Danny Ben-Ari does not remember the parting from his mother Mira Ben-Ari, the wireless and warrior who fell among Nitzanim during the War of Independence. But perhaps the fact that that farewell scene is being recreated these days in the film “Victory Picture” by director Avi Nesher – manages from a distance of 73 years to paint Ben Ari the events of that night in tangible pictures.
The night of the farewell took place on May 17, 1948, as part of “Operation Baby,” in which mothers and their children were evacuated from the Negev kibbutzim, prior to the expected attack by the Egyptian army. “When all the mothers and their children in their laps came out of buds, my mother Mira Ben-Ari, being the context of the dot, refused to leave,” says Ben-Ari. “She placed me in the hands of Yerach Bleiberg (the father of Ehud Bleiberg, the film’s producer – RK), who later transferred me to a soldier from Givati, until we reached Beer Tuvia.”
In order not to provoke noises and cries, water the children with wine mixed with crushed sleeping pills. “I am told that I almost gave up the operation, when I shouted and cried ‘I want my mother’ and ‘I want to pee,'” says Ben-Ari. He gave up the children and the women arrived safely at Beer Tuvia, and from there he was transferred to the home of his grandfather, Mira’s parents, in Tel Aviv.
In the cinematic remake of the breakup, actress Joy Rieger, who plays the character of Mira Ben-Ari, kisses her two-year-old son Danny (played by the boy Noam Segal) for the last time and puts a letter in her pants pocket for her husband Elyakim.
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“I will write only a few words,” Mira Ben-Ari wrote in the letter. “You will probably understand that I can not write simply. It is a little difficult, more than a little. I have never felt that way before, but I will overcome. In our time we have to overcome everything. Maybe for our people’s ability to endure and not give up .
“I see in my mother’s letter a will, how she wants me to be raised in the free state of Israel,” the son now says.
Mira Ben-Ari did not meet her son again. About three weeks later, on June 7, 1948, at the end of a ten-hour battle with the Egyptian army, she was killed, killing 32 other fighters. 106 friends and warriors were captured by the Egyptians. “Mira was killed when she went out with the force commander at the point, Avraham Schwartzstein, who was wounded, to negotiate with the Egyptian officers in order to save the rest of her comrades, whose chances of surviving against the Egyptians were zero,” says Ben-Ari. “But when the officer from the Egyptian force shot Avraham, Mira pulled out the gun, shot him, and was immediately shot back and killed.”
Until the last ball
Avi Nesher’s recent film “The Picture of Victory” presents the story of Nitzanim on the part of the Israeli and Egyptian narratives and is narrated by the Egyptian journalist Muhammad Hassanin Heichel (later editor of the Egyptian diary “Al-Ahram”). The film was born on the initiative of producer Ehud Bleiberg, as mentioned, the son of Yerach Bleiberg, who was Nitzanim’s cowherd and was captured by the Egyptians, and Danny Ben Ari. The film’s budget is estimated at NIS 15 million.
Ben-Ari is the owner of a civil engineering company, founded by his father Elyakim and called “Elyakim Ben-Ari Ltd.” Overtime to use vehicles and turn them into 48 ‘models, “he says.” We also located a tank in the thorns of Yad Mordechai. “
If that was not enough, 50-60 sand trucks were brought to the filming site to paint the restored kibbutz land in the colors of Nitzanim soil, which was located near the beach. “We lifted a battery of earth and covered dunes in white sand,” says Ben-Ari.
What pushed you to promote the film?
“Over the years, Ehud and I have had talk of commemorating them and telling the truth about the Battle of Nitzanim. I am from the first class of Nitzanim children, and it is important for me to emphasize that I represent the kibbutz and the sons and daughters of the warriors. “Father Kovner wrote about the surrender of buds.”
The surrender of Kibbutz Nitzanim has become an almost indelible stain in the history of the War of Independence and the history of the State of Israel, following the publication of the battle page of the Givati Brigade’s education officer, Abba Kovner, and the brigade commander Shimon Avidan’s. “It is an hour of great sorrow and a deep and poignant soul-searching … It is better to fall into the excavations of the house than to surrender to a murderous intruder.
“Father Kovner had no idea what he was talking about,” Ben-Ari now says. “He was not there, he came from another world, immigrated to Israel in 1946, did not fight in the War of Independence and wrote the battle page based on nothing. And when the fighters returned from captivity, they did not flee to Tel Aviv, but re-established the kibbutz east of the old point. The winning answer to Father Kovner. “
Were you ashamed then?
“We were ashamed and saddened by the despised Nitzanim people, who were ashamed and suffered in the face of the injustice done to them, but had no strength to speak. We, the children, also suffered and were ashamed. Decades condemned Nitzanim and presented us as cowards. “Doctors mocked the children who came to the hospital for medical treatment and said, ‘You too are as cowardly as the fighters in Nitzanim.’
According to Ben-Ari, who also relies on the testimony of one of the captured fighters, on June 7, 1948, Mira Ben-Ari issued a final message before burying the walkie-talkie. At the same time, it also issued an SOS message that was received at the division’s headquarters. However, the needs of Nitzanim were ignored at the brigade’s headquarters. “In doing so, they actually abandoned Nitzanim by the Egyptian army, and also attached the story of surrender and disgrace to it. And all for political reasons,” Ben-Ari claims.
