1950 Jewish LEHI UNDERGROUND Porcelain STREET SIGN Enamel ISRAEL Palestine IRGUN
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1950 Jewish LEHI UNDERGROUND Porcelain STREET SIGN Enamel ISRAEL Palestine IRGUN:
$445.00
DESCRIPTION : Up for sale is an ORIGINAL , exceptionaly RARE , Heavy metal ( Propably steel ) , Mounted top Judaica Jewish STREET SIGN which was produced and was in use in the streets corners of ERETZ ISRAEL ( Then also named as PALESTINE ) when it first gained its INDEPENDENCE , In the 1950\'s up to the early 1960\'s . Right after the newly born STATE of ISRAEL has gained its INDEPENDENCE in May 14th 1948 , The most popular STREET NAMES were those which were related to the freshINDEPENDENCE , The WAR of INDEPENDENCE , The newly born IDF - ZAHAL , And the Israeli DEFENSE and WARRIORS. While there was a National consensus regarding the IDF , HAGANAH, PALMACH and their leaders and founders, When it came to the undergrounds , The IRGUN and definitely LEHI , They were very oftenly rejected while coming to name a street after them. Hence the EXTREME RARITY of this LEHI STREETY SIGN.It\'s an ORIGINAL street sign which was in actual use until it was replaced in the 1960\'s - 1970\'s by mass producted aluminum signs. Only itsgood location , Under a canopy , Protected from years and weather damages helped it to preserve its VERY GOOD condition. The street was named after the legendaryJewish - Eretz Israeli - Palestine underground - \"LEHI\" ( Lohamei Herut Israel -לח\"י – לוחמי חרות ישראלLohamei Herut Israel – Lehi, \"Fighters for the Freedom of Israel – Lehi\", often known pejoratively as theStern Gang ). ORIGINAL Heavy sign. This SIGN was actualy hanged onthe \"LEHI\" streetand only its positioning below a protective canopy has helped it to retain its VERY GOOD CONDITION. Heavy and quite thick metal . Strongly mounted top . Dark blue and White original porcelain. Mountedwhite letters : Hebrew also in Latin letters . 10 original screw holes in the perimeter margins. Size around 9\" x 19\". Very good condition . The Metal is firm , No dents except for margins . The porcelain is smooth , Vivid colored ,Glossy and firm. Only a few rusted dots .( Pls look at scan for accurate AS IS images ) Will be sent in a special protective rigid sealed package.
AUTHENTICITY : Thisis anORIGINALvintageca 1950\'s up to early 1960\'s STREET SIGN , NOT a reproduction or an recent immitation. Itholds alife long GUARANTEE for its AUTHENTICITY and ORIGINALITY.
PAYMENTS : Payment method accepted : Paypal .
SHIPPING : Shipp worldwide via expedited insured trackable registeredairmail is $ 19 . Will be sent inside a protectivepackaging . Handling within 3-5 days after payment. Estimated Int\'l duration around 14 days.
MORE DETAILS :Avraham Stern(Hebrew:אברהם שטרן,Avraham Shtern), aliasYair(Hebrew:יאיר; December 23, 1907 – February 12, 1942) was one of the leaders of the Jewish paramilitary organizationIrgun. In September 1940, he founded a breakaway militantZionistgroup namedLehi, called the \"Stern Gang\" by the British authorities and by the mainstream in theYishuvJewish establishment.[1] Contents[hide] 1 Early life 2 Lehi 3 Death 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External links Early life Stern was born inSuwałki, present-dayPoland(then part of theRussian Empire). During theFirst World Warhis mother fled the Germans with him and his brotherDavid. They found refuge with her sister in Russia. When he was separated from his mother the 13-year-old Avraham earned his keep by carrying river water inSiberia. Eventually he stayed with an uncle inSt. Petersburgbefore walking home to Poland. At the age of 18, Stern emigrated on his own toPalestine.[2] Stern studied at theHebrew UniversityonMount ScopusinJerusalem. He specialized in Classical languages and literature (Greek and Latin). His first political involvement was to found a student organization called “Hulda,” whose regulations stated it was dedicated “solely to the revival of the Hebrew nation in a new state.”[3]During the1929 riots in Palestine, Jewish communities came under attack by local Arabs, and Stern served with theHaganah, doing guard duty on a synagogue rooftop in Jerusalem’s Old City.[4] Stern’s commander and friendAvraham Tehomiquit the Haganah because it was under the authority of the local labor movement and union. Hoping to create an independent army, and also to take a more active and less defensive military position, Tehomi founded theIrgun Zvai Leumi(\"National Military Organization\" known for short as the \"Organization\"). Stern joined the Irgun and completed an officer’s course in 1932. During his life Stern wrote dozens of poems embodying a physical, almost sensual, love for the Jewish homeland and a similar attitude towards martyrdom on its behalf. One analyst referred to the poems as expressing the eroticism of death together with de-eroticism of women.[5]Stern’s poetry was heavily influenced by Russian and Polish poetry, especiallyVladimir Mayakovsky’s.[6]His songUnknown Soldierswas adopted first by the Irgun and later by the Lehi as an underground anthem. In it Stern sang of Jews who would not be drafted by other countries while they wandered in Exile from their own country, but rather who would enlist in a volunteer army of their own, go underground and die fighting in the streets, only to be buried secretly at night. One of the commanders of Lehi,Israel Eldad, claimed this song (along with two others, written byUri Zvi GreenbergandVladimir Jabotinsky) actually led to the creation of the underground.[7]In other poems from the same period, up to eight years before he founded the Lehi underground, Stern detailed the feelings of revolutionaries hiding in basements or sitting in prison and wrote of dying in a hail of bullets. One example of his poetry is: “You are betrothed to me, my homeland \\ According to all the laws of Moses and Israel… \\ And with my death I will bury my head in your lap \\ And you will live forever in my blood.” Stern became one of the university’s top students. He was awarded a stipend to study for a doctorate inFlorence,Italy. Avraham Tehomi made a special trip to Florence to recall him, in order to make him his deputy in the Irgun.[3] Stern spent the rest of the 1930s traveling back and forth to Eastern Europe to organize revolutionary cells in Poland and promote immigration of Jews to Palestine in defiance of British restrictions (this was therefore known as “illegal immigration”). Stern developed a plan to train 40,000 young Jews to sail for Palestine and take over the country from the British colonial authorities. He succeeded in enlisting the Polish government in this effort. The Poles began training Irgun members and arms were set aside, but then Germany invaded Poland and began theSecond World War. This ended the training, and immigration routes were cut off.[8]Stern was in Palestine at the time and was arrested the same night the war began. He was incarcerated together with the entire High Command of the Irgun in the Jerusalem Central Prison and Sarafand Detention Camp. Lehi Flag of the Lehi movement. While under arrest, Stern and the other members of the Irgun argued about what to do during the war. He foundedLehiin August 1940 initially under a different name, it adopted the name Lehi, a Hebrew acronym for Lohamei Herut Israel, meaning Fighters for the Freedom of Israel, in September 1940.[1]The movement was formed after Stern and others split from the Irgun, when the latter adopted the Haganah’s policy of supporting the British in their fight against theNazis. Stern rejected collaboration with theBritish, and claimed that only a continuing struggle against them would lead eventually to an independent Jewish state and resolve the Jewish situation in the Diaspora. The BritishWhite Paper of 1939allowed only 75,000 Jews toimmigrateto Palestine over five years, and no more after that unless local Arabs gave their permission.[9]But actually Stern’s opposition to British colonial rule in Palestine was not based on a particular policy; Stern defined theBritish Mandateas “foreign rule” regardless of their policies and took a radical position against such imperialism even if it were to be benevolent.[10] Lehi Museum in Tel Aviv. The room where Abraham Stern, Lehi commander, was shot by a British policeman on 12/2/1942. Stern was unpopular with the official Jewish establishment leaders of the Haganah and Jewish Agency and also those of the Irgun. His movement drew an eclectic crew of individuals, from all ends of the political spectrum, including people who became prominent such asYitzhak Shamir, later anIsraeli prime minister, who supported Jewish settlement throughout the land, and who opposed ceding territory to Arabs in negotiations;Natan Yellin-Morwho later became a leader of the peace movement in Israel advocating negotiations and accommodation with the Palestinians, andIsrael Eldad, who after the underground war ended spent nearly 15 years writing tracts and articles promoting extreme right wing, nationalist brand of Zionism. Stern began organizing his new underground army by focusing on four fronts: 1) publishing a newspaper and making clandestine radio broadcasts offering theoretical justifications for urban guerilla warfare; 2) obtaining funds for the underground, either by donations or by robbing British banks; 3) opening negotiations with foreign powers for the purpose of saving Europe’s Jews and developing allies in the struggle against the British in Palestine; 4) actual military-style operations against the British. None of these projects went well for the new underground. Without money or a printing press the stenciled newspapers were few and hard to read. The bank robberies and operations against British policemen resulted in shootouts in the streets and both British and Jewish police were killed and injured. A British sting operation entrapped Stern into attempting to negotiate with the Italians and Germans, and this further tainted Lehi’s reputation.[11] In January 1941, Stern attempted to make an agreement with the German Nazi authorities, offering to \"actively take part in the war on Germany\'s side\" in return for German support for Jewish immigration to Palestine and the establishment of a Jewish state. Another attempt to contact the Germans was made in late 1941, but there is no record of a German response in either case.[12]These appeals to Germany were in direct opposition to the views of other Zionists, such asZe\'ev Jabotinsky, who wanted Britain to defeat the Nazis even as they wanted to expel the British from Palestine.[13] Death Grave of Avraham Stern in theNahalat Yitzhak Cemetery. Wanted posters appeared all over the country with a price on Stern’s head. Stern wandered from safe house to safe house in Tel Aviv, carrying a collapsible cot in a suitcase. When he ran out of hiding places he slept in apartment house stairwells. Eventually he moved into a Tel Aviv apartment rented by Moshe and Tova Svorai, who were members of Lehi. Moshe Svorai was caught by British detectives who raided another apartment, where two Lehi members were shot dead, and Svorai and one other wounded were hospitalized. Stern’s Lehi “contact”, Hisia Shapiro, thought she might have been followed one morning and stopped bringing messages. On 12 February 1942 she came with one last message, from the Haganah, offering to house Stern for the duration of the war if he would give up his fight against the British. Stern gave Shapiro a letter in reply declining the safe haven and suggesting cooperation between Lehi and the Haganah in fighting the British. A couple of hours later British detectives arrived to search the apartment and discovered Stern hiding there. It was the mother of one of the\"Lehi\"members who inadvertently led the police to Stern\'s hiding place in Tel Aviv.[14]Two neighbors were brought to attest to the propriety of the search. After they had left, Tova Svorai was also taken away so that Stern was alone with three armed policemen. Then, in circumstances that remain disputed today, Stern was shot dead.[15][16][17] The \"most secret\" report made by the police to the British mandatory government said, \"Stern was ... just finishing lacing his shoes when he suddenly leapt for the window opposite. He was half way out of the window when he was shot by two of the three policemen in the room.\"[17]Assistant SuperintendentGeoffrey J. Morton, the most senior policeman present, later wrote in his memoirs that he had feared Stern was about to set off an explosive device as he had previously threatened to do if captured.[17][18] The police version was dismissed by Stern\'s followers and many others, who believed that Stern had been shot in cold blood.[17]Morton successfully sued four publishers of books which claimed he murdered Stern, including the English publisher ofThe Revolt,[17]which settled without consulting the author,Menachem Begin, who wanted to go to court.[19]Lehi tried unsuccessfully to assassinate Morton at least three times.[20]Binyamin Gepner, a former Lehi member who in 1980 interviewed another policeman Stewart who had been present at Stern\'s death, said that Stewart had effectively admitted Stern was murdered but later refused to repeat it.[17]The policeman whose gun was trained on Stern until Morton arrived, Bernard Stamp, said in a 1986 interview broadcast onIsrael Radio, that Morton\'s account was \"hogwash.\" According to Stamp, Morton pulled Stern from the couch on which he was sitting, \"sort of pushed him, spun him around, and Morton shot him.\" Stamp has been cited saying Stern was killed while unarmed with no chance of escape.[21] Tova Svorai recalled in a memoir: \"At about 9:30 there was a knock at the door, too gentle a tapping to signal the presence of the police. Yair…went into the closet, and only then did I open the door. At the door stood the \'good\' detective Wilkins with two men behind him. Wilkins was always very polite, too polite perhaps. He asked me why I hadn\'t gone to visit my husband Moshe and if I weren\'t worried about him. I told him that if I had gone to the hospital I would have been arrested immediately. They searched my room…then they went downstairs and brought two neighbors, women, so they might have witnesses…they went over to the closet…one of the policemen opened it. Yair was nowhere to be seen. The policemen thrust his left hand into the closet and began searching, and when his hand came upon Yair he pulled him out. At the same time he put his right hand into his back pocket and took out his gun. I ran between him and Yair and said \"Don\'t shoot! If you shoot, you shoot me\"…. in my innocence I thought I had saved Yair\'s life…how wrong I was. They made him sit on the sofa…more detectives appeared, they had handcuffs and used them to bind Yair\'s hands behind his back….they told me to get dressed and go downstairs…I got into a small car…suddenly I heard three shots.\"[22] A memorial ceremony attended by Israeli politicians and government officials is held each year at Stern\'s grave in theNahalat Yitzhak CemeteryinGivatayim.[23]In 1978, apostage stampwas issued in his honor. His son, Yair, born a few months after Stern\'s killing, is a veteran broadcast journalist and TV news anchor who once headed Israel Television. In 1981 the town ofKochav Yair(Yair\'s Star) was founded and named after Stern\'s nickname. The place \"where he was shot is a museum and place of pilgrimage for a growing number of hard-right youths\".[24] In January 2016 actor Steven Schub originated the role of Avraham \'Yair\' Stern in the World Premiere of historian Zev Golan\'s play \"The Ghosts of Mizrachi Bet Street\" based on the life of Avraham Stern directed by Leah Stoller and S. Kim Glassman at The Jerusalem Theatre in Israel.[25] ***** Lehi(Hebrew pronunciation:[ˈleχi];Hebrew:לח\"י – לוחמי חרות ישראלLohamei Herut Israel – Lehi, \"Fighters for the Freedom of Israel – Lehi\"), often known pejoratively as theStern Gang,[9][10][11][12]was aZionistparamilitaryorganization founded byAvraham (\"Yair\") SterninMandatory Palestine.[13][14]Its avowed aim was to evict the British authorities from Palestine by resort to force, allowing unrestrictedimmigrationofJewsand the formation of a Jewish state, a \"new totalitarian Hebrew republic\".[15]It was initially called theNational Military Organization in Israel,[1]upon being founded in August 1940, but was renamed Lehi one month later.[16]It defined itself as a terrorist group.[17][18] Lehi split from theIrgunmilitant group in 1940 in order to continue fighting the British duringWorld War II. Lehi initially sought an alliance withFascist ItalyandNazi Germany, offering to fight alongside them against the British in return for the transfer of all Jews from Nazi-occupied Europe to Palestine.[2]Believing that Nazi Germany was a lesser enemy of the Jews than Britain, Lehi twice attempted to form an alliance with the Nazis.[2]During World War II, it declared that it would establish a Jewish state based upon Stern\'s death in 1942, the new leadership of Lehi began to move it towards support forJoseph Stalin\'sSoviet Union.[1]In 1944, Lehi officially declared its support forNational Bolshevism.[6]It said that its National Bolshevism involved an amalgamation of left-wing and right-wing political elements – Stern said Lehi incorporated elements of both the left and the right[2]– however this change was unpopular and Lehi began to lose support as a result.[20] Lehi and the Irgun were jointly responsible for themassacre in Deir Yassin. Lehi assassinatedLord Moyne, British Minister Resident in the Middle East, and made many other attacks on the British in Palestine.[21]On 29 May 1948, the government of Israel, having inducted its activist members into theIsrael Defense Forces, formally disbanded Lehi, though some of its members carried out one more terrorist act, the assassination ofFolke Bernadottesome months later,[22]an act condemned by Bernadotte\'s replacement as mediator,Ralph Bunche.[23]After the assassination, the new Israeli government declared Lehi a terrorist organization, arresting and convicting some 200 members.[24]Just before the first Israeli elections,[24]a general amnesty to Lehi members was granted by the government, on 14 February 1949. In 1980, Israel instituted a military decoration, an \"award for activity in the struggle for the establishment of Israel\", theLehi ribbon.