Irgun, Irgun

In present-day Israel, the Irgun is commonly referred to as Etzel (), an acronym of the Hebrew initials.

He expressed this ideology as "every Jew had the right to enter Palestine; only active retaliation would deter the Arabs and the British; only Jewish armed force would ensure the Jewish state". Howard Sachar: A History of the State of Israel , pps 265-266 Some of the better-known attacks by the Irgun were the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem on 22 July 1946 and the Deir Yassin massacre (accomplished together with Lehi) on 9 April 1948. The Irgun was described as a terrorist organization by the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry, W. Khalidi, 1971, 'From Haven to Conquest', 598; updated 1987 to From Haven to Conquest: Readings in Zionism and the Palestine Problem Until 1948, Institute for Palestine Studies, ISBN 978-0887281556 several media sources, and a number of prominent world and Jewish figures.

Most of them were "ordinary" people, who held regular jobs, and only a few dozen worked full time in the Irgun.

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.

Later on it was most widely known as "" (the Stand). The anthem adopted by the Irgun was "Anonymous Soldiers", http://www.betar.org.il/music/songs/hayalim.htm , http://www.betar.org.il/music/songs/musicfiles/Khaialim_Almonim.mp3 written by Avraham 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 "Beitar Song", by Ze'ev Jabotinsky.

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). The committee was in charge of the Irgun until 1937, when the movement split yet again. From that point on, the Irgun was under Jabotinsky's command. After his death ties were formed between the Irgun and the New Zionist Organization. These ties were broken in 1944 when the Irgun declared war on the British government.

Another way the military nature was apparent was the organized training regime. The Irgun trained with handguns and submachine guns, hand grenade throwing, and combined attacks on targets. The Irgun put out professional publications on combat doctrine, weaponry, leadership, drill exercises, etc. Among these publications were the 240-page book "The Gun" by David Raziel and Avraham Stern, and the 284-page book "The Compiled and Expanded Guide to Drill Exercises" by Raziel. Up until the Arab Revolt of 1936-1939 the Haganah also made use of these guidebooks (afterwards the Haganah published its own military literature).

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 "Confiscations" - stealing weapons from the British police and military.

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.

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 Tower) also began publication, expressing the active trend of the movement. The Irgun also increased its numbers by expanding draft regiments of Beitar - 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 Sava, 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.

Due to the joining of many Beitar Youth members, Jabotinsky (founder of Beitar) 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 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 Beitar 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.

Moreover, the organizations of Beitar, Hatzohar and the Irgun began to increase their efforts to bring Jews to the land of Israel, illegally. This Aliyah was known as the "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.

The Irgun also began participating in the organizing of the immigration enterprise and undertook the process of accompanying the ships. This began with the ship Draga which arrived at the coast of the land of Israel in September 1938. In August of the same year, an agreement was made between Ari Jabotinsky (the son of Ze'ev Jabotinsky), the Beitar representative and Hillel Kook, the Irgun representative, to coordinate the immigration (also known as Haapala). This agreement was also made in the "Paris Convention" in February 1939, at which also present were Ze'ev Jabotinsky and David Raziel. Afterwards, the "Aliyah Center" was founded, made up of representatives of Hatzohar, Beitar, and the Irgun, thereby making the Irgun a full participant in the organization and execution process.

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. "The Birth of an Underground Organization", Yehuda Lapidot, pp. 62 The British responded with the arrest of Beitar 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 Beitar 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.

The Irgun revered him after his death and many regarded him as an example.

Most of the Irgun were involved during this time with protection and defense of settlements. By the late thirties, the Irgun comprised mainly Beitar youth (from its branches or from its work brigades), Hazohar members and the National Workers Union, youth belonging to the Maccabi youth group, members of the religious youth group "Alliance of the Hasmoneans" and students from the national unions Yavneh , Yodfat and Elal . In certain places, including settlements in Samaria (now known as the northern West Bank), the Sharon and southern Judea, these were the primary defensive forces. In some areas Irgun forces cooperated with Haganah members, such as in the setting up of Tel Tzur (now known as Even Yehuda), a tower and stockade Beitar settlement.

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 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.

