I would like you to read for few minutes this post from Global Post website about Japan’s POWs black history in WWII. Australian POWs have not forgotten what happened to them during their captivity year and strangely they are demanding the same demands the Egyptians POWs and their
Coombs and his follow Australian POWs
families are demanding from the Israeli government and official : An Official apology and a monetary compensation from the Current Prime Minister of Japan Taro Aso whose father Takakichi Aso used to own mines where more than hundred Australian and British POWs used to work on a daily basis in WWII in conditions less described as inhuman.
I read this and I wonder why the Australian government did not stop Joe Coombs , that POW veteran from the quest of his life now !!?? I think the Japanese-Australian relations despite the hard times of WWII are much normal than the Egyptian-Israeli relations.
We have many Joe Coombs in Egypt and I wish that the day will come and the world will recognize their rights just like Mr.Coombs.
What I like in Mr.Coombs is that he did not give up his or his Co-Pows rights despite his old age.
During the times of wars it is a normal thing that the news and the photos coming from the war zone is filtered , media is very powerful double edged weapon in time of war that can affect the people’s spirit whether positively or negatively , if you search in our modern history you will find out that during the times of war even the biggest democracies in the world had to censor and filter the news and photos coming from the war zone especially those issued by the enemy.
For that particular reason I am not surprised or shocked that the Nasser regime did not publish the photos the Israelis released to the wire services from humiliating shots to our Egyptian POWs during the captivity.There are many photos in this website Egyptians have not seen for decades , they only heard about their details and circumstance from the 1967 veterans who survived that shocking defeat , for sure the veterans accounts were even much horrible than those photos.
I have never stopped to search for new material from photos and accounts to add to the website and fortunately through our Egyptian groups in facebook I found couple of photos that led to huge patch of photos that have never been published to public in Egypt. I found the photos in Magnum Photo agency . Most of these photos were taken by Israeli photographers who accompanied the IDF during the war like for instance Micha Bar Am
Micha Bar Am on the Suez Canal in 1967
The photos I found are very sad and can be provocative to any Egyptian , you do not have to live during that era to feel how sad to see such moments , seriously I understand why the Egyptian regime then had decided not to publish these photos. (( Of course I am totally against the decision of the regime then to lie on the public in the first hours of the defeat))
I must warn the Egyptian visitors that some of the shots are really shocking
The remaings of an Egyptian officerThe underwear parade Passing by Blindfolded POWsHands Up
This was just the tip of the ice-berg, already from the photos you find violations to international laws and human rights treaties and agreements.
In 1967 just like Micha Bar Am was in the Israeli side we had our legendary Akhbar Al Youm Photographer Ahmed Youssef was in the Egyptian side ,he shot two set of films while the withdrawal from Gaza and Al Arish yet he hided his camera bag well before his capture in the desert by the IDF , he swore to my grandfather who was his friend and co-journalist in Akher Saa that he hided them well in some kind of boxes that would preserve them from the desert and time. The man till his death wanted so much to get back and retrieve those films because what he shot was a real evidence of war crimes against Egyptian POWs. I wish one day seriously that someone would find Ahmed Youssef’s camera.
BY the way I was very careful in my search for these lost photos because I found some photos that did not belong to the six days war and belong to other wars and other countries ; this was very sad because we do not need this.
Also if you want to save the photos or post them in your website , you are most welcome but please mention the Egyptianpows.net
The world should know what happened back then , we can get back the rights of these men if we want by law.
Many people do not know the fact that El-Mealem Hassan Shehata’s brother was among our lost officers in 1967.Yes Hassan Shehate brother is among our men that went to Sinai in 1967 and had never returned since then. He was among that reportedly missing .The 1967 year was very special in the life of our favourite national team coach on all levels. Besides the loss of his brother ,the Egyptian league was freezed and Shehata had to travel to play in Kuwait in 1968 where it led through years to become the first Egyptian footballer to gain the title “The best footballer in Asia”.
Hassan Shehata seldomoly speaks about his family just like the rest of celebs in Egypt , I hope that he changes his mind and one day he will speak about how his family had suffered for not knowing the fate of their son whether he was killed in action or killed as a POW.
