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Dec. 13, 2020
The main criticism of the appointment of Effi Eitam as chairman of Yad Vashem focused on his ideology. Among the critics there were even some who praised his contribution to state security. But his actions should also be considered. They are relevant to the “universal” values the World Holocaust Remembrance Center seeks to disseminate.
In December 1987, at the start of the first intifada, Eitam was the commander of the Givati Brigade, then deployed in the Gaza Strip. In February 1988 Givati soldiers beat to death a detainee from the Bureij refugee camp. They, including the battalion commander, were prosecuted in the military court of the Southern Command. It came to be known as the Givati B Trial.