Letters
Dear Sir
Just to introduce myself, I was the young man who
climbed onto the roof of the Iraqi Embassy in London
during the demonstration in 1969 (after the murder
of the 9 Jews in Baghdad) and placed the Israeli flag
on the Embassy roof. I have been living in Israel
since 1970 and my family are always asking me if I
have any newspaper cuttings of the event (I am now
married to an Iraqi) and have three grown up children.
If by any way you could obtain for me any photos or
such I would be much obliged.
Yours
Colin Silver colins@netvision.net.il
Reply:
Mr Dangoor remembers that incident because he was
there. We understood at the time that a person went
up to remove the Iraqi flag and was stabbed by one
of the Embassy's guards. We did not know about someone
trying to place the Israeli flag on the Embassy roof.
As it was dark and was a short incident obviously
no photo was taken of the incident. Please recount
your whole story and send us a photograph with your
family, for our journal.
If you send your address we will post you a printed
copy of the latest issue of The Scribe (issue 75).
Colin Silver’s reply:
Thank you for your reply. I would like to refresh
Mr Dangoor’s memory and tell you the complete
story of what happened that night. I had arrived at
the Iraqi Embassy for the demonstration with a close
friend, Mr Harry Bidney. (We were both from the infamous
‘62’ group). After about 15 mins of standing
outside and shouting, a person that we knew came up
to us and gave to Harry an Israeli flag saying it
would be a good idea to put in on the Embassy. Being
the youngest there (26), it was sugested that I find
a way on to the roof and spread the flag there ( for
the TV cameras). I took the flag and entered a hotel
which was, if I remember rightly, about three houses
away. On the third floor of the hotel I found a fire
escape and climbed outside and climbed up an escape
ladder onto the roof. I climbed across the roofs and
draped the flag on the front of the building.
On returning down to the demonstration I realised
that I had put the flag on the wrong building, so
I decided to go back up and put it on the Embassy.
At this time I was joined by another man who, if I
remember rightly, was called Israel-something. So
we went up again the same way, me leading, and he
was behind me. Uknown to us the people in the Embasy
must have seen the flag on the next door building
and when we managed to get on the Embassy roof they
were waiting for us. We were standing on a narrow
ledge which surrounds the roof and I had just removed
the Iraqi flag and replaced it with the Israeli when
two men started to run toward us on the roof, one
of them fired a pistol (two shots) which were later
found in the wall of the building opposite. We both
must have panicked and tried to get back the way we
came but this man Israel was struggling with one of
the guards and blocking my escape (the ledge was about
16in wide). I hit the guard in the face and he fell
backwards. Israel started running back the way we
came, and I was behind him. We got back to the hotel
and climbed down. On arriving in the street Israel
suddenly fell down saying, “I’ve been
stabbed”. I stayed with him for about 3-5mins
and then decided TO DISAPPEAR. Unfortunately as I
tried to run I was stopped by a police officer and
was taken to the police station for questioning, after
which I was released.
That is the story....the picture of Israel on the
floor outside the hotel and me kneeling next to him
was in all the following daily papers. This is the
picture I am trying to obtain: I wear glasses and
was wearing a suede jacket. I hope that I have set
the records straight; I haven’t spoken to anyone
about the incident since then (except my family) and
two months after the incident I emigrated to Israel,
where I have lived ever since.
I thank you for your interest and hope you can find
me the picture I am looking for.
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