Shehata now is a world celeb ,he can be a strong ambassador to this cause just like he is strong and firm in the stadium
Naksa was the term the Nasserite Regime used to describe the Six days war defeat to lessen its effect.
Naksa means in Arabic “Set-back” ,the word “Defeat” was not used then.
Today is the memorial of the Naksa , our own definition of the six days war. Today from 42 years ago a human tragedy has started in Sinai where innocent people were killed brutality against international and even human laws and moral.
Today fro 42 years ago the agony of the Egyptians POWs has started and up till now it has not finished yet.
It will finish when those who killed those innocent men are punished just like the international laws say so Egyptian POWs in 1967
I do not know what the Pro-Israeli war machine will say this time !!?? This is a UN report not an Arab league report or amnesty international report !! This is a historical report for sure , I do not recall that the UN has ever exposed Israel like that before. Gaza needed this report from a very long time. Of course Israel has already attacked the UN human rights council using big words from the type "The UN supports terrorists ..etc. The UN human rights council called in its historical report for an urgent end to the inhuman siege ,of course Israel won’t listen but shall the Egyptian regime listen to the UN request !!?? Now to all those nationalists who wondered why no criminalized Israel in the west like Al-Bashir : This is the same human rights council that exposed Al-Bashir. BY the way where is the Arab league war crimes investigation delegation ??
In the 1973 Youm Al Kippor war the Israeli POWs did not believe the treatment they received from their Egyptian capturers , regardless of what Israelis may claim they received the model treatment which was recommended by the international agreements and treaties. Already I have lots of historical sources which insh Allah I will publish here . It is enough to read Mr. Eran Jacoby ‘s comment to know what sort of treatment the Israelis recieved.
Anyhow as usual it seems that Egyptian POWs on the other side in this war did not receive this treatment,as Abdel Rahman Mohamed Qadous from El-Malha at Gharbia Governorate filed a lawsuit against Israeli prime  minister demanding a $100 Million compensation for the physical damages he suffered from as a resulf of his torture in captivity.
Mr. Qadous was captured from the 16th of October till the 15th of November 1973. He said that he was tortured and was injected  contaminated blood that led him to be infected with Cancer.
I believe this is the first lawsuit filed by a 1973 vet.
I am not surprised for what he said , already there were several stories whether from the surviving 1967 POWs or the people Sinai that the IDF used them as guinea pigs.
Good luck to Mr. Qadous in his lawsuit, I wish that the journalist follow the matter more and interview him. It will be great to have his testimony ,already this is his right according to international laws if it is proven that he was mistreated
On Wednesday Mr. Abdel Samad Bally ,the last surviving 1956 Suez War POW has passed away in his village “Al Dibia†at Kafr Sheikh. He was 72 years old.
Mr. Bally had been suing the Israeli government since 2001 and the court ordered a compensation but unfortunately for unknown reason the Egyptian government appealed !!!
His son Mr. Khaled Bally is going to continue in the lawsuit,it was his father well.
The Israeli government was embarrassed from that particular case because it was thought that there were no living 1956 Egyptian POWs.
I feel sad for Mr. Bally, May God bless his soul, he died without receiving his right or even a recognition from his country !! I wish I know more about his story in captivity. I will try to find more information about him insh Allah.
The Egyptian parliament speaker Dr. Fathi Sorror and the NDP members are saying that they would go abroad and expose the war crimes of the IDF against the people of Gaza. They said that they would head to the European Parliament to expose those war crimes against humanity. This is great and I already understand that they are doing so to prove that the Egyptian regime is not bad as portrayed in the Arabic media not because they have to do so because they are members of the Egyptian Parliament but what about the war crimes of the IDF against our POWs in 1956 and in 1967 ??
I read in the newspaper last week that Egypt will join the ICC at its next meeting on the 29th – 30th March 2009. I do not know about this and whether it is true or not. Egypt did not sign the ICC for fear its regime would face charges for violating human rights.
I follow the matter because it is very important news , I doubt it is true after all if Egypt joins the ICC ,the regime will be sued for several cases internationally