The film also raises the claim of abandonment on a political background by the young defenders of the place. “Kibbutz Nitzanim belonged to the ‘Zionist Youth’ movement, while in the entire area there were kibbutzim of Hashomer Hatzair,” says Ben-Ari. “The parties fought with the Ministry of Defense to get weapons and ammunition and gave priority to the kibbutzim of Hashomer Hatzair such as Gat, Gal-On, Negba and Yad Mordechai, who were known to evacuate in the middle of the night and leave the kibbutz, but no one condemned them.”
An investigation committee was later set up, appointed by the then Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Yaakov Dori, who purged the Nitzanim fighters. “Bud Warriors fought to the last bullet,” he said. Givati commander Shimon Avidan even came to apologize to the kibbutz members. Father Kovner, however, never retracted his accusations.
The sound of the shot
Mira Ben-Ari (Miriam Glaschiev) was born in Berlin. In 1933, when the Nazis came to power in Germany at the age of 7, she immigrated to Eretz Israel with her parents. From a young age she wrote poems, a personal diary, Zionist opinion pieces, as well as articles on the Holocaust, which greatly influenced her worldview. During her studies at the Herzliya Gymnasium, she was greatly influenced by her teacher, the writer and poet Eldad Shayev, who was one of the leaders of the Lehi, and at the age of 15 she joined the Lehi movement as an activist. A year and a half later, she was sent to the village of Lubia, near Yavneel, where, in training for Kibbutz Nitzanim, she met Elyakim, later her husband.
Have you ever asked why your mother did not stay with you?
“I did not ask and I can not say that it bothered me. My mother was bold despite her young age, 22 years old in total. She stayed to fight because of who she was. During my service in the IDF, I began to proudly tell about Mira Ben-Ari. Ostensibly she could have given up and surrendered, but if she had, she would not have been Mira Ben Ari. Fearlessly she pulled out a gun and fired at an Egyptian. She knew what the storm would be like. It is so clear from this that she did not intend to surrender. “
What did your father say about mother?
“He never talked to me about my mother, and I did not ask. What I researched and knew I learned from the diaries she wrote. I remember when I first came to the cemetery as a 5-year-old, to the Nitzanim Falls mass grave. At each memorial one of the kibbutz members approached me and said: ‘Danny “You know, Mira Ben-Ari swore to me to tell you that you had a mother.”
Danny Ben-Ari has only good words to say about his childhood at Kibbutz Nitzanim. “I had a good time at the kibbutz, everyone loved and pampered me, maybe because I did not have a mother and I was everyone’s potty,” he says.
Towards the age of Bar Mitzvah, Danny Ben-Ari and his father Elyakim left the kibbutz and moved to Rishon Lezion. The father remarried to Rebecca Antin, the widow of the late Meir Antin, who was also killed among the buds.
Danny Ben-Ari did his military service in the military police, and throughout his reserve service he rose to the rank of colonel. His farewell ceremony for the IDF, at the age of 58, was held at his request near the house where Mira Ben-Ari was killed.
He is currently married to Roni Ben Ari, an artist and photographer, and they live in Moshav Netaim with their three daughters and grandchildren. “We set up a small kibbutz, just without meetings of members,” he laughs. His eldest daughter is named Mira after his mother. “It was clear to me that I would call her by my mother’s name,” he says. “My daughter Mira is proud to bear the name. She is like my mother, just two drops of water. Opinionary and feminine.”
The film “The Picture of Victory” also emphasizes a crisis in the relationship between Mira Ben-Ari and her husband Elyakim, who was a driver in the Negev Cooperative and traveled to bring supplies to Nitzanim. On the day of the battle, he was unable to return to the kibbutz and remained in Beer Tuvia. In contrast to reality, Mira’s character has an affair with the commander of the force, Avraham Schwartzstein. “Mira Ben-Ari adored him, but in the film they had a heated affair,” says the son. “I admit that this scene of them kissing and leaving the room at night came as a surprise to me. But Avi Nesher convinced me that romance is required in a film, because at these ages there are infatuations and mutual attraction.
How was working with Avi Nesher?
“It was not easy. My father is a soloist, it is difficult to drink coffee with him. When the filming started he was very withdrawn. I salute him for endless working hours. My wife Roni and I accompanied the filming from the side. “It lasted five years and we filmed in Corona. And there was the painful tragedy with the death of his son Ari. It was really terrible. I thought he would not continue, but Avi Nesher is a strong man, he continued with all his might and did a good job.”
Have you had any arguments?
“There was a bitter debate about the caption that appears at the end of the film. My father wanted to end with the caption: ‘In memory of the young men and women who fought with buds on both sides.’ I did not agree. Buds’ “.
What particularly moved you in the film?
“Two things: the parting scene from me in ‘Operation Baby,’ when mom buries the letter in my pants. It was lovely to connect with Noam Segal who played the child. And the other: my mother’s last moment before she was killed. Mira Ben-Ari remains a myth. ”
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