[25]Former Lehi leaderYitzhak ShamirbecamePrime Minister of Israelin 1983. Contents[hide] 1 Founding of Lehi 2 Goals and methods 3 18 Principles of Rebirth 4 Relationship with fascism and socialism 5 Evolution and tactics of the organization 6 Wartime contacts with Italy and Germany 7 Later history 7.1 Assassination of Lord Moyne 7.2 Tel Aviv car park raid 7.3 British police station in Haifa 7.4 Operations in Europe 7.5 Death threat against Hugh Trevor-Roper 7.6 Cairo-Haifa train bombings 7.7 Deir Yassin massacre 7.8 Dissolution 7.9 Assassination of Count Folke Bernadotte 7.10 Lehi in politics 8 Service ribbon 9 \"Unknown Soldiers\" anthem 10 Prominent members of Lehi 11 See also 12 Notes 13 References 14 External links Founding of Lehi Avraham Stern Lehi was created in August 1940 byAvraham Stern.[16]Stern had been a member of theIrgun(Irgun Tsvai Leumi– \"National Military Organization\") high command.Zeev Jabotinsky, then the Irgun\'s supreme commander, had decided that diplomacy and working with Britain would best serve the Zionist cause.World War IIwas in progress, and Britain was fightingNazi Germany. The Irgun suspended its underground military activities against the British for the duration of the war. Stern argued that the time for Zionist diplomacy was over and that it was time for armed struggle against the British. Like other Zionists, he objected to theWhite Paper of 1939, which restricted both Jewish immigration and Jewish land purchases in Palestine. For Stern, \"no difference existed betweenHitlerandChamberlain, betweenDachauorBuchenwaldand sealing the gates of Eretz Israel.\"[26] Stern wanted to open Palestine to all Jewish refugees from Europe, and considered this as by far the most important issue of the day. Britain would not allow this. Therefore, he concluded, theYishuv(Jews of Palestine) should fight the British rather than support them in the war. When the Irgun made a truce with the British, Stern left the Irgun to form his own group, which he calledIrgun Tsvai Leumi B\'Yisrael(\"National Military Organization in Israel\"), laterLohamei Herut Israel(\"Fighters for the Freedom of Israel\"). Stern and his followers believed that dying for the \"foreign occupier\" who was obstructing the creation of the Jewish State was useless. They differentiated between \"enemies of the Jewish people\" (the British) and \"Jew haters\" (theNazis), believing that the former needed to be defeated and the latter manipulated.[citation needed] In September 1940, the organization was officially named \"Lehi\".[16] In 1940, the idea of theFinal Solutionwas still \"unthinkable\", and Stern believed that Hitler wanted to make Germanyjudenreinthrough emigration, as opposed to extermination.[26][27]In December 1940, Lehi even contacted Germany with a proposal to aid German conquest in the Middle East in return for recognition of a Jewish state open to unlimited immigration.[26] Goals and methods Lehi Commemoration inPetah Tikva. Half-clenched fist, in reference to Psalms 137:5.[28] Lehi had three main goals: To bring together all those interested in liberation (that is, those willing to join in active fighting against the British). To appear before the world as the only active Jewish military organization. To take overEretz Yisrael(the Land of Israel) by armed force.[29] Lehi believed in its early years that its goals would be achieved by finding a strong international ally that would expel the British from Palestine, in return for Jewish military help; this would require the creation of a broad and organised military force \"demonstrating its desire for freedom through military operations.\"[30] Lehi also referred to themselves as \'terrorists\' and may have been one of the last organizations to do so.[31] An article titled \"Terror\" in the Lehi underground newspaperHe Khazit(The Front) argued as follows: Neither Jewish ethics nor Jewish tradition can disqualify terrorism as a means of combat. We are very far from having any moral qualms as far as our national war goes. We have before us the command of theTorah, whose morality surpasses that of any other body of laws in the world: \"Ye shall blot them out to the last man.\" But first and foremost, terrorism is for us a part of the political battle being conducted under the present circumstances, and it has a great part to play: speaking in a clear voice to the whole world, as well as to our wretched brethren outside this land, it proclaims our war against the occupier. We are particularly far from this sort of hesitation in regard to an enemy whose moral perversion is admitted by all.[32] The article described the goals of terror: It demonstrates ... against the true terrorist who hides behind his piles of papers and the laws he has legislated. It is not directed against people, it is directed against representatives. Therefore it is effective. If it also shakes theYishuvfrom their complacency, good and well.[32] Yitzhak Shamir, one of the three leaders of Lehi after Avraham Stern\'s assassination, argued for the legitimacy of Lehi\'s actions: There are those who say that to kill [T.G.] Martin [a CID sergeant who had recognised Shamir in a lineup] is terrorism, but to attack an army camp is guerrilla warfare and to bomb civilians is professional warfare. But I think it is the same from the moral point of view. Is it better to drop an atomic bomb on a city than to kill a handful of persons? I don’t think so. But nobody says that President Truman was a terrorist. All the men we went for individually – Wilkin, Martin,MacMichaeland others – were personally interested in succeeding in the fight against us. So it was more efficient and more moral to go for selected targets. In any case, it was the only way we could operate, because we were so small. For us it was not a question of the professional honor of a soldier, it was the question of an idea, an aim that had to be achieved. We were aiming at a political goal. There are many examples of what we did to be found in theBible–GideonandSamson, for instance. This had an influence on our thinking. And we also learned from the history of other peoples who fought for their freedom – the Russian and Irish revolutionaries,Giuseppe GaribaldiandJosip Broz Tito.[33] 18 Principles of Rebirth 18 Principles of Rebirth Avraham Stern laid out the ideology of Lehi in the essay18 Principles of Rebirth:[34] THE NATION: The Jewish people is acovenanted people, the originator ofmonotheism, formulator of the prophetic teachings, standard bearer of human culture, guardian of glorious patrimony. The Jewish people is schooled in self-sacrifice and suffering; its vision, survivability and faith in redemption are indestructible. THE HOMELAND: The homeland in the Land of Israel within the borders delineated in the Bible (\"To your descendants, I shall give this land, from theRiver of Egyptto the greatEuphrates River.\"Genesis15:18) This is the land of the living, where the entire nation shall live in safety. THE NATION AND ITS LAND: Israel conquered the land with the sword. There it became a great nation and only there it will be reborn. Hence Israel alone has a right to that land. This is an absolute right. It has never expired and never will. THE GOALS: Redemption of the land. Establishment of sovereignty. Revival of the nation. There is no sovereignty without the redemption of the land, and there is no national revival without sovereignty. These are the goals of the organization during the period of war and conquest: EDUCATION: Educate the nation to love freedom and zealously guard Israel\'s eternal patrimony. Inculcate the idea that the nation is master to its own fate. Revive the doctrine that \"The sword and the book came bound together from heaven.\" (Midrash Vayikra Rabba35:8) UNITY: The unification of the entire nation around the banner of the Hebrew freedom movement. The use of the genius, status and resources of individuals and the channeling of the energy, devotion and revolutionary fervour of the masses for the war of liberation. PACTS: Make pacts with all those who are willing to help the struggle of the organization and provide direct support. FORCE: Consolidate and increase the fighting force in the homeland and in theDiaspora, in the underground and in the barracks, to become the Hebrew army of liberation with its Flag, arms, and commanders. WAR: Constant war against those who stand in the way of fulfilling the goals. CONQUEST: The conquest of the homeland from foreign rule and its eternal possession. These are the tasks of the movement during the period of sovereignty and redemption: SOVEREIGNTY: Renewal of Hebrew sovereignty over the redeemed land. RULE OF JUSTICE: The establishment of a social order in the spirit of Jewish morality and prophetic justice. Under such an order no one will go hungry or unemployed. All will live in harmony, mutual respect and friendship as an example to the world. REVIVING THE WILDERNESS: Build the ruins and revive the wilderness for mass immigration and population increase. ALIENS: Solve the problem of alien population [i.e. theArabinhabitants of Palestine] by exchange of population. INGATHERING OF THE EXILES: Totalin-gathering of the exilesto their sovereign state. POWER: The Hebrew nation shall become a first-rate military, political, cultural and economical entity in the Middle East and around theMediterranean Sea. REVIVAL: The revival of theHebrew languageas a spoken language by the entire nation, the renewal of the historical and spiritual might of Israel. The purification of the national character in the fire of revival. THE TEMPLE: The building of theThird Templeas a symbol of the new era of total redemption. Relationship with fascism and socialism Unlike the left-wing Haganah and right-wing Irgun, Lehi members were not a homogeneous collective with a single political, religious, or economic ideology. They were a combination of militants united by the goal of liberating the land of Israel from British rule. Most Lehi leaders defined their organization as an anti-imperialism movement and stated that their opposition to British colonial rule in Palestine was not based on a particular policy but rather on the presence of a foreign power over the homeland of the Jewish people. Avraham Stern defined theBritish Mandateas \"foreign rule\" regardless of British policies and took a radical position against such imperialism even if it were to be benevolent.[35] In the early years of the state of Israel Lehi veterans could be found supporting nearly all political parties and some Lehi leaders founded a left-wing political party called theFighters\' Listwith Natan Yellin-Mor as its head. The party took part in theelections in January 1949and won a single parliamentary seat. A number of Lehi veterans established theSemitic Actionmovement in 1956 which sought the creation of a regional federation encompassing Israel and its Arab neighbors[36][37]on the basis of an anti-colonialist alliance with other indigenous inhabitants of the Middle East.[38] Some writers have stated that Lehi\'s true goals were the creation of a totalitarian state.[39]Perlinger and Weinberg write that the organisation\'s ideology placed \"its world view in the quasi-fascist radical Right, which is characterised by xenophobia, a national egotism that completely subordinates the individual to the needs of the nation, anti-liberalism, total denial of democracy and a highly centralised government.\"[3]Perliger and Weinberg state that most Lehi members were admirers of the Italian Fascist movement.[30] Others counter these claims. They note that when Lehi founder Avraham Stern went to study infascistItaly, he refused to join theGruppo Universitario Fascistafor foreign students, even though members got large reductions in tuition.[40][verification needed] Evolution and tactics of the organization Many Lehi combatants received professional training. Some attended the state military academy inCivitavecchia, in Fascist Italy.[41]Others received military training from instructors of thePolish Armed Forcesin 1938–1939. This training was conducted inTrochenbrod(Zofiówka) inWołyń Voivodeship, Podębin nearŁódź, and the forests aroundAndrychów. They were taught how to use explosives. One of them reported later: \"Poles treated terrorism as a science. We have mastered mathematical principles of demolishing constructions made of concrete, iron, wood, bricks and dirt.\"[41] The group was initially unsuccessful. Early attempts to raise funds through criminal activities, including a bank robbery in Tel Aviv in 1940 and another robbery on 9 January 1942 in which Jewish passers-by were killed, brought about the temporary collapse of the group. An attempt to assassinate the head of the British secret police in Lod in which three police personnel were killed, two Jewish and one British, elicited a severe response from the British and Jewish establishments who collaborated against Lehi.[42] Wanted Poster of thePalestine Police Forceoffering rewards for the capture of Stern Gang members:Jaacov Levstein(Eliav),Yitzhak Yezernitzky(Shamir), and Natan Friedman-Yelin Stern\'s group was seen as a terrorist organisation by the British authorities, who instructed the Defence Security Office (the colonial branch ofMI5) to track down its leaders. In 1942, Stern, after he was arrested, was shot dead in disputed circumstances by InspectorGeoffrey J. Mortonof the CID.[43]The arrest of several other members led momentarily to the group\'s eclipse, until it was revived after the September 1942 escape of two of its leaders,Yitzhak ShamirandEliyahu Giladi, aided by two other escapeesNatan Yellin-Mor(Friedman) andIsrael Eldad(Sheib). (Giladi was later killed by Lehi under circumstances that remain mysterious.)[42]Shamir\'s codename was \"Michael\", a reference to one of Shamir\'s heroes,Michael Collins. Lehi was guided by spiritual and philosophical leaders such asUri Zvi GreenbergandIsrael Eldad. After the killing of Giladi, the organization was led by a triumvirate of Eldad, Shamir, and Yellin-Mor. Lehi adopted a non-socialist platform of Anti-Imperialistideology. It viewed the continued British rule of Palestine as a violation of the Mandate\'s provision generally, and its restrictions on Jewish immigration to be an intolerable breach ofinternational law. However they also targeted Jews whom they regarded as traitors, and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War they joined in operations with theHaganahandIrgunagainst Arab targets, for exampleDeir Yassin. According to a compilation by Nachman Ben-Yehuda, Lehi was responsible for 42 assassinations, more than twice as many as the Irgun and Haganah combined during the same period. Of those Lehi assassinations that Ben-Yehuda classified as political, more than half the victims were Jews.[44] Lehi also rejected the authority of theJewish Agency for Israeland related organizations, operating entirely on its own throughout nearly all of its existence. Lehi prisoners captured by the British generally refused to present a defence when brought to trial. They would only read out statements in which they declared that the court, representing an occupying force, had no jurisdiction over them and therefore was illegal. For the same reason, Lehi prisoners refused to plead for amnesty, even when it was clear that this would have spared them the death penalty. In one caseMoshe Barazani, a Lehi member, andMeir Feinstein, an Irgun member, committed suicide in prison with a grenade smuggled inside an orange so the British could not hang them.[citation needed] Wartime contacts with Italy and Germany German cover letter from 11 January 1941 attached to a description of an offer for an alliance with Nazi Germany attributed to Lehi. In mid-1940, Stern became convinced that the Italians were interested in the establishment of a fascist Jewish state in Palestine.[45]He conducted negotiations, he thought, with the Italians via an intermediary Moshe Rotstein, and drew up a document that became known as the \"Jerusalem Agreement\".[46][47]In exchange for Italy\'s recognition of, and aid in obtaining, Jewish sovereignty over Palestine, Stern promised that Zionism would come under the aegis of Italian fascism, with Haifa as its base, and the Old City of Jerusalem under Vatican control, except for the Jewish quarter.[48]In Heller\'s words, Stern\'s proposal would \"turn the \'Kingdom of Israel\' into a satellite of the Axis powers.\"[49] However, the \"intermediary\" Rotstein was in fact an agent of the Irgun, conducting a sting operation under the direction of the Irgun intelligence leader in Haifa, Israel Pritzker, in cooperation with the British.[50]Secret British documents about the affair were uncovered by historian Eldad Harouvi (now director of the Palmach Archives) and confirmed by former Irgun intelligence officerYitzhak Berman.[50]When Rotstein\'s role later became clear, Lehi sentenced him to death and assigned Yaacov Eliav to kill him, but the assassination never took place.[47][51]However, Pritzker was killed by Lehi in 1943.[47] Late in 1940, Lehi, having identified a common interest between the intentions of the new German order and Jewish national aspirations, proposed forming an alliance in World War II withNazi Germany.[2]It offered assistance in transferring the Jews of Europe to Palestine, in return for Germany\'s help in expelling Britain from Mandatory Palestine.[citation needed]Late in 1940, Lehi representativeNaftali Lubenchikwent toBeirutto meet German officialWerner Otto von Hentig(who also was involved with theHaavara or Transfer Agreement, which had been transferring German Jews and their funds to Palestine since 1933).[citation needed]Lubenchik told von Hentig that Lehi had not yet revealed its full power and that they were capable of organizing a whole range of anti-British operations.[citation needed] The organization offered cooperation in the following terms. Lehi would support sabotage and espionage operations in the Middle East and in Eastern Europe anywhere where they had cells. Germany would recognize an independent Jewish state in Palestine/Eretz Israel, and all Jews leaving their homes in Europe, by their own will or because of government injunctions, could enter Palestine with no restriction of numbers. Stern also proposed recruiting some 40,000 Jews from occupied Europe to invade Palestine with German support to oust the British.[2]On 11 January 1941, Vice Admiral Ralf von der Marwitz, the German NavalattachéinTurkey, filed a report (the \"Ankara document\") conveying an offer by Lehi to \"actively take part in the war on Germany\'s side\" in return for German support for \"the establishment of the historic Jewish state on a national and totalitarian basis, bound by a treaty with the German Reich.