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It has been suggested that this article be merged into Jewish terrorism. (Discuss) Proposed since July 2008.

Zionist political violence in the British Mandate of Palestine occurred mainly in the 1930s and 1940s aimed at making the functioning of the British rule difficult and restriction of immigration impossible. The Zionist organizations Irgun and Lehi targeted British policemen and soldiers, United Nations-personnel, and Arab militants.

Irgun was described as a terrorist organization in media such as the The New York Times newspaper, and by the Anglo-American Committee of Enquiry. In 1946 The World Zionist Congress strongly condemned terrorist activities in Palestine and "the shedding of innocent blood as a means of political warfare". Irgun was specifically condemned.

Background

In 1935, the Irgun, a Zionist Jewish military organization, split off from the Haganah. During the 1936-1939 Arab revolt in Palestine mainstream Zionists, represented by the Vaad Leumi and the Haganah practiced the policy of Havlagah (restraint), while Irgun members did not obey this policy and called themselves "Havlagah breakers." The Irgun began bombing Palestinian civilian targets in 1938. While the Palestinians were "carefully disarmed" by the British Mandatory authorities by 1939, the Zionists were not.

After the beginning of World War II the Haganah and Irgun suspended their activity against the British in support of the war against Nazi Germany. The smaller Lehi continued anti-British attacks and direct action throughout the war. In February 1944 the Irgun resumed attacks.

The official leadership of the Yishuv was opposed to these activities and demanded their cessation. After the assassination of Lord Moyne, the Jewish Agency Executive condemned the act and decided on a series of measures against what they called "terrorist organizations" in Palestine. Although J. Bowyer Bell writes:

"In June 1975, the Egyptian government released the bodies of Eliahu Hakim and Eliahu Bet-Zouri, thirty years after the assassination of Lord Moyne, in return for twenty Arabs jailed in Israel as fedayeen or intelligence agents. In Jerusalem the two were given a heroes' burial in the Mount Herzl military cemetery, the resting place of Israeli premiers and presidents."(also corroborated by other accounts)

According to Yehuda Lapidot, the Hunting Season was "the code-name for the Haganah's persecution of the Irgun, aimed at putting an end to its activities." He says that many of those handed over to the British had no connection to Irgun terrorism, but were active members of the Revisionist party, political opponents of the Jewish Agency.

Haganah attacks

• July 1, 1924. According to Israeli journalists Shlomo Nakdimon and Shaul Mayzlish, Dutch Jew Jacob Israël de Haan was assassinated by Avraham Tehomi on the orders of Haganah leader Yitzhak Ben-Zvi for his anti-Zionist political activities and contacts with Arab leaders.

Irgun, Hagganah and Lehi attacks

• 1937-1939 The Irgun conducted a campaign of violence against civilians resulting in the deaths of at least 250.
• November 25, 1940. The Haganah sinks the Patria, killing over 200 Jews and some Britons and Arabs, and injured 172 people. The ship carried around 1,800 illegal Jewish immigrants who were being deported by the British authorities from Palestine to Mauritius and Trinidad. The Hagana opposed the deportation and planted a bomb with the intention of disabling the ship to prevent it from leaving Haifa. However, the Haganah had miscalculated the effects of the explosion, and the ship sank in less than fifteen minutes, trapping hundreds in the hold.

• Nov 6, 1944 Lehi assassinated British minister Lord Moyne in Cairo. The action is condemned by the Yishuv, but the bodies of the assassins are brought home in 1975 to a state funeral and burial on Mount Herzl.
• 1944-1945 The killings of several suspected collaborators with the Haganah and the British mandate government during the Hunting Season.
• July 26, 1946 The bombing of British headquarters at the King David Hotel, killing 91 people — 28 British, 41 Arab, 17 Jewish, and 5 others. Around 45 people were injured. A warning was sent before the explosion, but the British authorities claimed they received it too late to act on it.
• 1946 Railways and British military airfields were attacked several times.
• Oct 31, 1946 The bombing by the Irgun of the British Embassy in Rome.
• Jul 25, 1947 The reprisal killing of two British sergeants who had been taken prisoner in response to British execution of two Irgun members in Akko prison.
• December 1947-March 1948 Numerous attacks on Arabs in the context of Civil War after the vote of the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine
• Sept 17, 1948, Lehi assassination of the UN mediator Count Bernadotte, whom Lehi accused of a pro-Arab stance during the cease-fire negotiations.

During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War

• April 1948 the Deir Yassin massacre carried out by the Irgun and Lehi.

See also

• Violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• Palestinian political violence
• Kahanism
• Jewish terrorism

References

1. Lilienthal, Alfred M., The Zionist Connection, What Price Peace?, Dodd, Mead and Company, New York, 1978, pp.350-3 - Albert Einstein joined other distinguished citizens in chiding these `Americans of national repute' for honouring a man whose party was `closely akin in its organization, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazi and Fascist parties'. See text at Harvard.edu. Verified 1st Nov 2007.
2. Pope Brewer, Sam. IRGUN BOMB KILLS 11 ARABS, 2 BRITONS. New York Times. December 30, 1947.
3. IRGUN'S HAND SEEN IN ALPS RAIL BLAST. New York Times. August 16, 1947.
4. W. Khalidi, 1971, 'From Haven to Conquest', p. 598
5. Louis Meltzer, Julian. ZIONISTS CONDEMN PALESTINE TERROR. New York Times. December 24, 1946.
6. ^ Berberoglu, 2006, p. 52.
7. "Avraham Stern". Retrieved 2007-11-19.
8. "Terror Out of Zion: Fight for Israeli independence" by J Bowyer Bell, Dublin Academy Press, 1977
9. [http://www.parl.gc.ca/38/1/parlbus/chambus/senate/jour-e/031jr_2005-02-03-E.htm?Language=E&Parl=38&Ses=1 Journals of the Senate (Unrevised) 1st Session, 38th Parliament, Issue 31, Thursday, February 3, 2005, 1:30 p.m.]
10. Israel Today & Always: Remembering Israel's Martyrs From its Third Rebirth into Statehood, Dr. Howard S. Brand, DSW, Ph.D., August 11, 2000
11. The "Hunting Season" (1945) by Yehuda Lapidot (Jewish Virtual Library)
12. Shlomo Nakdimon (1985). Deh Han : ha-retsah ha-politi ha-rishon be-Erets Yisraʼel / De Haan: The first political assassination in Palestine (in Hebrew) (1st Edition ed.). Tel Aviv: Modan Press. OCLC 21528172. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
13. Marijke T.C.Stapert-Eggen. "The Rosenthaliana's Jacob Israel de Haan Archive". University of Amsterdam Library.
14. Deaths of 260 in 1940 ship explosion commemorated
15. Geneviève Pitot, The Mauritian Shekel: The Story of Jewish Detainees in Mauritius, 1940-1945. Rowman & Littlefield, 2000. ISBN 0742508552
16. Monty Noam Penkower, Decision on Palestine Deferred: America, Britain and Wartime Diplomacy, pp. 55-59. Routledge, 2002. ISBN 0714652687

Bibliography

• Berberoglu, Berch (2006), Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict: Class, State, and Nation in the Age of Globalization, Rowman & Littlefield, ISBN 0742535444, 9780742535442 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)

Further reading

• J. Bowyer Bell (1977). Terror out of Zion: Irgun Zvai Leumi, LEHI, and the Palestine underground, 1929-1949. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-79205-0.

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• Misplaced Pages neutral point of view disputes from January 2009
• Articles to be merged from July 2008
• Arab-Israeli conflict
• Zionist terrorism
• Terrorism in the British Mandate of Palestine
• Zionism