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'''David Gerald Littman''' (4 July 1933 – 20 May 2012) was a British Jewish activist<ref>{{cite webmagazine|url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,613193,00.html|first=Veit|last= Medick |title=Germany Asked to Boycott UN Racism Conference|publishermagazine=''[[Der Spiegel]]''|date=13 March 2009|accessdate=10 January 2010}}</ref><ref>[http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=CS&s_site=thestate&p_multi=CS&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB58713D01A5C22&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM "Religious Freedom to Get Spotlight Conference to Focus on Persecuted Church", ''[[The State (newspaper)|The State]]'', p. B2, 12 March 1998, accessed 12 January 2010]</ref> best known for organising the departure of Jewish children from Morocco when he was 28. He then worked as a [[lobbyist]] at the United Nations in Geneva<ref name=bio /> and was also an historian.<ref>Thomas, Martyn and Adly A. Youssef, ''Copts in Egypt: A Christian Minority under Siege'', (Orthdruk Bialystok, 2006), 190; ''David Gerald Littman: Historian, born in London, received his BA and MA degrees in modern history and political science at Trinity College Dublin''.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Kf3XAAAAMAAJ&q=%22david+g+littman%22&dq=%22david+g+littman%22&lr=&num=50&cd=13 ''Islam et judéo-christianisme: texte inédit: Intervention philosophique'', p. 38, Jacques Ellul], Presses universitaires de France, 2004, {{ISBN|978-2-13-054215-5}}, accessed 13 January 2010</ref> He was married to [[Bat Ye'or]].
 
==Biography==
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In 1961, Littman volunteered for a clandestine humanitarian mission to evacuate Jewish children from [[Morocco]] to Israel, via Switzerland. Moroccan Jews had been forbidden from leaving the country since 1956.<ref name=trouw /> Littman thought he was working for the [[Jewish Agency]] – years later it was revealed it was arranged with the assistance of the [[Mossad]].<ref name=trouw>{{cite news|url= http://www.nederlandsgesprekcentrum.nl/user/file/aphilosopheratthehumanrightscouncilartikelaustindacey-trouw.doc|last= Dacey|first= Austin|date= 3 December 2008|title= Sensitive Words|work= [[Trouw]] / article stored at the Nederlands Gesprek Centrum|accessdate= 21 November 2011|deadurl= yes|archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20120425235150/http://www.nederlandsgesprekcentrum.nl/user/file/aphilosopheratthehumanrightscouncilartikelaustindacey-trouw.doc|archivedate= 25 April 2012|df= dmy-all}}</ref><ref name=conn /> From March–July 1961, posing with his wife and baby daughter as Christians, Littman ran the [[Casablanca]] office of the Geneva-based international NGO for children ''Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants de l'Afrique du Nord'' (OSSEAN).<ref name=bio /><ref name=conn /><ref name=ner /> His [[code name]] was "Mural",<ref name=conn /> and the code name for the mission was "[[Operation Mural]]". After months of negotiation by Littman, the children left Morocco in five convoys under the guise of a supposed holiday in Switzerland (with Littman accompanying the last convoy), and from Switzerland went to Israel.<ref name=trouw/><ref name=conn /><ref name=ner /> In all, he assisted in evacuating 530 Jewish children to Israel.<ref name=trouw/><ref name=conn /> The children's families joined them several years later.<ref>[''Mideast file'', Volume 5,&nbsp;Issue 4, Mekhon Shiloaḥ le-ḥeḳer ha-Mizraḥ ha-tikhon ṿe-Afriḳah, Learned Information, 1986, accessed 14 January 2010]</ref>
 
An article about Operation Mural by Shmuel Segev was published in the magazine ''Maariv'' in 1984.<ref name=ner /> Littman's work was then recognized by President [[Chaim Herzog]] and later President [[Shimon Peres]], who presented him with the Mimouna award in 1986.<ref name=conn >{{cite webnews|url=http://www.jpost.com/Features/Article.aspx?id=146367|title=The Moroccan connection|publishernewspaper=''[[The Jerusalem Post]]''|date=22 June 2009|accessdate=10 May 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite webnews|url= http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/935128.html|first=Yair|last= Sheleg|title=Codename: Operation Mural |publishernewspaper=''[[Haaretz]]''|date=17 December 2007|accessdate=12 January 2010}}</ref> A documentary film on the operation, filmed by Yehuda Kaveh, screened in 2007.<ref name=bio />
 
On 1 June 2008, at a special private commemorative event at the presidential Jerusalem residence – with Littman, his wife, two children, three grandchildren and former key agents from the Mossad, who had worked with Littman – [[President of the State of Israel|Israeli President]] [[Shimon Peres]], said:<ref name=trouw/><ref name=ner>{{cite news| url=http://www.newenglishreview.org/custpage.cfm/frm/52539/sec_id/52539 |title=Conferring the "Hero of Silence" Order on David G. Littman; "Operation Mural": Casablanca 1961; Presentation by President Shimon Peres |work= New English Review | date=1 July 2009| accessdate=13 January 2010 }}</ref>
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