\"[46][52][53] According to Yellin-Mor: Lubenchik did not take along any written memorandum for the German representatives. Had there been a need for one, he would have formulated it on the spot, since he was familiar with the episode of the Italian \"intermediary\" and with the numerous drafts connected with it. Apparently one of von Hentig\'s secretaries noted down the essence of the proposal in his own words.[54] According to Joseph Heller, \"The memorandum arising from their conversation is an entirely authentic document, on which the stamp of the \'IZL in Israel\' is clearly embossed.\"[55] Von der Marwitz delivered the offer, classified as secret, to the German Ambassador in Turkey and on 21 January 1941 it was sent to Berlin. There was never any response.[56] A second attempt to contact the Nazis was made at the end of 1941, but it was even less successful.[57]The emissary Yellin-Mor was arrested in Syria before he could carry out his mission.[58] This proposed alliance with Nazi Germany cost Lehi and Stern much support.[59]The Stern Gang also had links with, and support from, theVichy FranceSûreté\'s Lebanese offices.[60] Later history As a group that never had over a few hundred members, Lehi relied on audacious but small-scale operations to bring their message home. They adopted the tactics of groups such as theSocialist Revolutionariesand theCombat Organization of the Polish Socialist Partyin Czarist Russia,[61]and theIrish Republican Army. To this end, Lehi conducted small-scale operations such as individual assassinations of British officials (notable targets includedLord Moyne,CIDdetectives, and Jewish \"collaborators\"), and random shootings against soldiers and police officers.[62]Another strategy, adopted in 1946, was to send bombs in the mail to British politicians. Other actions included sabotaging infrastructure targets: bridges,railroads, telephone and telegraph lines, andoilrefineries, as well as the use of vehicle bombs against British military, police, and administrative targets. Lehi financed its operations from private donations,extortion, andbank robbery. Its campaign of violence lasted from 1944 to 1948. Initially conducted together with the Irgun, it included a six-month suspension to avoid being targeted by theHaganahduring theHunting Season, and later operated jointly with the Haganah and Irgun under theJewish Resistance Movement. After the Jewish Resistance Movement was dissolved, it operated independently as part of the generalJewish insurgency in Palestine. Assassination of Lord Moyne Further information:Walter Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne §Assassination On 6 November 1944, Lehi assassinatedLord Moyne, the British Minister Resident in the Middle East, inCairo. Moyne was the highest ranking British official in the region. Yitzhak Shamir claimed later that Moyne was assassinated because of his support for a Middle Eastern Arab Federation and anti-Semitic lectures in which Arabs were held to be racially superior to Jews.[63]The assassination rocked the British government, and outragedWinston Churchill, the BritishPrime Minister. The two assassins,Eliahu Bet-ZouriandEliahu Hakimwere captured and used their trial as a platform to make public their political propaganda. They were executed. In 1975 their bodies were returned to Israel and given a state funeral.[64]In 1982, postage stamps were issued for 20Olei Hagardom, including Bet-Zouri and Hakim, in a souvenir sheet called \"Martyrs of the struggle for Israel\'s independence.\"[65][66] Tel Aviv car park raid On 25 April 1946, a Lehi unit attacked a car park inTel Avivoccupied by the British6th Airborne Division. Under a barrage of heavy covering fire, Lehi fighters broke into the car park, shot soldiers they encountered at close range, stole rifles from arms racks, laid mines to cover the retreat, and withdrew. Seven soldiers were killed in the attack, which caused widespread outrage among the British security forces in Palestine. It resulted in retaliatory anti-Jewish violence by British troops and a punitive curfew imposed on Tel Aviv\'s roads and a closure of places of entertainment in the city by the British Army.[62] British police station in Haifa On 12 January 1947, Lehi members drove a truckload of explosives into a British police station inHaifakilling four and injuring 140, in what has been called \'the world\'s first true truck bomb\'.[67] Operations in Europe Betty Knouth, Tel Aviv, 24 August 1948 Following the bombing of the British embassy in Rome, October 1946, a series of operations against targets in the United Kingdom were launched. On 7 March 1947, Lehi\'s only successful operation in Britain was carried out when a Lehi bomb severely damaged the British Colonial Club, aLondonrecreational facility for soldiers and students from Britain\'s colonies in Africa and the West Indies.[68]On 15 April 1947 a bomb consisting of twenty-four sticks of explosives was planted in the Colonial Office,Whitehall. It failed to explode due to a fault in the timer. Five weeks later, on 22 May, five alleged Lehi members were arrested in Paris with bomb making material including explosives of the same type as found in London. On 2 June, two Lehi members, Betty Knouth and Yaakov Levstien, were arrested crossing fromBelgiumtoFrance. Envelopes addressed to British officials, with detonators, batteries and a time fuse were found in one of Knouth\'s suitcases. Knouth was sentenced to a year in prison, Levstien to eight months. The British Security Services identified Knouth as the person who planted the bomb in the Colonial Office. Shortly after their arrest, 21 letter bombs were intercepted addressed to senior British figures. The letters had been posted in Italy. The intended recipients aka Gilberte/Elizabeth Lazarus. Levstein was travelling as Jacob Elias; his fingerprints connected him to the deaths of several Palestine Policemen as well as an attempt on the life of the British High Commissioner. In 1973,Margaret Trumanwrote that letter bombs were also posted to her father, U.S. PresidentHarry S. Truman, in 1947.[70]Former Lehi leader Yellin-Mor admitted that letter bombs had been sent to British targets but denied that any had been sent to Truman.[70][71] Death threat against Hugh Trevor-Roper Shortly after the 1947 publication ofThe Last Days of Hitler, Lehi issued a death threat against the author,Hugh Trevor-Roper, for his portrayal of Hitler, feeling that Trevor-Roper had attempted to exonerate the German populace from responsibility.[72] Cairo-Haifa train bombings Main article:Cairo–Haifa train bombings 1948 During the lead-up to the1948 Arab–Israeli War, Lehimined the Cairo–Haifa trainseveral times. On 29 February 1948, Lehi mined the train north ofRehovot, killing 28 British soldiers and wounding 35. On 31 March, Lehi mined the train nearBinyamina, killing 40 civilians and wounding 60. Deir Yassin massacre Lehi female fighters in 1948 Main article:Deir Yassin massacre One of the most widely known acts of Lehi was the attack on the Palestinian-Arab village ofDeir Yassin. In the months before the British evacuation from Palestine, theArab League-sponsoredArab Liberation Army(ALA) occupied several strategic points along the road betweenJerusalemandTel Aviv, cutting off supplies to the Jewish part of Jerusalem. One of these points was Deir Yassin. By March 1948, the road was cut off and Jewish Jerusalem was under siege. The Haganah launchedOperationNachshonto break the siege. On 6 April, the Haganah attackedal-Qastal, a village two kilometers north of Deir Yassin, also overlooking the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv road.[73] Then on 9 April 1948, about 120 Lehi and Irgun fighters, acting in cooperation with the Haganah, attacked and captured Deir Yassin. The attack was at night, the fighting was confused, and many civilian inhabitants of the village were killed.[74]This action had great consequences for the war, and remains a cause celebre for Palestinians ever since. Exactly what happened has never been established clearly. The Arab League reported a great massacre: 254 killed, with rape and lurid mutilations. Israeli investigations claimed the actual number of dead was between 100 and 120, and there were no mass rapes, but most of the dead were civilians, and admitted some were killed deliberately. Lehi and Irgun both denied an organized massacre. Accounts by Lehi veterans such as Ezra Yakhin note that many of the attackers were killed or wounded, assert that Arabs fired from every building and that Iraqi and Syrian soldiers were among the dead, and even that some Arab fighters dressed as women.[75] However, Jewish authorities, including Haganah, the Chief Rabbinate, the Jewish Agency, andDavid Ben-Gurion, also condemned the attack, lending credence to the charge of massacre.[76]The Jewish Agency even sent a letter of condemnation, apology, and condolence to KingAbdullah I of Jordan.[77] Both the Arab reports and Jewish responses had hidden motives: the Arab leaders wanted to encourage Palestinian Arabs to fight rather than surrender, to discredit the Zionists with international opinion, and to increase popular support in their countries for an invasion of Palestine. The Jewish leaders wanted to discredit Irgun and Lehi. Ironically, the Arab reports backfired in one respect: frightened Palestinian Arabs did not surrender, but did not fight either –they fled, allowing Israel to gain much territory with little fighting and also without absorbing many Arabs.[78] Lehi similarly interpreted events at Deir Yassin as turning the tide of war in favor of the Jews. Lehi leaderIsrael Eldadlater wrote in his memoirs from the underground period that \"without Deir Yassin the State of Israel could never have been established\".[79][80] The Deir Yassin story did not much sway international opinion. It did increase not only support but pressure on Arab governments to intervene, notably Abdullah of Jordan, who was now compelled to join the invasion of Palestine afterIsrael\'s declaration of independenceon 14 May. Dissolution The conflict between Lehi and mainstream Jewish and subsequently Israeli organizations came to an end when Lehi was formally dissolved and integrated into theIsraeli Defense Forceson 31 May 1948, its leaders getting amnesty from prosecution or reprisals as part of the integration. Assassination of Count Folke Bernadotte UN mediator CountFolke Bernadottewas assassinated byLehiinJerusalemin 1948. Further information:Folke Bernadotte §Assassination Although Lehi had stopped operating nationally after May 1948, the group continued to function in Jerusalem. On 17 September 1948, Lehi assassinated UN mediator CountFolke Bernadotte. The assassination was directed byYehoshua Zettlerand carried out by a four-man team led by Meshulam Makover. The fatal shots were fired byYehoshua Cohen. TheSecurity Councildescribed the assassination as a \"cowardly act which appears to have been committed by a criminal group of terrorists\".[81] Three days after the assassination, the Israeli government passed the Ordinance to Prevent Terrorism and declared Lehi to be a terrorist organization.[82][83]Many Lehi members were arrested, including leadersNathan Yellin-MorandMatitiahu Schmulevitzwho were arrested on 29 September.[82]Eldad and Shamir managed to escape arrest.[82]Yellin-Mor and Schmulevitz were charged with leadership of a terrorist organization and on 10 February 1949 were sentenced to 8 years and 5 years imprisonment, respectively.[84][85][86]However the State (Temporary) Council soon announced a general amnesty for Lehi members and they were released.[84][87] Lehi in politics Some of the Lehi leadership founded a left-wing political party called theFighters\' Listwith the jailed Yellin-Mor as its head. The party took part in theelections in January 1949and won one seat. Thanks to a general amnesty for Lehi members granted on 14 February 1949, Yellin-Mor was released from prison to take up his place in theKnesset. However, the party disbanded after failing to win a seat in the1951 elections. In 1956, some Lehi veterans established theSemitic Actionmovement, which sought the creation of a regional federation encompassing Israel and its Arab neighbors[36][37]on the basis of an anti-colonialist alliance with other indigenous inhabitants of the Middle East.[38] Not all Lehi alumni gave uppolitical violenceafter independence: former members were involved in the activities of theKingdom of Israelmilitant group, the 1957 assassination ofRudolf Kastner, and likely the 1952 attempted assassination ofDavid-Zvi Pinkas.[88][89][90][91] The Lehi ribbon Service ribbon In 1980, Israel instituted theLehi ribbon, red, black, grey, pale blue and white, which is awarded to former members of the Lehi underground who wished to carry it, \"for military service towards the establishment of the State of Israel\". \"Unknown Soldiers\" anthem The words and music of a song \"Unknown Soldiers\" (also translated \"Anonymous Soldiers\") were written by Avraham Stern in 1932 during the early days of the Irgun. It became the Irgun\'s anthem until the split with Lehi in 1940, after which it became the Lehi anthem.[92][93][94] Prominent members of Lehi A number of Lehi\'s members went on to play important roles in Israel\'s public life. Geula Cohen, announcer of the Lehi underground radio station (1948) Geula Cohen, member of the Knesset Israel Eldad, leader in the Israeli national camp Boaz Evron, left-wing journalist Maxim Ghilan, Israeli journalist, author and peace activist Uri Zvi Greenberg Amos Kenan, writer Baruch Korff Yitzhak Shamir, Israeli prime minister 1983–1984 and 1986–1992. Shimon Tzabar Natan Yellin-Mor, member of the Knesset 1949–1951, leftist advocate of peace with Arabs.[95] ***** Yair Stern, LEHI Founder: In Memory of a Hero Yair was the nom de guerre of brilliant leader Avraham Stern, who in 1940 broke away from the Irgun Tzva\'i Le\'umi (Etzel) to found Lohamei Herut Yisrael (LEHI, the Fighters for the Freedom of Israel, called by the British the \"Stern Gang\". Contact EditorShifra Shomron,05/02/13 22:37 Share Shifra Shomron Shifra Shomron is the author of \"Grains of Sand: The Fall Of Neve Dekalim\", 2007, Mazo Publishers. More from the author ► Shvat 25 (this year February 5, 2013) Exactly 71 years ago, to the day, British detectives and plainclothes men searched the flat belonging to the S\'vorai family and discovered the man hiding there. Excitedly, they handcuffed him, stood him up, and shot himin the back. This person, hastily and barbarically murdered without trialin such a brutal and cowardlyfashion, was Avraham \'Yair\' Stern, founder of the FFI – Freedom Fighters of Israel (Lechi) - who fought for Israel\'s independence from foreign (British) rule. The British hoped they were dealing a deathblow to the FFI as many organizations do not survive after their leader is killed, but Yair had already set on paper the ideology of the movement. His songs could also persuade one to adopt his aims and even his difficult and oftenharsh Underground lifestyle. However, had he so wished, Yair could easily have lived a very different, and surely much longer and more enjoyable, life. His academic background was that of studying the classics; he was considered one of Hebrew University\'s most promising students, and had started his doctorate in Florence, Italy with a grant from Hebrew University. He had a girlfriendwith whom he was enraptured, and whom he would marry after a long courtship. Considering that his father was a dentist and his mothera midwife, his life should have followed academic middle-class lines. If only he hadn\'t gotten involved with the revolutionaries, what a pleasant life he could have had! And yet it was never too late for him to withdraw from the fight; until the very end Yair received appeals from both the Left and the Right to cease his struggle and in return gain protection from the ongoing British manhunt against him. Needless to say, he refused. He paid with his life. Yair started the fight against the British before it became acceptable in the then-Palestine Jewish community. While David Raziel was attacking Arab cafés in the 1936-1939 riots, Yair realized that the important thing was for the Jews to rule their own country. Therefore, he believed, they had to attack the British; not just because they were bad or broke promises, but because they were the foreign rulers. He founded the FFI in 1940 and set to work. It wasn\'t until 1944 under Begin\'s leadership that the NMO – National Military Organization (Etzel) proclaimed their rebellion against the British. And in 1945, after WW2, for nine months, the Hagana actually worked together with the FFI and the NMO against the British. Each organization had its own standards and mode of operation. The FFI, being the most ideologically and operationally extreme, was the spearhead. The spearwas thrust, anda JewishState gained in return. We mustn\'t forget the debt we owe to those who fell along the way. **** Lehi Freedom Fighter Yair Stern Lights Silver Screen Avraham \"Yair\" Stern, freedom fighter of the Lehi underground, warred against the dark British occupation. Now he will alight the silver screen. Contact EditorMalkah Fleisher,15/02/10 21:13| updated:21:23 Share Avraham \"Yair\" SternIsrael news photo: file Avraham \"Yair\" Stern, famed pre-state freedom fighter of the Lehi underground, warred against the dark British occupation.Now he will alight the silver screen. \"The Promised Land\", a movie about Lehi\'s campaign against British occupation in the Land of Israel during the British Mandate, will star British actor Colin Firth as Lehi founder, leader, and martyr Yair Stern.Firth is 49 years old. The Lehi, also known as the \"Stern Gang\", was the most anti-British of the four major Jewish underground movements prior to the creation of a Jewish state in 1948. While the Haganah, Palmach, and even Irgun supported the British during their campaign against Germany in World War II, the Lehi continued to fight against British colonialism in Israel. After the war, the Irgun resumed clandestine warfare against the British. Sternwas murdered in 1942 by British officers who found him in his hideout, handcuffed him, and then shot him to death. He was 35 years old. The movie will be directed by British director Michael Winterbottom, and premier in 2011. In an interview withYnet, Winterbottom expressed his interest in educating Britons about their history in Israel, saying he believes the British Mandate period has ramifications today. Online paperEarthtimesreports that Stern\'s only son,Yair, a former head of Israel Television who was born after his father\'s murder, said he was \"happy the film was being made,\" but thought it was \"unsuitable\" to cast a British actor to play his father\'s part. **** The rehabilitation of an underground