The Cross of Bethlehem | The Memoirs of a Refugee

Until 2006 I was unaware of the importance of certain issue in my book The Cross of Bethlehem. It wasn’t by chance; Israeli citizens suffer from a severe censorship and many of the issues related to 9/11. In 2001 I was still in Israel.

In 2006 – 4 years into my exile and after having been recognized as a refugee – I arrived at the US and found my book linked time and again to 9/11. That was despite the fact it does not deal with that event. I signed a contract with a publisher only to find it violated little after its signature without explanations. People wanted to hear me speaking about 9/11 and not about The Cross of Bethlehem.

Little by little, I found what the issue was. The book included a chapter about the son of the Jewish terrorist that blew up the King David Hotel in Jerusalem in 1946. It was the bloodiest terrorist act in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict until now.

The son enjoys the protection of the Mossad and occasionally passes them bits of information he finds useful. That was how the Mossad learned about my intention to publish The Cross of Bethlehem.

All these may be interesting, but it is irrelevant. The important bit was that “Arik” entered the Mossad system as an art student in Milan. An important issue on the 9/11 event was the presence of Israeli art students all over the place, the testimonies are everywhere and became a cornerstone in various unofficial theories related to the event.

Israel did not react directly to that. Yet, I am facing ongoing violence by that state – including the recent crush of my throat and theft of all my travel documents – also because The Cross of Bethlehem provides the only direct evidence that the Mossad does sometimes disguise its agents as art students.

According to the Israeli ethics, that’s enough to ruin my life, justifying even assassination attempts.

May God forgive them.