Israeli commander refuses Volkswagen

JERUSALEM, June 5 (UPI) -- An Israeli Air Force commander who advanced to major general has refused to upgrade his car to a Volkswagen Passat because the vehicle is made in Germany.

Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel, whose mother is a Holocaust survivor, is entitled to upgrade to the vehicle because of his advancement to the rank of major general, Israeli broadcaster Artuz Sheva reported.

The broadcaster said Eshel's refusal was immediate, and he said the decision came "from the head, but also from the gut."

Eshel initiated a 2003 Israeli Air Force flyover above the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp site in Poland.

When jets flew over Auschwitz-Birkenau, Eshel spoke on the radio: "We, the Air Force pilots in the skies of the camp of horrors, rose up from the ashes of the millions of victims. We carry their silent cry; we salute their bravery and promise to protect the Jewish nation and its land, Israel."

Numerous Jews in Israel and elsewhere had refused to buy German-manufactured cars in the decades after the Holocaust but the unofficial boycott has weakened with time.