revolutionaryYoung people turned out in droves this year to mark the 70th anniversary of Avraham ‘Ya’ir’ Stern’s death BYMITCH GINSBURGFebruary 20, 2012, 4:40 pm Email Print Share WRITERS Mitch Ginsburg Mitch Ginsburg is the former Times of Israel military correspondent. Follow or contact:FacebookTwitterEmailRSS NEWSROOM Email the NewsroomFacebookTwitter RELATED TOPICS YAI\'R STERN Seventy years ago this week, on the 25thof the Hebrew month of Shvat, three British officers burst into a small apartment in south Tel Aviv, in the now trendy neighborhood of Florentin, and searched the flat for the most wanted man in Palestine. He was a Polish-born doctoral student of Greek poetry, a scholar of Eros from the Hebrew University, a melancholy romantic by the name of Avraham Stern who had left the University of Florence in Italy and returned to the land of Israel in order to declare war on the British Empire. Get The Times of Israel\'s Daily Edition by email and never miss our top storiesFREE SIGN UP! They didn’t find him at first, but a wet shaving brush in the apartment of an unmarried woman encouraged them to look further, and when Assistant Superintendent Jeffrey Morton thrust a hand deep into a wooden closet through a thicket of dresses, he touched flesh. Stern was pulled out into the light and shot twice. The British officers contended a struggle had ensued; the faithful members of the underground group Stern headed have always said he was executed on the floor of the apartment. Avraham \'Yair\' Stern, commander of the Lehi, was killed 70 years ago this week (photo credit: courtesy Lehi Museum) Either way, death did not come as a surprise. In 1934 he wrote: “Let us greet him [the redeemer of Zion]: let our blood be a red carpet in the streets, and on this carpet, our minds shall be like white lilies.” Stern, whose writing was filled with death and the undying glory of valor, was intensely revered by a smattering of followers and widely detested by the majority of Jews in Palestine. He had, after all, advocated for a deal with Nazi Germany, arguing that the Jews in the land of Israel, under the boot of the British, should seek “the least of all evils” and make a pact with the enemies of their enemies, the Nazis, believing that he could oust the British from Palestine and help the Nazis rid Europe of its Jewish presence by moving them to the Hebrew state. This was in January 1941 and virtually no one agreed with him. Thirteen months later he was dead. And yet in modern-day Israel, 70 years after his death, there has been a stamp issued in his honor and a town — Kochav Ya’ir — that bears his name and hundreds of teenagers that flock to his grave every year, swearing their allegiance to an ideal of sacrifice largely absent among the majority of Israelis. The shift has certainly come as a shock to his son. Ya’ir Stern — who was given his father’s underground name, Ya’ir, in honor of Elazar Ben Ya’ir, the leader of the besieged Jewish rebels on Masada — was born five months after Avraham’s death. He grew up believing that his father was “away in America.” “On the 29thof November 1947, after the UN vote, there was dancing everywhere, people in the streets,” Stern recalled on Monday in a phone conversation. “I turned to my mother and asked why everyone was so happy,” he said. She told her five-and-a-half-year-old son that the state of Israel had been founded and that his father was dead, killed in the struggle to oust the British from the land of Israel. “That moment will stay with me forever,” he said. “The clashing of those two worlds, the realization that I had no father, the lie that they had told me — I could easily have come out insane.” Ya\'ir Stern learned that his father had been killed while the rest of the country celebrated its newfound independence (photo credit: Maya Levin/Flash 90) Stern, a respected broadcast journalist who recently made a documentary film about his father, grew up proud and vengeful, seriously contemplating killing the police officers who had shot his father, but also alone. “We were wiped out, unwanted. My mother didn’t have bread to feed us. My father was not recognized as someone who had fallen in the service of the state. She couldn’t get a job.” At this year’s ceremony, with raindrops falling hard against the smooth marble gravestones at the Nahalat Yitzhak cemetery in suburban Givatayim in central Israel, the man everyone called Ya’ir was eulogized by the chief rabbi of Tel Aviv, Israel Prize winner Rabbi Meir Yisrael Lau, and one of the wreaths laid on his grave was from the Labor-led Haganah, the archenemies of Stern’s Lehirevisionists. “That’s a new phenomenon,” said Stern of the Haganah tribute: “maybe three years old.” But the large turnout is not. The old timers, the eternally faithful, have always come, Stern said, but the number of teens who attend the ceremony has been steadily increasing. A religious university student of business management and geography, Yehudah Oren, said he has been coming for years. Asked what it is that draws him to the man, he pulled from his backpack a worn copy of Stern’s poetry collection, “In Thy blood Shalt Thou Live Forever,” and found the verse he wanted. It was not one of Stern’s greater turns of phrase, something about “the root of evil” being in that we remain “enslaved.” “Too often we still see ourselves as un-free,” Oren said. “There is something very Diaspora-like about it.” Aliza Greenberg, a poet in her own right and wife of the late poet Uri Zvi Greenberg, sat primly beneath a tree by the side of the rock that marks his grave. Her silver hair was drawn into a tight braid and she spoke softly when describing her decision to join the Lehi,or Stern Gang, as it is sometimes known in English. “I saw his mugshot in the papers, the price they put on his head, and I knew I wanted to join his struggle. He burnt himself for the land of Israel.” Rachel Avnon, who joined the Lehiat age 16 in 1941 back when “Ya’ir” was still alive, and who was known by the call name “Carmela,” emphatically agreed with the sentiment. “It was the Jews who hunted him,” she said. Curiously, government participation was weak. Neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose oldest son is named Ya’ir, nor Dan Meridor nor Benny Begin nor Limor Livnat, all of whom had parents in one of the branches of the underground, was in attendance. Ofir Akunis, an MK who represents the young wing of the Likud party but is not a member of the cabinet, laid the government wreath on the grave. Finally, Psalms were read — Rabbi Lau chose a verse portraying King David on the run from his own son, Absalom — and then Shulamit Livnat, the mother of Minister of Culture and Sport Limor Livnat, began singing the Lehi anthem that “Ya’ir” wrote in Nebi Musa in 1932. Her voice was full of vigor and young and old all joined in: “Unknown soldiers are we, without uniform. And around us fear and the shadow of death. We have all been drafted for life. Only death will discharge us from our ranks.” Stern, who was buried in secret, in the presence of only three people, has that final line etched onto his tombstone.***** Avraham (Yair) Stern Avraham (Yair) Stern, the founder of the militant Zionist groupLehi, is a fascinating personality whose papers are kept at the CZA. Stern was born in Poland in 1907. His childhood was not easy. During the Bolshevik Revolution he was forced to live with his mother and brother far away from his father and his home. Despite the difficulties, he stood out at school for his wisdom, his talent for languages and his writing abilities. When he grew up, his parents sent him to study in Palestine at the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium and the Hebrew University. He financed his studies by giving private lessons and by receiving excellence scholarships. During his studies he joined theHaganah.The 1929 riots in Palestine made him think that the Jews had to start fighting the British. Therefore, when Avraham Tehomi quit theHaganahand founded theEtzel, Stern joined him. At that time, Stern wrote the song \"Unknown Soldiers\" that was adopted by theEtzelas their anthem. Avraham Stern left for Florence to carry out his doctorate studies in classical languages. His teachers claimed that he would be very successful in academic research, but life continued on a different path. Avraham Tehomi came to Florence to ask Stern to purchase weapons and smuggle them to Palestine. Stern abandoned his studies and focused entirely on matters of the Underground. He was sent to participate in operations in Europe and Poland, and tried to convince the Jews there to join the Underground.In 1936 he married Roni Bornstein. The outbreak of World War II, led the leaders of theEtzelto change their policy. They decided not to fight the British as long as they were both fighting a common enemy – the Nazis. Stern rejected collaboration with the British and therefore founded theLehi.This movement continued to struggle against the British. Stern outlined the ideological and political principals of the resistance in his essay \"Eighteen Principals of Rebirth\". TheLehiwas a small group with only a few hundred members and limited financial resources. The group was persecuted by the British and by the people of theYishuvas they resented the operations against the British, during the time of the Second World War. There were also operations that caused injuries to Jews. The British published pictures of Stern and otherLehimembers, in the Jewish newspapers with a promise to reward those who would help to catch them. Stern was forced to hide and move from place to place in Tel Aviv. The British Police finally traced him on February 12th, 1942, hiding in a closet at the house of Moshe and Tova Svorai. He was shot by police detectives and was buried at the Nahalat Yitzhak cemetery. During the years of struggle with the British, Avraham Stern had written poems whenever he had the chance. Even in his last days, while hiding from the British, he worked on his poems and after his death, several books of his poems were published.***** The Irgun (Hebrew: אִרְגּוּן; full title: הָאִרְגּוּן הַצְּבָאִי הַלְּאֻמִּי בְאֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל Hā-ʾIrgun Ha-Tzvaʾī Ha-Leūmī b-Ērētz Yiśrāʾel, lit. \"The National Military Organization in the Land of Israel\"), was a Zionist paramilitary organization that operated in Mandate Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the older and larger Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah (Hebrew: \"Defense\", הגנה). When the group broke from the Haganah it became known as the Haganah Bet (Hebrew: literally \"Defense \'B\' \" or \"Second Defense\", הגנה ב), or alternatively as haHaganah haLeumit (ההגנה הלאומית) or Hama\'amad (המעמד).[1] Irgun members were absorbed into the Israel Defense Forces at the start of the 1948 Arab–Israeli war. The Irgun is also referred to as Etzel (אצ\"ל), an acronym of the Hebrew initials, or by the abbreviation IZL. The Irgun policy was based on what was then called Revisionist Zionism founded by Ze\'ev Jabotinsky. According to Howard Sachar, \"The policy of the new organization was based squarely on Jabotinsky\'s teachings: every Jew had the right to enter Palestine; only active retaliation would deter the Arabs; only Jewish armed force would ensure the Jewish state\".[2] Two of the operations for which the Irgun is best known are the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem on 22 July 1946 and the Deir Yassin massacre, carried out together with Lehi on 9 April 1948. The Irgun has been viewed as a terrorist organization or organization which carried out terrorist acts.[3][4] Specifically the organization \"committed acts of terrorism and assassination against the British, whom it regarded as illegal occupiers, and it was also violently anti-Arab\" according to the Encyclopædia Britannica.[5] In particular the Irgun was described as a terrorist organization by the United Nations, British, and United States governments, and in media such as The New York Times newspaper,[6][7] and by the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry.,[8][9] the 1946 Zionist Congress[10] and the Jewish Agency.[11] Irgun\'s tactics appealed to a certain segment of the Jewish community that believed that any action taken in the cause of the creation of a Jewish state was justified, including terrorism.[12] The Irgun was a political predecessor to Israel\'s right-wing Herut (or \"Freedom\") party, which led to today\'s Likud party.[13] Likud has led or been part of most Israeli governments since 1977. Contents 1 Nature of the Movement 1.1 Structure, command, and organization 2 Prior to World War II 2.1 Founding2.2 Under Tehomi\'s command2.3 The first split2.4 Illegal immigration2.5 End of restraint2.6 Increase in operations 2.6.1 During the same period 2.7 First operations against the British 3 During World War II 3.1 Second split3.2 Change of policy 4 The \"Revolt\" 4.1 Struggle against the British4.2 Underground exiles4.3 Hunting Season4.4 The Jewish Resistance Movement4.5 Further struggle against the British4.6 The Acre Prison break4.7 The Sergeants affair 5 The 1948 Palestine War6 Integration with the IDF and the Altalena Affair7 Criticism8 See also9 References10 Further reading 10.1 In fiction 11 External links Nature of the Movement Ze\'ev Jabotinsky, who formulated the movement\'s ideology and was Supreme Commander of the Etzel Members of the Irgun came mostly from Betar and from the Revisionist Party both in Palestine and abroad. The Revisionist Movement made up a popular backing for the underground organization. Ze\'ev Jabotinsky, founder of Revisionist Zionism, was the commander of the organization until he died. He formulated the general realm of operation, regarding Restraint and the end thereof, and was the inspiration for the organization overall. An additional major source of ideological inspiration was the poetry of Uri Zvi Greenberg. The symbol of the organization, with the motto רק כך (only thus), underneath a hand holding a rifle in the foreground of a map showing both Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan (at the time, both were administered under the terms of the British Mandate for Palestine), implying that force was the only way to \"liberate the homeland\".[14] The number of members of the Irgun varied from a few hundred to a few thousand. Most of its members were people who joined the organization\'s command, under which they carried out various operations and filled positions, largely in opposition to British law. Most of them were \"ordinary\" people, who held regular jobs, and only a few dozen worked full-time in the Irgun. The Irgun disagreed with the policy of the Yishuv and with the World Zionist Organization, both with regard to strategy and basic ideology and with regard to PR and military tactics, such as use of armed force to accomplish the Zionist ends, operations against the Arabs during the riots, and relations with the British mandatory government. Therefore, the Irgun tended to ignore the decisions made by the Zionist leadership and the Yishuv\'s institutions. This fact caused the elected bodies not to recognize the independent organization, and during most of the time of its existence the organization was seen as irresponsible, and its actions thus worthy of thwarting. Therefore, the Irgun accompanied its armed operations with public relations campaigns, in order to convince the public of the Irgun\'s way and the problems with the official political leadership of the Yishuv. The Irgun put out numerous advertisements, an underground newspaper and even ran the first independent Hebrew radio station – Kol Zion HaLochemet. Structure, command, and organization Irgun Commanders Supreme Commander 1937–1940: Ze\'ev Jabotinsky1931–1937: Avraham Tehomi1937: Robert Bitker[15]1937–1938: Moshe Rosenberg[16]1938–1939: David Raziel[17]1939: Hanoch Kalai1939: Benyamin Zeroni1939–1941: David Raziel1941–1943: Yaakov Meridor1943–1948: Menachem Begin As an underground armed organization, members did not normally call it by its name, but rather used other names. In the first years of its existence it was known primarily as Ha-Haganah Leumit\' (The National Defense), and also by names such as Haganah Bet (\"Second Defense\"), Irgun Bet (\"Second Irgun\"), the Parallel Organization and the Rightwing Organization. Later on it was most widely known as המעמד (the Stand). The anthem adopted by the Irgun was \"Anonymous Soldiers\",[18] written by Avraham (Yair) Stern who was at the time a commander in the Irgun. Later on Stern defected from the Irgun and founded Lehi, and the song became the anthem of the Lehi. The Irgun\'s new anthem then became the third verse of the \"Betar Song\", by Ze\'ev Jabotinsky. The Irgun gradually evolved from its humble origins into a serious and well-organized paramilitary organization. The movement developed a series of ranks and a sophisticated command structure, and came to demand serious military training and strict discipline from its members. It developed clandestine networks of hidden arms caches and weapons-production workshops, safe-houses, and training camps. The ranks of the Irgun were (in ascending order): Khayal = (Private)Segen Rosh Kvutza, Segen (\"Deputy Group Leader\", \"Deputy\") = Assistant Squad Leader (Lance Corporal)Rosh Kvutza (\"Group Leader\") = Squad Leader (Corporal)Samal (\"Sergeant\") = Section Leader (Sergeant)Samal Rishon (\"Sergeant First Class\") = Brigade Leader (Platoon Sergeant)Rav Samal (\"Chief Sergeant\") = Battalion Leader (Master Sergeant)Gundar Sheni, Gundar (\"Commander Second Class\", \"Commander\") = District Commander (2nd Lieutenant)Gundar Rishon (\"Commander First Class\") = Senior Branch Commander, Headquarters Staff (Lieutenant). The Irgun was led by a High Command, which set policy and gave orders. Directly underneath it was a General Staff, which oversaw the activities of the Irgun. The General Staff was divided into a military and support staff. The military staff was divided into operational units that oversaw operations and support units in charge of planning, instruction, weapons caches and manufacture, and first aid. The military and support staff never met jointly and communicated through the High Command. Beneath the General Staff were six district commands: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa-Galilee, Southern, Sharon, and Shomron, each led by a district commander.