All I can say is that if an Australian, English, Irish, or a Scottish battalion had been treated as this Jewish battalion was treated, Divisional Headquarters would have gone up in flames and the General himself would have been lucky to escape. Be it noted that the mutineers of other British units, the men who had openly defied all authority and set Kantara in a blaze, were not even put on trial! Until the recruits were forcibly thrust upon me, I can vouch for it that the 38th Battalion Royal Fusiliers was one of the most exemplary units that ever took the field, crime being practically unknown. The men endured hard marching, hard knocks, fatiguing manual labour, at times scanty rations of food and water, the seething heat of the Jordan Valley and the anti-Semitism of the local military authorities, and withal gained the highest praise from the General Officer Commanding under whom they served in the field. Notwithstanding the fact that we were so despitefully used, the authorities found that the men's services were invaluable. In addition to garrisoning large areas of Palestine, I had officers, N.C.O.s, and men, holding all kinds of important posts throughout the E.E.F., from Aleppo to Cairo. The demand for men from the 38th Battalion was ever on the increase, for executive officers found the Jewish soldier steady, sober and reliable, three qualities, the importance of which I was always impressing on the men, although, as a matter of fact, sobriety is one of the outstanding virtues of the Jewish soldier. CHAPTER XXX. THE FALL OF GOLIATH. The violent anti-Semitism shown by General Z at last reached such a pitch that on one occasion (the 16th July to be exact), he rode into camp and, without the slightest provocation, abused and insulted the men, threatened one of them, and actually went so far as to strike an unoffending private soldier with his whip, using at the same time language which would make Billingsgate blush. I was not present at this outrage, but I heard a full account of all that happened from various eye-witnesses who reported the affair, and all I could imagine was that the General must have suddenly gone insane. The whole battalion was in an uproar, and I had much ado to pacify the men and keep things going. The man who was struck was sent to Hospital with a swollen arm, and the other men who were specifically insulted reported to me at the orderly room and complained of the treatment they had received. I forwarded their complaint to General Z, together with the sick report of the man he had struck with his whip. He replied requesting me to have these particular men paraded so that he might speak to them. I arranged for this embarrassing interview, and, to prevent any hostility which the outraged battalion might have shown towards General Z when he entered the camp, I kept the men in their tents, with N.C.O.s in charge of each door, with instructions to see that no untoward incident took place.