump from an article having just plastered 'shock quotes' (Gilad Atzmon) there, where they already abound, and then go to another article, Yoel Palgi, and removed a 'shock' quote. Do that, and you give the impression that one edits positively or negatively depending on POV.

I didn't put it in for shock value but simply because it is a familiar theme to me which I hadn't known of regarding Palgi, and came across it accidentally while reading Wolfe's book. It is, as both Wolfe and Segev (and several others) state, one of many remarks made by important Zionist leaders at the time which reflect a certain sabra mentality of hostility to diaspora Jews. If anything, Palgi's remark does him honour in that discursive context. Others like Apolinary Hartglas were making hard calculations about who to save, along the lines:-

‘Whom to save? . . .I understand that it seems cruel to put the question in this form, but unfortunately we must state that if we are able to save only 10,000 people from among 50,000 who can contribute to building the country and to the national revival of the people, as against saving a million Jews who will be a burden, or at best an apathetic element, we must restrain ourselves and save the 10,000 that can be saved from among the 50,000-despute the accusations and pleas of the million.' (p.21)

Palgi had, in the service of the yishuv, taken on a desperate and almost suicidal mission to save Jews in the Holocaust, and came back shocked by that kind of hardnosed pragmastism, and stated as much in a dissident note of horror. It would only 'shock' those who don't study history in depth, or who wish to consolidate a no-warts image of a revolutionary movement. I've either put in damaging stuff into the Amin al-Husseini and several others or retained what other editors added to it which is detrimental to one version of Palestinian history because reliable authors supply such details, and I expect editors to do the same in articles like this. Nishidani (talk) 09:39, 1 November 2017 (UTC)

I've found extensive sources on Palgy and among them so far 3 other reputable sources cite this passage.

• Keith Lowe, The Fear and the Freedom: How the Second World War Changed Us Penguin UK, 2017
• Jennifer Ring, The Political Consequences of Thinking: Gender and Judaism in the Work of Hannah Arendt SUNY Press, 1997 p.75.
• David C. Jacobson, Israeli Poetry and the Bible, Wayne State University Press 1997 p.140

I think that indicates this is regarded by scholarly sources as an important quote, and therefore worthy of incorporation. I have enough material to contextualize it as an afterthought to a large section providing the details of his wartime experiences.Nishidani (talk) 20:21, 1 November 2017 (UTC)

required to join army

Huh? Can you please clarify? Why were they required? Was that a requirement from their group, from the British, etc.? Sir Joseph ^(talk) 13:43, 2 November 2017 (UTC)

There were tensions between the Yishuv and the Poms, naturally enough. The operation required British transport, logistics and intelligence, and the British insisted they join their army, also in order to ensure that it was under their command and control. I've tried to ensure all editors and readers can control the content minutely by providing page links where possible, and in this case the evidence for 'required' is in the 'insisted' on Baumel-Schwartz's 2010 book p.13, and 'ultimately agreed to enlist' on pp.14-15.Nishidani (talk) 13:52, 2 November 2017 (UTC)

'died = killed'. I'd appreciate if you reconsidered this. The source p.15 says they took out a life insurance policy. To die while on active service (you could get killed = die in a drop, be shot by friendly fire, etc.etc.) is one thing, to be killed is far too specific, and implies (WP:OR) an active agent and that we know the precise terms of the policy. The sources don't tell us, and therefore, we must adopt the generic term. The important thing to emphasize is that they all took out insurance that would guarantee (and it was a quasi-suicidal mission on the odds) that their communities and loved ones would get substantial compensation for the extreme risks involved (up to £2000 Palestinian pounds, a fortune in those days.Nishidani (talk) 14:02, 2 November 2017 (UTC)