[19] A local Irgun district unit was called a \"Branch\". A \"brigade\" in the Irgun was made up of three sections. A section was made up of two groups, at the head of each was a \"Group Head\", and a deputy. Eventually, various units were established, which answered to a \"Center\" or \"Staff\". The head of the Irgun High Command was the overall commander of the organization, but the name of his rank varied. During the revolt against the British, Irgun commander Menachem Begin and the entire High Command held the rank of Gundar Rishon. His predecessors, however, had held their own ranks. A rank of Military Commander (Seren) was awarded to the Irgun commander Yaakov Meridor and a rank of High Commander (Aluf) to David Raziel. Until his death in 1940, Jabotinsky was known as the \"Military Commander of the Etzel\" or the Ha-Matzbi Ha-Elyon (\"Supreme Commander\"). Under the command of Menachem Begin, the Irgun was divided into different corps: Hayil Kravi (Combat Corps) – Responsible for combat operations.Delek (\"Gasoline\") – The intelligence section; responsible for gathering and translating intelligence, and maintaining contact with local and foreign journalists.HAT (Planning Division) – Responsible for planning activities.HATAM (Revolutionary Publicity Corps) – Responsible for printing and disseminating propaganda In theory, the Irgun was supposed to have a regular combat force, a reserve, and shock units, but in practice there were not enough personnel for a reserve or a shock force.[19] The Irgun emphasized that its fighters be highly disciplined. Strict drill exercises were carried out at ceremonies at different times, and strict attention was given to discipline, formal ceremonies and military relationships between the various ranks. The Irgun put out professional publications on combat doctrine, weaponry, leadership, drill exercises, etc. Among these publications were three books written by David Raziel, who had studied military history, techniques, and strategy: The Pistol (written in collaboration with Avraham Stern), The Theory of Training, and Parade Ground and Field Drill.[20] A British analysis noted that the Irgun\'s discipline was \"as strict as any army in the world.\"[21] The Irgun operated a sophisticated recruitment and military training regime. Those wishing to join had to find and make contact with a member, meaning only those who personally knew a member or were persistent could find their way in. Once contact had been established, a meeting was set up with the three-member selection committee at a safe-house, where the recruit was interviewed in a darkened room, with the committee either positioned behind a screen, or with a flashlight shone into the recruit\'s eyes. The interviewers asked basic biographical questions, and then asked a series of questions designed to weed out romantics and adventurers and those who had not seriously contemplated the potential sacrifices. Those selected attended a four-month series of indoctrination seminars in groups of five to ten, where they were taught the Irgun\'s ideology and the code of conduct it expected of its members. These seminars also had another purpose - to weed out the impatient and those of flawed purpose who had gotten past the selection interview. Then, members were introduced to other members, were taught the locations of safe-houses, and given military training. Irgun recruits trained with firearms, hand grenades, and were taught how to conduct combined attacks on targets. Arms handling and tactics courses were given in clandestine training camps, while practice shooting took place in the desert or by the sea. Eventually, separate training camps were established for heavy-weapons training. The most rigorous course was the explosives course for bomb-makers, which lasted a year.[19] The British authorities believed that some Irgun members enlisted in the Jewish section of the Palestine Police Force for a year as part of their training, during which they also passed intelligence.[21] In addition to the Irgun\'s sophisticated training program, many Irgun members were veterans of the Haganah (including the Palmach), the British Armed Forces, and Jewish partisan groups that had waged guerrilla warfare in Nazi-occupied Europe, thus bringing significant military training and combat experience into the organization.[21] The Irgun also operated a course for its intelligence operatives, in which recruits were taught espionage, cryptography, and analysis techniques.[21] Of the Irgun\'s members, almost all were part-time members. They were expected to maintain their civilian lives and jobs, dividing their time between their civilian lives and underground activities. There were never more than 40 full-time members, who were given a small expense stipend on which to live on.[19] Upon joining, every member received an underground name. The Irgun\'s members were divided into cells, and worked with the members of their own cells. The identities of Irgun members in other cells were withheld. This ensured that an Irgun member taken prisoner could betray no more than a few comrades. In addition to the Irgun\'s members in Palestine, underground Irgun cells composed of local Jews were established in Europe following World War II. An Irgun cell was also established in Shanghai, home to many European-Jewish refugees. The Irgun also set up a Swiss bank account. Eli Tavin, the former head of Irgun intelligence, was appointed commander of the Irgun abroad.[19] In November 1947, the Jewish insurgency came to an end as the UN approved of the partition of Palestine, and the British had announced their intention to withdraw the previous month. As the British left and the 1947-48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine got underway, the Irgun came out of the underground and began to function more as a standing army rather an underground organization. It began openly recruiting, training, and raising funds, and established bases, including training facilities. It also introduced field communications and created a medical unit and supply service.[22][23] Until World War II the group armed itself with weapons purchased in Europe, primarily Italy and Poland, and smuggled to Palestine. The Irgun also established workshops that manufactured spare parts and attachments for the weapons. Also manufactured were land mines and simple hand grenades. Another way in which the Irgun armed itself was theft of weapons from the British Police and military. Prior to World War II Founding The Irgun\'s first steps were in the aftermath of the Riots of 1929. In the Jerusalem branch of the Haganah there were feelings of disappointment and internal unrest towards the leadership of the movements and the Histadrut (at that time the organization running the Haganah). These feelings were a result of the view that the Haganah was not adequately defending Jewish interests in the region. Likewise, critics of the leadership spoke out against alleged failures in the number of weapons, readiness of the movement and its policy of restraint and not fighting back. On April 10, 1931, commanders and equipment managers announced that they refuse to return weapons to the Haganah that had been issued to them earlier, prior to the Nebi Musa holiday. These weapons were later returned by the commander of the Jerusalem branch, Avraham Tehomi, a.k.a. \"Gideon\". However, the commanders who decided to rebel against the leadership of the Haganah relayed a message regarding their resignations to the Vaad Leumi, and thus this schism created a new independent movement. The leader of the new underground movement was Avraham Tehomi, alongside other founding members who were all senior commanders in the Haganah, members of Hapoel Hatzair and of the Histadrut. Also among them was Eliyahu Ben Horin, an activist in the Revisionist Party. This group was known as the \"Odessan Gang\", because they previously had been members of the Haganah Ha\'Atzmit of Jewish Odessa. The new movement was named Irgun Tsvai Leumi, (\"National Military Organization\") in order to emphasize its active nature in contrast to the Haganah. Moreover, the organization was founded with the desire to become a true military organization and not just a militia as the Haganah was at the time. In the autumn of that year the Jerusalem group merged with other armed groups affiliated with Betar. The Betar groups\' center of activity was in Tel Aviv, and they began their activity in 1928 with the establishment of \"Officers and Instructors School of Betar\". Students at this institution had broken away from the Haganah earlier, for political reasons, and the new group called itself the \"National Defense\", הגנה הלאומית. During the riots of 1929 Betar youth participated in the defense of Tel Aviv neighborhoods under the command of Yermiyahu Halperin, at the behest of the Tel Aviv city hall. After the riots the Tel Avivian group expanded, and was known as \"The Right Wing Organization\". After the Tel Aviv expansion another branch was established in Haifa. Towards the end of 1932 the Haganah branch of Safed also defected and joined the Irgun, as well as many members of the Maccabi sports association. At that time the movement\'s underground newsletter, Ha\'Metsudah (the Fortress) also began publication, expressing the active trend of the movement. The Irgun also increased its numbers by expanding draft regiments of Betar – groups of volunteers, committed to two years of security and pioneer activities. These regiments were based in places that from which stemmed new Irgun strongholds in the many places, including the settlements of Yesod HaMa\'ala, Mishmar HaYarden, Rosh Pina, Metula and Nahariya in the north; in the center – Hadera, Binyamina, Herzliya, Netanya and Kfar Saba, and south of there – Rishon LeZion, Rehovot and Ness Ziona. Later on regiments were also active in the Old City of Jerusalem (\"the Kotel Brigades\") among others. Primary training centers were based in Ramat Gan, Qastina (by Kiryat Mal\'akhi of today) and other places. Under Tehomi\'s command Main article: 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine Avraham Tehomi, the first Commander of the Irgun In 1933 there were some signs of unrest, seen by the incitement of the local Arab leadership to act against the authorities. The strong British response put down the disturbances quickly. During that time the Irgun operated in a similar manner to the Haganah and was a guarding organization. The two organizations cooperated in ways such as coordination of posts and even intelligence sharing. Within the Irgun, Tehomi was the first to serve as \"Head of the Headquarters\" or \"Chief Commander\". Alongside Tehomi served the senior commanders, or \"Headquarters\" of the movement. As the organization grew, it was divided into district commands. In August 1933 a \"Supervisory Committee\" for the Irgun was established, which included representatives from most of the Zionist political parties. The members of this committee were Meir Grossman (of the Hebrew State Party), Rabbi Meir Bar-Ilan (of the Mizrachi Party, either Immanuel Neumann or Yehoshua Supersky (of the General Zionists) and Ze\'ev Jabotinsky or Eliyahu Ben Horin (of Hatzohar). In protest against, and with the aim of ending Jewish immigration to Palestine, the Great Arab Revolt of 1936–1939 broke out on April 19, 1936. The riots took the form of attacks by Arab rioters ambushing main roads, bombing of roads and settlements as well as property and agriculture vandalism. In the beginning, the Irgun and the Haganah generally maintained a policy of restraint, apart from a few instances. Some expressed resentment at this policy, leading up internal unrest in the two organizations. The Irgun tended to retaliate more often, and sometimes Irgun members patrolled areas beyond their positions in order to encounter attackers ahead of time. However, there were differences of opinion regarding what to do in the Haganah, as well. Due to the joining of many Betar Youth members, Jabotinsky (founder of Betar) had a great deal of influence over Irgun policy. Nevertheless, Jabotinsky was of the opinion that for moral reasons violent retaliation was not to be undertaken. In November 1936 the Peel Commission was sent to inquire regarding the breakout of the riots and propose a solution to end the Revolt. In early 1937 there were still some in the Yishuv who felt the commission would recommend a partition of Mandatory Palestine (the land west of the Jordan River), thus creating a Jewish state on part of the land. The Irgun leadership, as well as the \"Supervisory Committee\" held similar beliefs, as did some members of the Haganah and the Jewish Agency. This belief strengthened the policy of restraint and led to the position that there was no room for defense institutions in the future Jewish state. Tehomi was quoted as saying: \"We stand before great events: a Jewish state and a Jewish army. There is a need for a single military force\". This position intensified the differences of opinion regarding the policy of restraint, both within the Irgun and within the political camp aligned with the organization. The leadership committee of the Irgun supported a merger with the Haganah. On April 24, 1937 a referendum was held among Irgun members regarding its continued independent existence. David Raziel and Avraham (Yair) Stern came out publicly in support for the continued existence of the Irgun: The Irgun has been placed ... before a decision to make, whether to submit to the authority of the government and the Jewish Agency or to prepare for a double sacrifice and endangerment. Some of our friends do not have appropriate willingness for this difficult position, and have submitted to the Jewish Agency and has left the battle ... all of the attempts ... to unite with the leftist organization have failed, because the Left entered into negotiations not on the basis of unification of forces, but the submission of one such force to the other....[24] The first split In April 1937 the Irgun split after the referendum. Approximately 1,500–2,000 people, about half of the Irgun\'s membership, including the senior command staff, regional committee members, along with most of the Irgun\'s weapons, returned to the Haganah, which at that time was under the Jewish Agency\'s leadership. The Supervisory Committee\'s control over the Irgun ended, and Jabotinsky assumed command. In their opinion, the removal of the Haganah from the Jewish Agency\'s leadership to the national institutions necessitated their return. Furthermore, they no longer saw significant ideological differences between the movements. Those who remained in the Irgun were primarily young activists, mostly laypeople, who sided with the independent existence of the Irgun. In fact, most of those who remained were originally Betar people. Moshe Rosenberg estimated that approximately 1,800 members remained. In theory, the Irgun remained an organization not aligned with a political party, but in reality the supervisory committee was disbanded and the Irgun\'s continued ideological path was outlined according to Ze\'ev Jabotinsky\'s school of thought and his decisions, until the movement eventually became Revisionist Zionism\'s military arm. One of the major changes in policy by Jabotinsky was the end of the policy of restraint. On April 27, 1937 the Irgun founded a new headquarters, staffed by Moshe Rosenberg at the head, Avraham (Yair) Stern as secretary, David Raziel as head of the Jerusalem branch, Hanoch Kalai as commander of Haifa and Aharon Haichman as commander of Tel Aviv. On 20 Tammuz, (June 29) the day of Theodor Herzl\'s death, a ceremony was held in honor of the reorganization of the underground movement. For security purposes this ceremony was held at a construction site in Tel Aviv. Ze\'ev Jabotinsky placed Col. Robert Bitker at the head of the Irgun. Bitker had previously served as Betar commissioner in China and had military experience. A few months later, probably due to total incompatibility with the position, Jabotinsky replaced Bitker with Moshe Rosenberg. When the Peel Commission report was published a few months later, the Revisionist camp decided not to accept the commission\'s recommendations. Moreover, the organizations of Betar, Hatzohar and the Irgun began to increase their efforts to bring Jews to the land of Israel, illegally. This Aliyah was known as the עליית אף על פי \"Af Al Pi (Nevertheless) Aliyah\". As opposed to this position, the Jewish Agency began acting on behalf of the Zionist interest on the political front, and continued the policy of restraint. From this point onwards the differences between the Haganah and the Irgun were much more obvious. Illegal immigration The ship Parita unloading immigrants at the beach in Tel Aviv According to Jabotinsky\'s \"Evacuation Plan\", which called for millions of European Jews to be brought to Palestine at once, the Irgun helped the illegal immigration of European Jews to the land of Israel. This was named by Jabotinsky the \"National Sport\". The most significant part of this immigration prior to World War II was carried out by the Revisionist camp, largely because the Yishuv institutions and the Jewish Agency shied away from such actions on grounds of cost and their belief that Britain would in the future allow widespread Jewish immigration. The Irgun joined forces with Hatzohar and Betar in September 1937, when it assisted with the landing of a convoy of 54 Betar members at Tantura Beach (near Haifa.) The Irgun was responsible for discreetly bringing the Olim, or Jewish immigrants, to the beaches, and dispersing them among the various Jewish settlements. The Irgun also began participating in the organisation of the immigration enterprise and undertook the process of accompanying the ships. This began with the ship Draga which arrived at the coast of British Palestine in September 1938. In August of the same year, an agreement was made between Ari Jabotinsky (the son of Ze\'ev Jabotinsky), the Betar representative and Hillel Kook, the Irgun representative, to coordinate the immigration (also known as Ha\'apala). This agreement was also made in the \"Paris Convention\" in February 1939, at which Ze\'ev Jabotinsky and David Raziel were present. Afterwards, the \"Aliyah Center\" was founded, made up of representatives of Hatzohar, Betar, and the Irgun, thereby making the Irgun a full participant in the process. The difficult conditions on the ships demanded a high level of discipline. The people on board the ships were often split into units, led by commanders. In addition to having a daily roll call and the distribution of food and water (usually very little of either), organized talks were held to provide information regarding the actual arrival in Palestine. One of the largest ships was the Sakaria, with 2,300 passengers, which