Operation Mural

Children rescued during Operation Mural.

Bat Ye’or, Giselle Littman, is the nom de plume of noted author of The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians under Islam, Eurabia: The Europe Arab Axis,  Europe, Globalization, and the Coming of the Universal Caliphate and other major works in her oeuvre. Her books and articles cover the treatment of Jews and Christians in Muslim Lands, the threat of Islamization of the West and what she called, “the Palestinization of Israel.”

Bat Ye’or is featured in the book and documentary about  Operation Mural about the Israeli Mossad covert operation that involved both her and her late husband David Littman posing as Christians smuggled the first 530 Jewish children to Israel via Switzerland and France under the guise of a summer camp. They were the leading edge of ultimately more than 100,000 Moroccan Jews to gain freedom in the land of Israel in 1961. Operation Mural was launched following the tragic loss of 44 Moroccan Jews lost when an illegal immigrant ship the Egoz capsized.  Emigration to Israel had been restricted by Morocco following its Independence from France in 1956.

For his efforts, David Littman was awarded the Mossad Hero of Silence by a grateful Israeli government in 2009.

Here is the note Bat Ye’or sent this writer about  development of the book on Operation Mural:

Bat Ye’or , Giselle Littman.

Dearest Jerry and Jean,

First, many thanks for your beautiful card that you kindly sent me for Pesach. I had been in Paris where I gave a lecture on the Islamization of Jerusalem by UNESCO. I am so happy to see that you are active together as always, devoted to fight the vicious enemies of our people.

I wanted to tell you that I am delighted to see that David’s beautiful and generous act on behalf of Moroccan children, prevented to leave the country, is remembered in this feast of Passover commemorating deliverance and freedom. We had to keep it secret for many years because it would have endangered people working still there. Meanwhile, others who never went to Morocco claimed the merit of it.

I am happy that the film was produced and the book written: Operation Mural giving all the proofs from Swiss archives. Although he was much weakened, David Littman, z”l, finished this book while he was in the clinic of Genoliers under heavy treatment for an aggressive form of leukemia. I stayed most of the time with him and it is from there that I wrote for you late at night in the dark room, hardly seeing anything, an interview that you had published beautifully in The West Speaks (2012).

Ariane, our daughter, helped David in typing the manuscript and after his death edited it with skill, adding the documents and some testimonies of children who are now grandparents. The book was published some years ago and I hope that you have a copy.

I hope that you both are strong and healthy like when I met you so many years ago. I think often of my American friends and I am proud to see their achievements in fighting this terrible world jihadist battle to save the most important human right that Judaism proclaimed for humanity, three thousand years ago: Freedom!

Giselle Littman aka Bat Ye’or

A special showing of the film Operation Mural-Casablanca 1961 will be held at B’nai Israel Synagogue in Pensacola, Florida on Sunday, May 7, 2017 at 4PM.  Following the film, a panel composed of synagogue members Esther Allen and Kate Lollar of Moroccan Jewish Sephardim heritage will discuss their experience during WWII, the period that led up to Operation Mural and a relative who was among the first wave of Moroccan children who left for Israel facilitated by the Littmans.

An assortment of Moroccan delicacies will be served to attendees at the Operation Mural event.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in the New English Review.