equalled about 0.5% of the Jewish population in Palestine. The first vessel arrived on April 13, 1937, and the last on February 13, 1940. All told, about 18,000 Jews immigrated to Palestine with the help of the Revisionist organizations and private initiatives by other Revisionists. Most were not caught by the British. End of restraint Main article: List of Irgun attacks David Raziel, commander of the Irgun Irgun members continued to defend settlements, but at the same time began attacks on Arab villages, thus ending the policy of restraint. These attacks were intended to instill fear in the Arab side, in order to cause the Arabs to wish for peace and quiet. In March 1938, David Raziel wrote in the underground newspaper \"By the Sword\" a constitutive article for the Irgun overall, in which he coined the term \"Active Defense\": The actions of the Haganah alone will never be a true victory. If the goal of the war is to break the will of the enemy – and this cannot be attained without destroying his spirit – clearly we cannot be satisfied with solely defensive operations.... Such a method of defense, that allows the enemy to attack at will, to reorganize and attack again ... and does not intend to remove the enemy\'s ability to attack a second time – is called passive defense, and ends in downfall and destruction ... whoever does not wish to be beaten has no choice but to attack. The fighting side, that does not intend to oppress but to save its liberty and honor, he too has only one way available – the way of attack. Defensiveness by way of offensiveness, in order to deprive the enemy the option of attacking, is called active defense. The first attacks began around April 1936, and by the end of World War II, more than 250 Arabs had been killed. Examples include: After an Arab shooting at Carmel school in Tel Aviv, which resulted in the death of a Jewish child, Irgun members attacked an Arab neighborhood near Kerem Hatemanim in Tel Aviv, killing one Arab man and injuring another.On August 17, the Irgun responded to shootings by Arabs from the Jaffa–Jerusalem train towards Jews that were waiting by the train block on Herzl Street in Tel Aviv. The same day, when a Jewish child was injured by the shooting, Irgun members attacked a train on the same route, killing one Arab and injuring five. During 1936, Irgun members carried out approximately ten attacks. Throughout 1937 the Irgun continued this line of operation. On March 6, a Jew at Sabbath prayers at the Western Wall was shot by a local Arab. A few hours later, the Irgun shot at an Arab in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Rechavia.On June 29, a band of Arabs attacked an Egged bus on the Jerusalem – Tel Aviv road, killing one Jew. The following day, two Jews were also killed near Karkur. A few hours later, the Irgun carried out a number of operations. An Arab bus making its way from Lifta was attacked in Jerusalem.In two other locations in Jerusalem, Arabs were shot as well.In Tel Aviv, a hand grenade was thrown at an Arab coffee shop on Carmel St., injuring many of the patrons.Irgun members also injured an Arab on Reines St. in Tel Aviv.On September 5, the Irgun responded to the murder of a rabbi on his way home from prayer in the Old City of Jerusalem by throwing explosives at an Arab bus that had left Lifta, injuring two female passengers and a British police officer. A more complete list can be found here. At that time, however, these acts were not yet a part of a formulated policy of the Irgun.[25] Not all of the aforementioned operations received a commander\'s approval, and Jabotinsky was not in favor of such actions at the time. Jabotinsky still hoped to establish a Jewish force out in the open that would not have to operate underground. However, the failure, in its eyes, of the Peel Commission and the renewal of violence on the part of the Arabs caused the Irgun to rethink its official policy. Increase in operations 14 November 1937 was a watershed in Irgun activity. From that date, the Irgun increased its reprisals. Following an increase in the number of attacks aimed at Jews, including the killing of five kibbutz members near Kiryat Anavim (today kibbutz Ma\'ale HaHamisha), the Irgun undertook a series of attacks in various places in Jerusalem, killing five Arabs. Operations were also undertaken in Haifa (shooting at the Arab-populated Wadi Nisnas neighborhood) and in Herzliya. The date is known as the day the policy of restraint (Havlagah) ended, or as \"Black Sunday\". This is when the organization fully changed its policy, with the approval of Jabotinsky and Headquarters to the policy of \"active defense\" in respect of Irgun actions.[26] The British responded with the arrest of Betar and Hatzohar members as suspected members of the Irgun. Military courts were allowed to act under \"Time of Emergency Regulations\" and even sentence people to death. In this manner Yehezkel Altman, a guard in a Betar battalion in the Nahalat Yizchak neighborhood of Tel Aviv, shot at an Arab bus, without his commanders\' knowledge. Altman was acting in response to a shooting at Jewish vehicles on the Tel Aviv–Jerusalem road the day before. He turned himself in later and was sentenced to death, a sentence which was later commuted to a life sentence. Despite the arrests, Irgun members continued fighting. Jabotinsky lent his moral support to these activities. In a letter to Moshe Rosenberg on 18 March 1938 he wrote: Tell them: from afar I collect and save, as precious treasures, news items about your lives. I know of the obstacles that have not impeded your spirit; and I know of your actions as well. I am overjoyed that I have been blessed with such students. Although the Irgun continued activities such as these, following Rosenberg\'s orders, they were greatly curtailed. Furthermore, in fear of the British threat of the death sentence for anyone found carrying a weapon, all operations were suspended for eight months. However, opposition to this policy gradually increased. In April, 1938, responding to the killing of six Jews, Betar members from the Rosh Pina Brigade went on a reprisal mission, without the consent of their commander, as described by historian Avi Shlaim: On 21 April 1938, after several weeks of planning, he and two of his colleagues from the Irgun (Etzel) ambushed an Arab bus at a bend on a mountain road near Safad. They had a hand grenade, a gun and a pistol. Their plan was to destroy the engine so that the bus would fall off the side of the road and all the passengers would be killed. When the bus approached, they fired at it (not in the air, as Mailer has it) but the grenade lobbed by Ben Yosef did not detonate. The bus with its screaming and terrified passengers drove on.[27] Although the incident ended without casualties, the three were caught, and one of them – Shlomo Ben-Yosef was sentenced to death. Demonstrations around the country, as well as pressure from institutions and people such as Dr. Chaim Weizmann and the Chief Rabbi of Mandatory Palestine, Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog did not reduce his sentence. In Shlomo Ben-Yosef\'s writings in Hebrew were later found: I am going to die and I am not sorry at all. Why? Because I am going to die for our country. Shlomo Ben-Yosef. On 29 June 1938 he was executed, and was the first of the Olei Hagardom. The Irgun revered him after his death and many regarded him as an example. In light of this, and due to the anger of the Irgun leadership over the decision to adopt a policy of restraint until that point, Jabotinsky relieved Rosenberg of his post and replaced him with David Raziel, who proved to be the most prominent Irgun commander until Menachem Begin. Jabotinsky simultaneously instructed the Irgun to end its policy of restraint, leading to armed offensive operations until the end of the Arab Revolt in 1939. In this time, the Irgun mounted about 40 operations against Arabs and Arab villages, for instance: After a Jewish father and son were killed in the Old City of Jerusalem, on June 6, 1938, Irgun members threw explosives from the roof of a nearby house, killing two Arabs and injuring four.The Irgun planted land mines in a number of Arab markets, primarily in places identified by the Irgun as activity centers of armed Arab gangs.Explosives detonated in the Arab souk in Jerusalem on July 15, killed ten local Arabs.In similar circumstances, 70 Arabs were killed by a land mine planted in the Arab souk in Haifa. This action led the British Parliament to discuss the disturbances in Palestine. On 23 February 1939 the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Malcolm MacDonald revealed the British intention to cancel the mandate and establish a state that would preserve Arab rights. This caused a wave of riots and attacks by Arabs against Jews. The Irgun responded four days later with a series of attacks on Arab buses and other sites. The British used military force against the Arab rioters and in the latter stages of the revolt by the Arab community in Palestine, it deteriorated into a series of internal gang wars. During the same period 1931 propaganda poster of the Irgun for distribution in central Europe – the map shows Israel defined in the borders of both Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan, which the Irgun claimed in its entirety for a future Jewish state. At the same time, the Irgun also established itself in Europe. The Irgun built underground cells that participated in organizing migration to Palestine. The cells were made up almost entirely of Betar members, and their primary activity was military training in preparation for emigration to Palestine. Ties formed with the Polish authorities brought about courses in which Irgun commanders were trained by Polish officers in advanced military issues such as guerrilla warfare, tactics and laying land mines. Avraham (Yair) Stern was notable among the cell organizers in Europe. In 1937 the Polish authorities began to deliver large amounts of weapons to the underground. The transfer of handguns, rifles, explosives and ammunition stopped with the outbreak of World War II. Another field in which the Irgun operated was the training of pilots, so they could serve in the Air Force in the future war for independence, in the flight school in Lod. Towards the end of 1938 there was progress towards aligning the ideologies of the Irgun and the Haganah. Many abandoned the belief that the land would be divided and a Jewish state would soon exist. The Haganah founded פו\"מ, a special operations unit, (pronounced poom), which carried out reprisal attacks following Arab violence. These operations continued into 1939. Furthermore, the opposition within the Yishuv to illegal immigration significantly decreased, and the Haganah began to bring Jews to Palestine using rented ships, as the Irgun had in the past. First operations against the British The publishing of the MacDonald White Paper of 1939 brought with it new edicts that were intended to lead to a more equitable settlement between Jews and Arabs. However, it was considered by some Jews to have an adverse effect on the continued development of the Jewish community in Palestine. Chief among these was the prohibition on selling land to Jews, and the smaller quotas for Jewish immigration. The entire Yishuv was furious at the contents of the White Paper. There were demonstrations against the \"Treacherous Paper\", as it was considered that it would preclude the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Under the temporary command of Hanoch Kalai, the Irgun began sabotaging strategic infrastructure such as electricity facilities, radio and telephone lines. It also started publicizing its activity and its goals. This was done in street announcements, newspapers, as well as the underground radio station Kol Zion HaLochemet. On August 26, 1939, the Irgun killed Ralph Cairns, a British police officer who, as head of the Jewish Department in the Palestine Police, had tortured a number of youths who were underground members.[28][29] Cairns and Ronald Barker, another British police officer, were killed by an Irgun IED.[30] The British increased their efforts against the Irgun. As a result, on August 31 the British police arrested members meeting in the Irgun headquarters. On the next day, September 1, 1939, World War II broke out. During World War II Following the outbreak of war, Ze\'ev Jabotinsky and the New Zionist Organization voiced their support for Britain and France. In mid-September 1939 Raziel was moved from his place of detention in Tzrifin. This, among other events, encouraged the Irgun to announce a cessation of its activities against the British so as not to hinder Britain\'s effort to fight \"the Hebrew\'s greatest enemy in the world – German Nazism\". This announcement ended with the hope that after the war a Hebrew state would be founded \"within the historical borders of the liberated homeland\". After this announcement Irgun, Betar and Hatzohar members, including Raziel and the Irgun leadership, were gradually released from detention. The Irgun did not rule out joining the British army and the Jewish Brigade. Irgun members did enlist in various British units.[31] Irgun members also assisted British forces with intelligence in Romania, Bulgaria, Morocco and Tunisia. An Irgun unit also operated in Syria and Lebanon. David Raziel later died during one of these operations. During the Holocaust, Betar members revolted numerous times against the Nazis in occupied Europe. The largest of these revolts was the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, in which an armed underground organization fought, formed by Betar and Hatzoar and known as the Żydowski Związek Wojskowy (ŻZW) (Jewish Military Union). Despite its political origins, the ŻZW accepted members without regard to political affiliation, and had contacts established before the war with elements of the Polish military. Because of differences over objectives and strategy, the ŻZW was unable to form a common front with the mainstream ghetto fighters of the Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa, and fought independently under the military leadership of Paweł Frenkiel and the political leadership of Dawid Wdowiński.[32] There were instances of Betar members enlisted in the British military smuggling British weapons to the Irgun. [ref?] From 1939 onwards, an Irgun delegation in the United States worked for the creation of a Jewish army made up of Jewish refugees and Jews from Palestine, to fight alongside the Allied Forces. In July 1943 the \"Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People in Europe\" was formed, and worked until the end of the war to rescue the Jews of Europe from the Nazis and to garner public support for a Jewish state. However, it was not until January 1944 that US President Franklin Roosevelt established the War Refugee Board, which achieved some success in saving European Jews. Second split Avraham (Yair) Stern Throughout this entire period, the British continued enforcing the White Paper\'s provisions, which included a ban on the sale of land, restrictions on Jewish immigration and increased vigilance against illegal immigration. Part of the reason why the British banned land sales (to anyone) was the confused state of the post Ottoman land registry; it was difficult to determine who actually owned the land that was for sale. Within the ranks of the Irgun this created much disappointment and unrest, at the center of which was disagreement with the leadership of the New Zionist Organization, David Raziel and the Irgun Headquarters. On June 18, 1939, Avraham (Yair) Stern and others of the leadership were released from prison and a rift opened between them the Irgun and Hatzohar leadership. The controversy centred on the issues of the underground movement submitting to public political leadership and fighting the British. On his release from prison Raziel resigned from Headquarters. To his chagrin, independent operations of senior members of the Irgun were carried out and some commanders even doubted Raziel\'s loyalty. In his place, Stern was elected to the leadership. In the past, Stern had founded secret Irgun cells in Poland without Jabotinsky\'s knowledge, in opposition to his wishes. Furthermore, Stern was in favor of removing the Irgun from the authority of the New Zionist Organization, whose leadership urged Raziel to return to the command of the Irgun. He finally consented. Jabotinsky wrote to Raziel and to Stern, and these letters were distributed to the branches of the Irgun: ... I call upon you: Let nothing disturb our unity. Listen to the commissioner (Raziel), whom I trust, and promise me that you and Betar, the greatest of my life\'s achievements, will stand strong and united and allow me to continue with the hope for victory in the war to realize our old Maccabean dream.... Stern was sent a telegram with an order to obey Raziel, who was reappointed. However, these events did not prevent the splitting of the organization. Suspicion and distrust were rampant among the members. Out of the Irgun a new organization was created on July 17, 1940,[33] which was first named \"The National Military Organization in Israel\" (as opposed to the \"National Military Organization in the Land of Israel\") and later on changed its name to Lehi, an acronym for Lohamei Herut Israel, \"Fighters for the Freedom of Israel\", (לח\"י – לוחמי חירות ישראל). Jabotinsky died in New York on August 4, 1940, yet this did not prevent the Lehi split. Following Jabotinsky\'s death, ties were formed between the Irgun and the New Zionist Organization. These ties would last until 1944, when the Irgun declared a revolt against the British. The primary difference between the Irgun and the newly formed organization was its intention to fight the British in Palestine, regardless of their war against Germany. Later, additional operational and ideological differences developed that contradicted some of the Irgun\'s guiding principles. For example, the Lehi, unlike the Irgun, supported a population exchange with local Arabs. Change of policy The Irgun\'s Anthem[34] Tagar -Through all obstacles and enemiesWhether you go up or downIn the flames of revoltCarry a flame to kindle – never mind!For silence is filthWorthless is blood and soulFor the sake of the hidden glory To die or to conquer the hill -Yodefet, Masada, Betar. The split damaged the Irgun both organizationally and from a morale point of view. As their spiritual leader, Jabotinsky\'s death also added to this feeling. Together, these factors brought about a mass abandonment by members. The British took advantage of this weakness to gather intelligence and arrest Irgun activists. The new Irgun leadership, which included Meridor, Yerachmiel Ha\'Levi, Moshe Segal and others used the forced hiatus in activity to rebuild the injured organization. This period was also marked by more cooperation between the Irgun and the Jewish Agency, however David Ben-Gurion\'s uncompromising demand that Irgun accept the Agency\'s command foiled any further cooperation. In both the Irgun and the Haganah more voices were being heard opposing any cooperation with the British. Nevertheless, an Irgun operation carried out in the service of Britain was aimed at sabotaging pro-Nazi forces in Iraq, including the assassination of Haj Amin al-Husayni. Among others, Raziel and Yaakov Meridor participated. On April 20, 1941, during a Luftwaffe air raid on RAF Hannaniya near Baghdad, David Raziel, commander of the Irgun, was killed during the operation. In late 1943 a joint Haganah – Irgun initiative was developed, to form a single fighting body, unaligned with any political party, by the name of עם לוחם (Fighting Nation).[35][36] The new body\'s first plan was to kidnap the British High Commissioner of Palestine, Sir Harold MacMichael and take him to Cyprus. However, the Haganah leaked the planned operation and it was thwarted before it got off the ground. Nevertheless, at this stage the Irgun ceased its cooperation with the British. As Eliyahu Lankin tells in his book: Immediately following the failure of Fighting Nation practical discussions began in the Irgun Headquarters regarding a declaration of war. The \"Revolt\" In 1943 the Polish II Corps, commanded by Władysław Anders, arrived in Palestine from Iraq. The British insisted that no Jewish units of the army be created. Eventually, many of the soldiers of Jewish origin that arrived with the army were released and allowed to stay in Palestine. One of them was Menachem Begin,[37] whose arrival in Palestine created new-found expectations within the Irgun and Betar. Begin had served as head of the Betar movement in Poland,[38] and was a respected leader. Yaakov Meridor, then the commander of the Irgun, raised the idea of appointing Begin to the post. In late 1943, when Begin accepted the position, a new leadership was formed. Meridor became Begin\'s deputy, and other members of the board were Aryeh Ben Eliezer, Eliyahu Lankin, and Shlomo Lev Ami.[39] On February 1, 1944 the Irgun put up posters all around the country, proclaiming a revolt against the British mandatory government. The posters began by saying that all of the Zionist movements stood by the Allied Forces and over 25,000 Jews had enlisted in the British military. The hope to establish a Jewish army had died. European Jewry was trapped and was being destroyed, yet Britain, for its part, did not allow any rescue missions. This part of the document ends with the following words: The White Paper is still in effect. It is enforced, despite the betrayal of the Arabs and the loyalty of the Jews; despite the mass enlisting to the British Army; despite the ceasefire and the quiet in The Land of Israel; despite the massacre of masses of the Jewish people in Europe.... The facts are simple and horrible as one. Over the last four years of the war we have lost millions of the best of our people; millions more are in danger of eradication. And The Land of Israel is closed off and quarantined because the British rule it, realizing the White Paper, and strives for the destruction of our people\'s last hope. The Irgun then declared that, for its part, the ceasefire was over and they were now at war with the British. It demanded the transfer of rule to a Jewish government, to implement ten policies. Among these were the mass evacuation of Jews from Europe, the signing of treaties with any state that recognized the Jewish state\'s sovereignty, including Britain, granting social justice to the state\'s residents, and full equality to the Arab population. The proclamation ended with: The God of Israel, God of Hosts, will be at our side. There is no retreat. Liberty or death.... The fighting youth will not recoil in the face of sacrifices and suffering, blood and torment. They will not surrender, so long as our days of old are not renewed, so long as our nation is not ensured a homeland, liberty, honor, bread, justice and law. The Irgun began this campaign rather weakly. At the time of the start of the revolt, it was only about 1,000 strong, including some 200 fighters. It possessed about 4 submachine guns, 40 rifles, 60 pistols, 150 hand grenades, and 2,000 kilograms of explosive material, and it\'s funds were about £800.[21] Struggle against the British Main article: Jewish insurgency in Palestine The Irgun began a militant operation against the symbols of government, in an attempt to harm the regime\'s operation as well as its reputation. The first attack was on February 12, 1944 at the government immigration offices, a symbol of the immigration laws. The attacks went smoothly and ended with no casualties—as they took place on a Saturday night, when the buildings were empty—in the three largest cities: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa. On February 27 the income tax offices were bombed. Parts of the same cities were blown up, also on a Saturday night; prior warnings were put up near the buildings. On March 23 the national headquarters building of the British police in the Russian Compound in Jerusalem was attacked, and part of it was blown up. These attacks in the first few months were sharply condemned by the organized leadership of the Yishuv and by the Jewish Agency, who saw them as dangerous provocations. At the same time the Lehi also renewed its attacks against the British.[40] The Irgun continued to attack police stations and headquarters, and Tegart Fort, a fortified police station (today the location of Latrun). One relatively complex operation was the takeover of the radio station in Ramallah, on May 17, 1944. One symbolic act by the Irgun happened before Yom Kippur of 1944. They plastered notices around town, warning that no British officers should come to the Western Wall on Yom Kippur, and for the first time since the mandate began no British police officers were there to prevent the Jews from the traditional Shofar blowing at the end of the fast.[41] After the fast that year the Irgun attacked four police stations in Arab settlements. In order to obtain weapons, the Irgun carried out \"confiscation\" operations – they robbed British armouries and smuggled stolen weapons to their own hiding places. During this phase of activity the Irgun also cut all of its official ties with the New Zionist Organization, so as not to tie their fate in the underground organization. Begin wrote in his memoirs, The Revolt: History and experience taught us that if we are able to destroy the prestige of the British in Palestine, the regime will break. Since we found the enslaving government\'s weak point, we did not let go of it.[42] Underground exiles Main article: Irgun and Lehi internment in Africa In October 1944 the British began expelling hundreds of arrested Irgun and Lehi members to detention camps in Africa. 251 detainees from Latrun were flown on thirteen planes, on October 19 to a camp in Asmara, Eritrea. Eleven additional transports were made. Throughout the period of their detention, the detainees often initiated rebellions and hunger strikes. Many escape attempts were made until July 1948 when the exiles were returned to Israel. While there were numerous successful escapes from the camp itself, only nine men actually made it back all the way. One noted success was that of Yaakov Meridor, who escaped nine times before finally reaching Europe in April 1948. These tribulations were the subject of his book Long is the Path to Freedom: Chronicles of one of the Exiles. Hunting Season Main article: The Hunting Season On November 6, 1944, Lord Moyne, British Deputy Resident Minister of State in Cairo was assassinated by Lehi members Eliyahu Hakim and Eliyahu Bet-Zuri. This act raised concerns within the Yishuv from the British regime\'s reaction to the underground\'s violent acts against them. Therefore, the Jewish Agency decided on starting a Hunting Season,[43][44] known as the saison, (from the French \"la saison de chasse\"). The Irgun\'s recuperation was noticeable when it began to renew its cooperation with the Lehi in May 1945, when it sabotaged oil pipelines, telephone lines and railroad bridges. All in all, over 1,000 members of the Irgun and Lehi were arrested and interred in British camps during the Saison. Eventually the Hunting Season died out, and there was even talk of cooperation with the Haganah leading to the formation of the Jewish Resistance Movement. The Jewish Resistance Movement Main article: The Jewish Resistance Movement The King David Hotel after the bombing, photo from The Palestine Post Towards the end of July 1945 the Labour party in Britain was elected to power. The Yishuv leadership had high hopes that this would change the anti-Zionist policy that the British maintained at the time. However, these hopes were quickly dashed when the government limited Jewish immigration, with the intention that the population of Mandatory Palestine (the land west of the Jordan River) would not be more than one third of the total. This, along with the stepping up of arrests and their pursuit of underground members and illegal immigration organizers led to the formation of the Jewish Resistance Movement. This body consolidated the armed resistance to the British of the Irgun, Lehi, and Haganah. For ten months the Irgun and the Lehi cooperated and they carried out nineteen attacks and defense operations. The Haganah and Palmach carried out ten such operations. The Haganah also assisted in landing 13,000 illegal immigrants. Tension between the underground movements and the British increased with the increase in operations. On April 23, 1945 an operation undertaken by the Irgun to gain weapons from the Tegart fort at Ramat Gan resulted in a firefight. One Irgun member was killed and his body was later hanged on the fort\'s fence. Another fighter, Yizchak Bilu, was killed as well in a diversionary ploy – an explosive device fell out of his hand, and he leapt onto it in order to save his comrades, who were also carrying explosives. A third fighter, Dov Gruner, was caught. He stood trial and was sentenced to be death by hanging, refusing to sign a pardon request.[45] In 1946, British relations with the Yishuv worsened, building up to Operation Agatha of June 29. The authorities ignored the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry\'s recommendation to allow 100,000 Jews into Palestine at once. As a result of the discovery of documents tying the Jewish Agency to the Jewish Resistance Movement, the Irgun was asked to speed up the plans for the King David Hotel bombing of July 22.[46] The hotel was where the documents were located, the base for the British Secretariat, the military command and a branch of the Criminal Investigation Division of the police. The Irgun later claimed to have sent a warning that was ignored.[47] 91 people were killed in the attack where a 350 kg bomb was placed in the basement of the hotel and caused a large section of it to collapse. Only 13 were British soldiers. Further struggle against the British Menachem Begin as \"Rabbi Sassover\", with wife Aliza and son Benyamin-Zeev, Tel Aviv, December 1946 The King David Hotel bombing and the arrest of Jewish Agency and other Yishuv leaders as part of Operation Agatha caused the Haganah to cease their armed activity against the British. Yishuv and Jewish Agency leaders were released from prison. From then until the end of the British mandate, resistance activities were led by the Irgun and Lehi. In early September 1946 the Irgun renewed its attacks against civil structures, railroads, communication lines and bridges. One operation was the attack on the train station in Jerusalem, in which Meir Feinstein was arrested and later committed suicide awaiting execution. According to the Irgun these sort of armed attacks were legitimate, since the trains primarily served the British, for redeployment of their forces. The Irgun also publicized leaflets, in three languages, not to use specific trains in danger of being attacked. For a while the British stopped train traffic at night. The Irgun also carried out repeated attacks against military and police traffic using disguised, electronically-detonated roadside mines which could be detonated by an operator hiding nearby as a vehicle passed, carried out arms raids against military bases and police stations (often disguised as British soldiers), launched bombing, shooting, and mortar attacks against military and police installations and checkpoints, and robbed banks to gain funds as a result of losing access to Haganah funding following the collapse of the Jewish Resistance Movement.[21] On October 31, 1946, in response to the British barring entry of Jews from Palestine, the Irgun blew up the British embassy in Rome, a center of British efforts to monitor and stop Jewish immigration. The Irgun also carried out a few other operations in Europe: a British troop train was derailed and an attempt against another troop train failed. An attack on a British officers club in Vienna took place in 1947, and an attack on another British officer\'s club in Vienna and a sergeant\'s club in Germany took place in 1948.[19] In December 1946 a sentence of 18 years and 18 beatings was handed down to a young Irgun member. The Irgun made good on a threat they made and after the detainee was whipped, Irgun members kidnapped British officers and beat them in public. The operation, known as the \"Night of the Beatings\" brought an end to British punitive beatings. The British, taking these acts seriously, moved many British families in Palestine into the confines of military bases, and some moved home. Arab bus after a bomb attack by the Irgun, 29 December 1947 On February 14, 1947, Ernest Bevin announced that the Jews and Arabs would not be able to agree on any British proposed solution for the land, and therefore the issue must be brought to the United Nations (UN) for a final decision. The Yishuv thought of the idea to transfer the issue to the UN as a British attempt to achieve delay while a UN inquiry commission would be established, and its ideas discussed, and all the while the Yishuv would weaken. Foundation for Immigration B increased the number of ships bringing in Jewish refugees. The British still strictly enforced the policy of limited Jewish immigration and illegal immigrants were placed in detention camps in Cyprus, which increased the anger of the Jewish community towards the mandate government. The Irgun stepped up its activity and from February 19 until March 3 it attacked 18 British military camps, convoy routes, vehicles, and other facilities. The most notable of these attacks was the bombing of a British officer\'s club located in Goldschmidt House in Jerusalem, which was in a heavily guarded security zone. Covered by machine-gun fire, an Irgun assault team in a truck penetrated the security zone and lobbed explosives into the building.[48] Thirteen people, including two officers, were killed.[21] As a result, martial law was imposed over much of the country, enforced by approximately 20,000 British soldiers. Despite this, attacks continued throughout the martial law period. The most notable one was an Irgun attack against the Royal Army Pay Corps base at the Schneller Orphanage, in which a British soldier was killed.[21] Throughout its struggle against the British, the Irgun sought to publicize its cause around the world. By humiliating the British, it attempted to focus global attention on Palestine, hoping that any British overreaction would be widely reported, and thus result in more political pressure against the British. Begin described this strategy as turning Palestine into a \"glass house\". The Irgun also re-established many representative offices internationally, and by 1948 operated in 23 states. In these countries the Irgun sometimes acted against the local British representatives or led public relations campaigns against Britain. According to Bruce Hoffman: \"In an era long before the advent of 24/7 global news coverage and instantaneous satellite-transmitted broadcasts, the Irgun deliberately attempted to appeal to a worldwide audience far beyond the immediate confines of its local struggle, and beyond even the ruling regime\'s own homeland.\"[19][21] Executed Members of the Irgun Shlomo Ben-YosefDov GrunerMordechai AlkahiYehiel DresnerEliezer KashaniYaakov WeissAvshalom HavivMeir Nakar The Acre Prison break Main article: Acre Prison break On April 16, 1947, Dov Gruner, Yehiel Dresner, Eliezer Kashani, and Mordechai El\'kachi were hanged, while singing Hatikvah. On April 21 Meir Feinstein and Lehi member Moshe Barazani blew themselves up, using an improvised explosive device (IED), hours before their scheduled hanging. And on May 4 one of the Irgun\'s largest operations took place – the raid of the prison in the citadel in Acre. The operation was carried out by 23 men, commanded by Dov Cohen – AKA \"Shimshon\", along with the help of the Irgun and Lehi prisoners inside the prison. The raid allowed 41 underground members to escape, although some were caught outside of the prison, and some were killed in the escape. Along with the underground movement members, other criminals – including 214 Arabs[49] – also escaped. Five of the attackers were caught and three of them – Avshalom Haviv, Meir Nakar, and Yaakov Weiss, were sentenced to death. The Sergeants affair Main article: The Sergeants affair Two British sergeants hanged by the Irgun After the death sentences of the three were confirmed, the Irgun tried to save them by kidnapping hostages — British sergeants Clifford Martin and Mervyn Paice — in the streets of Netanya. British forces closed off and combed the area in search of the two, but did not find them. On July 29, 1947, in the afternoon, Meir Nakar, Avshalom Haviv, and Yaakov Weiss were executed. Approximately thirteen hours later the hostages were hanged in retaliation by the Irgun and their bodies, booby-trapped with an explosive, afterwards strung up from trees in woodlands south of Netanya. This action caused an outcry in Britain and was condemned both there and by Jewish leaders in Palestine.[50] This episode has been given as a major influence on the British decision to terminate the Mandate and leave Palestine. The United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) was also influenced by this and other actions. At the same time another incident was developing – the events of the ship Exodus 1947. The 4,500 Holocaust survivors on board were not allowed to enter Palestine. UNSCOP also covered the events. Some of its members were even present at Haifa port when the putative immigrants were forcefully removed from their ship (later found to have been rigged with an IED by some of its passengers) onto the deportation ships, and later commented that this strong image helped them press for an immediate solution for Jewish immigration and the question of Palestine. Two weeks later, the House of Commons convened for a special debate on events in Palestine, and concluded that their soldiers should be withdrawn as soon as possible. The 1948 Palestine War Main article: 1948 Palestine War Menachem Begin with Irgun members, 1948 Irgun fighters training in 1947 Irgun parade in 1948 UNSCOP\'s conclusion was a unanimous decision to end the British mandate and majority opinion to divide the Mandatory Palestine (the land west of the Jordan River) between a Jewish state and an Arab state. During the UN\'s deliberations regarding the committee\'s recommendations the Irgun avoided initiating any attacks, so as not to influence the UN negatively on the idea of a Jewish state. On November 29 the UN General Assembly voted in favor of ending the mandate and establishing two states on the land. That very same day the Irgun and the Lehi renewed their attacks on British targets. The next day the local Arabs began attacking the Jewish community, thus beginning the first stage of the 1948 Palestine War. The first attacks on Jews were in Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem, in and around Jaffa, Bat Yam, Holon, and the Ha\'Tikvah neighborhood in Tel Aviv. In the autumn of 1947 the Irgun membership was approximately 4,000 people. The goal of the organization at that point was the conquest of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea for the sake of the future Jewish state and preventing the Arab Legion from driving out the Jewish community. The Irgun became almost an overt organization, establishing military bases in Ramat Gan and Petah Tikva. It began recruiting openly, thus significantly increasing in size. During the war the Irgun fought alongside the Lehi and the Haganah in the front against the Arab attacks. At first the Haganah maintained a defensive policy, as it had until then, but after the Convoy of 35 incident it completely abandoned its policy of restraint: \"Distinguishing between individuals is no longer possible, for now – it is a war, and the even the innocent shall not be absolved.\"[51] The Irgun also began carrying out reprisal missions, as it had under David Raziel\'s command. At the same time though, it published announcements calling on the Arabs to lay down their weapons and maintain a ceasefire: The National Military Organization has warned you, if the murderous attacks on Jewish civilians shall continue, its soldiers will penetrate your centers of activity and plague you. You have not heeded the warning. You continued to harm our brothers and murder them in wild cruelty. Therefore soldiers of the National Military Organization will go on the attack, as we have warned you. ... However even in these frenzied time, when Arab and Jewish blood is spilled at the British enslaver, we hereby call upon you ... to stop the attacks and create peace between us. We do not want a war with you. We are certain that neither do you want a war with us....[52] However the mutual attacks continued. The Irgun attacked the Arab villages of Tira near Haifa, Yehudiya (\'Abassiya) in the center, and Shuafat by Jerusalem. The Irgun also attacked in the Wadi Rushmiya neighborhood in Haifa and Abu Kabir in Jaffa. On December 29 Irgun units arrived by boat to the Jaffa shore and a gunfight between them and Arab gangs ensued. The following day a bomb was thrown from a speeding Irgun car at a group of Arab men waiting to be hired for the day at the Haifa oil refinery, resulting in seven Arabs killed, and dozens injured. In response, some Arab workers attacked Jews in the area, killing 41. This sparked a Haganah response in Balad al-Sheykh, which resulted in the deaths of 60 civilians. The Irgun\'s goal in the fighting was to move the battles from Jewish populated areas to Arab populated areas. On January 1, 1948 the Irgun attacked again in Jaffa, its men entering the city dressed as British troops; later in the month it attacked in Beit Nabala, a base for many Arab fighters. On 5 January 1948 the Irgun detonated a lorry bomb outside Jaffa\'s Ottoman built Town Hall, killing 14 and injuring 19.[53] In Jerusalem, two days later, Irgun members in a stolen police van rolled a barrel bomb[54] into a large group of civilians who were waiting for a bus by the Jaffa Gate, killing around sixteen.[55] In the pursuit that followed three of the attackers were killed and two taken prisoner.[56] On 6 April 1948, the Irgun raided the British Army camp at Pardes Hanna killing six British soldiers and their commanding officer.[57] The Deir Yassin massacre was carried out in a village west of Jerusalem that had signed a non-belligerency pact with its Jewish neighbors and the Haganah, and repeatedly had barred entry to foreign irregulars.[58][59] On 9 April approximately 120 Irgun and Lehi members began an operation to capture the village. During the operation, the villagers fiercely resisted the attack, and a battle broke out. In the end, the Irgun and Lehi forces advanced gradually through house-to-house fighting. The village was only taken after the Irgun began systematically dynamiting houses, and after a Palmach unit intervened and employed mortar fire to silence the villagers\' sniper positions.[19][60] The operation resulted in five Jewish fighters dead and 40 injured. Some 100 to 120 villagers were also killed.[61] There are allegations that Irgun and Lehi forces committed war crimes during and after the capture of the village. These allegations include reports that fleeing individuals and families were fired at, and prisoners of war were killed after their capture. A Haganah report writes: The conquest of the village was carried out with great cruelty. Whole families – women, old people, children – were killed. ... Some of the prisoners moved to places of detention, including women and children, were murdered viciously by their captors.[62] Some say that this incident was an event that accelerated the Arab exodus from Palestine.[63] The Irgun cooperated with the Haganah in the conquest of Haifa. At the regional commander\'s request, on April 21 the Irgun took over an Arab post above Hadar Ha\'Carmel as well as the Arab neighborhood of Wadi Nisnas, adjacent to the Lower City. The Irgun acted independently in the conquest of Jaffa (part of the proposed Arab State according to the UN Partition Plan). On April 25 Irgun units, about 600 strong, left the Irgun base in Ramat Gan towards Arab Jaffa. Difficult battles ensued, and the Irgun faced resistance from the Arabs as well as the British.[64] Under the command of Amichai \"Gidi\" Paglin, the Irgun\'s chief operations officer, the Irgun captured the neighborhood of Manshiya, which threatened the city of Tel Aviv. Afterwards the force continued to the sea, towards the area of the port, and using mortars, shelled the southern neighborhoods. The Manshiya quarter between Jaffa and Tel Aviv after the Irgun mortar bombardment. In his report concerning the fall of Jaffa the local Arab military commander, Michel Issa, writes: \'Continuous shelling with mortars of the city by Jews for four days, beginning 25 April, [...] caused inhabitants of city, unaccustomed to such bombardment, to panic and flee.\'[65] According to Morris the shelling was done by the Irgun. Their objective was \'to prevent constant military traffic in the city, to break the spirit of the enemy troops [and] to cause chaos among the civilian population in order to create a mass flight\'.[66] High Commissioner Cunningham wrote a few days later \'It should be made clear that IZL attack with mortars was indiscriminate and designed to create panic among the civilian inhabitants\'.[66] The British demanded the evacuation of the newly conquered city, and militarily intervened. Heavy British shelling against Irgun positions in Jaffa failed to dislodge them, and when British armor pushed into the city, the Irgun resisted; a bazooka team managed to knock out one tank, buildings were blown up and collapsed onto the streets as the armor advanced, and Irgun men crawled up and tossed live dynamite sticks onto the tanks. The British withdrew, and opened negotiations with the Jewish authorities.[19] The Irgun, which had previously agreed with the Haganah that British pressure would not lead to withdrawal from Jaffa and that custody of captured areas would be turned over to the Haganah. The city ultimately fell on May 13 after Haganah forces entered the city and took control of the rest of the city, from the south – part of the Hametz Operation which included the conquest of a number of villages in the area. The battles in Jaffa were a great victory for the Irgun. This operation was the largest in the history of the organization, which took place in highly built up area that had many militants in shooting positions. During the battles explosives were used in order to break into homes and continue forging a way though them. Furthermore, this was the first occasion in which the Irgun had directly fought British forces, reinforced with armor and heavy weaponry. The city began these battles with an Arab population estimated at 70,000, which shrank to some 4,100 Arab residents by the end of major hostilities. Since the Irgun captured the neighborhood of Manshiya on its own, causing the flight of many of Jaffa\'s residents, the Irgun took credit for the conquest of Jaffa. It had lost 42 dead and about 400 wounded during the battle.[19] Integration with the IDF and the Altalena Affair Main article: Altalena Affair On May 14, 1948 the establishment of the State of Israel was proclaimed. The declaration of independence was followed by the establishment of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and the process of absorbing all military organizations into the IDF started. On June 1, an agreement had been signed Between Menachem Begin and Yisrael Galili for the absorption of the Irgun into the IDF. One of the clauses stated that the Irgun had to stop smuggling arms. Meanwhile, in France, Irgun representatives purchased a ship, renamed Altalena (a pseudonym of Ze\'ev Jabotinsky), and weapons. The ship sailed on June 11 and arrived at the Israeli coast on June 20 in violation of the four-week ceasefire agreement in the ongoing war with the neighbouring Arab states and the United Nations Security Council Resolution 50. When the ship arrived the Israeli government, headed by Ben-Gurion, was adamant in its demand that the Irgun surrender and hand over all of the weapons. Ben-Gurion said: \"We must decide whether to hand over power to Begin or to order him to cease his activities. If he does not do so, we will open fire! Otherwise, we must decide to disperse our own army.\" Altalena on fire after quelling of the Irgun\'s attempt to smuggle weapons into the war zone in violation of ceasefire agreement and UN SC resolution #50 There were two confrontations between the newly formed IDF and the Irgun: when Altalena reached Kfar Vitkin in the late afternoon of Sunday, June 20 many Irgun militants, including Begin, waited on the shore. A clash with the Alexandroni Brigade, commanded by Dan Even (Epstein), occurred. Fighting ensued and there were a number of casualties on both sides. The clash ended in a ceasefire and the transfer of the weapons on shore to the local IDF commander, and with the ship, now reinforced with local Irgun members, including Begin, sailing to Tel Aviv, where the Irgun had more supporters. Many Irgun members, who joined the IDF earlier that month, left their bases and concentrated on the Tel Aviv beach. A confrontation between them and the IDF units started. In response, Ben-Gurion ordered Yigael Yadin (acting Chief of Staff) to concentrate large forces on the Tel Aviv beach and to take the ship by force. Heavy guns were transferred to the area and at four in the afternoon, Ben-Gurion ordered the shelling of the Altalena. One of the shells hit the ship, which began to burn. Sixteen Irgun fighters were killed in the confrontation with the army; six were killed in the Kfar Vitkin area and ten on Tel Aviv beach. Three IDF soldiers were killed: two at Kfar Vitkin and one in Tel Aviv. After the shelling of the Altalena, more than 200 Irgun fighters were arrested. Most of them were freed several weeks later. The Irgun militants were then fully integrated with the IDF and not kept in separate units. The initial agreement for the integration of the Irgun into the IDF did not include Jerusalem, where a small remnant of the Irgun called the Jerusalem Battalion, numbering around 400 fighters, and Lehi, continued to operate independently of the government. Following the assassination of UN Envoy for Peace Folke Bernadotte by Lehi in September 1948, the Israeli government determined to immediately dismantle the underground organizations. An ultimatum was issued to the Irgun to liquidate itself and integrate into the IDF or be destroyed. The Irgun accepted the ultimatum, and shortly afterward, it\'s fighters began enlisting in the IDF and turning over their arms.[67] Criticism The Irgun museum in Tel Aviv. References to the Irgun as a terrorist organization came from sources including the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry,[68] newspapers[69][70][71][72][73] and a number of prominent world and Jewish figures.[74][75][76] Leaders within the mainstream Jewish organizations, the Jewish Agency, Haganah and Histadrut, as well as the British authorities, routinely condemned Irgun operations as terrorism and branded it an illegal organization as a result of the group\'s attacks on civilian targets.[73] However, privately at least the Haganah kept a dialogue with the dissident groups.[77] Ironically, in early 1947, \"the British army in Mandate Palestine banned the use of the term \'terrorist\' to refer to the Irgun zvai Leumi ... because it implied that British forces had reason to be terrified.\"[78] Irgun attacks prompted a formal declaration from the World Zionist Congress in 1946, which strongly condemned \"the shedding of innocent blood as a means of political warfare.\"[79] The Israeli government, in September 1948, acting in response to the assassination of Count Folke Bernadotte, outlawed the Irgun and Lehi groups, declaring them terrorist organizations under the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance.[3] In 1948, The New York Times published a letter signed by a number of prominent Jewish figures including Hannah Arendt, Albert Einstein, Sidney Hook, and Rabbi Jessurun Cardozo, which described Irgun as \"a terrorist, right-wing, chauvinist organization in Palestine\".[80][81][82] The letter went on to state that Irgun and the Stern gang \"inaugurated a reign of terror in the Palestine Jewish community. Teachers were beaten up for speaking against them, adults were shot for not letting their children join them. By gangster methods, beatings, window-smashing, and widespread robberies, the terrorists intimidated the population and exacted a heavy tribute.\"[76] Soon after World War II, Winston Churchill said \"we should never have stopped immigration before the war\", but that the Irgun were \"the vilest gangsters\" and that he would \"never forgive the Irgun terrorists.\"[74] A US military intelligence report, dated January 1948, described Irgun recruiting tactics amongst Displaced Persons (DP) in the camps across Germany: \'Irgun ... seems to be concentrating on the DP police force. This is an old technique in Eastern Europe and in all police states. By controlling the police, a small, unscrupulous group of determined people can impose its will on a peaceful and inarticulate majority; it is done by threats, intimidation, by violence and if need be bloodshed ... they have embarked upon a course of violence within the camps.\'[83] Clare Hollingworth, the Daily Telegraph and The Scotsman correspondent in Jerusalem during 1948 wrote several outspoken reports after spending several weeks in West Jerusalem: Irgun is in fact rapidly becoming the \'SS\' of the new state. There is also a strong \'Gestapo\' – but no-one knows who is in it. \'The shopkeepers are afraid not so much of shells as of raids by Irgun Zvai Leumi and the Stern Gang. These young toughs, who are beyond whatever law there is have cleaned out most private houses of the richer classes & started to prey upon the shopkeepers.\' — Clare Hollingworth reporting on West Jerusalem June 2, 1948[84][85] In 2006, Simon McDonald, the British ambassador in Tel Aviv, and John Jenkins, the Consul-General in Jerusalem, wrote in response to a pro-Irgun commemoration of the King David Hotel bombing: \"We do not think that it is right for an act of terrorism, which led to the loss of many lives, to be commemorated.\" They also called for the removal of plaques at the site which presented as a fact that the deaths were due to the British ignoring warning calls. The plaques, in their original version, read: Warning phone calls had been made urging the hotel\'s occupants to leave immediately. For reasons known only to the British the hotel was not evacuated and after 25 minutes the bombs exploded, and to the Irgun\'s regret and dismay 91 persons were killed. McDonald and Jenkins said that no such warning calls were made, adding that even if they had, \"this does not absolve those who planted the bomb from responsibility for the deaths.\"[71] Ha\'aretz columnist and Israeli historian Tom Segev wrote of the Irgun: \"In the second half of 1940, a few members of the Irgun Zvai Leumi (National Military Organization) – the anti-British terrorist group sponsored by the Revisionists and known by its acronym Etzel, and to the British simply as the Irgun – made contact with representatives of Fascist Italy, offering to cooperate against the British.\"[75] Alan Dershowitz wrote in his book The Case for Israel that unlike the Haganah, the policy of the Irgun had been to encourage the flight of local Arabs.[86] See also Konrad Adenauer (Assassination attempt)Jewish religious terrorismList of Irgun attacksList of notable Irgun members 3882
1950 Jewish LEHI UNDERGROUND Porcelain STREET SIGN Enamel ISRAEL Palestine IRGUN:
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