The British responded with numerous arrests of Beitar and Hatzohar members, some of whom were mistreated to obtain information about the Irgun. The Irgun warned that such activity would lead to a response. On August 26, 1939 the Irgun published a death sentence against Ralph Krans, a British police officer who, as head of the Jewish Department in their secret police, had tortured a number of youths who were underground members. Krans and another British officer in the secret police were killed from a hidden mine explosion by the Irgun.

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.

This, among other events, triggered 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, Beitar 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 army units.

There were instances of Beitar members enlisted in the British military smuggling British weapons to the Irgun.

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 those of 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.

Later, additional operational and ideological differences developed that contradicted some of the Irgun's guiding principles. For example the Lehi supported the exchange of population with regards to the local Arabs. The Irgun, on the other hand, acted according the Revisionist school of thought that said "There he shall quench his thirst with plenty and happiness, the son of Arab, son of Nazareth (i.e. Christian) and my son." Moreover, the Irgun's fight against the British was only intended to expel them from the area, and the option of future diplomatic ties with Britain was not discounted. The Lehi, however, declared total war against imperialism and the empire. Also unlike Irgun fighters, Lehi fighters would travel with their weapons on them at all times. One more striking difference was the fact that the Irgun concentrated its operations against British centres of government and its facilities in Palestine, and sometimes warned the British about impending explosions. This contrasted the Lehi's struggle that, at times, was directed towards personal attacks and the assassination of leadership, military, and police figures.

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 Habbaniya Airport near Baghdad, David Raziel, commander of the Irgun, was killed during the operation.

One of them was Menachem Begin, Menachem Begin Biography whose arrival in Palestine created new-found expectations within the Irgun and Beitar. Begin had served as head of the Beitar movement in Poland, Menachem Begin - Biography 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.

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 , The 'Hunting Season' Besiege / Yehuda Lapidut - THE HUNTING SEASON known as the saison , (from the French "la saison de chasse"). During the Hunting Season people suspected of belonging to or supporting the Irgun or the Lehi were removed from schools, work places and the Klalit HMO. Most of the people who partook in these activities were members of the Haganah and the Palmach. They carried out surveillance, kidnapping, investigation of Irgun and Lehi members and either turned them over to the British, or provided details regarding their whereabouts. Among those turned over were members of the Irgun headquarters - Yaakov Meridor, Shlomo Lev Ami, and Eliyahu Lankin.

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 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 Aliyah with the intention that the population of Palestine 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 the Haganah. For ten months the Irgun and the Lehi cooperated and they carried out nineteen attacks and defense operations. The Haganah and the Palmach carried out ten such operations. Furthermore, the Haganah assisted in landing 13,000 illegal immigrants.

From then until the end of the British mandate the resistance was led by the Irgun and Lehi. In early September 1946 the Irgun renewed its attacks, against railroads, communication lines and bridges. One prominent 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 operations were legitimate, since the trains primarily served the British, for redeployment of their forces. For a while the British stopped train traffic at night. The Irgun also publicized warnings, in three languages, not to use specific trains in danger of being attacked. 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. On October 31, 1946, in response to the British barring entry of Jews from Palestine, the Irgun blew up the British embassy in Rome. J. Bowyer Bell, Terror out of Zion (New York: St. Martins Press, 1977). pp.181 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 beaten, Irgun members kidnapped British officers and beat them in public. The operation, known as the "Night of the Beatings" brought an end to British beatings punishments. The British, taking these acts seriously, moved many British families in Palestine into the confines of military bases, and some moved home.

On April 21 Meir Feinstein and Lehi member Moshe Barazani blew themselves up, using a hand grenade, 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, many Arab criminals also escaped. The operation resonated all over the world. Three of the attackers - Meir Nakar, Avshalom Haviv, and Yaakov Weiss - were caught and sentenced to death.

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. Then next day the local Arabs began attacking the Jewish community, thus beginning the first stage of the Israeli War of Independence. The first attacks on Jews were in Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem, in and around Jaffa, Bat Yam, Holon, and Ha'Tikvah neighborhood in Tel Aviv.

In response, Arab workers attacked Jews in the area, killing 41. This sparked a Haganah response in Balad al-Sheykh. 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; 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. ^ The Scotsman newspaper, 6th January 1948; Walid Khalidi states that 25 civilians killed. 'Before their diaspora', 1984. p.316, picture p.325; Benny Morris, 'The Birth of the Palestinian refugee problem, 1947-1949', Cambridge University Press, 197. ISBN 0 521 33028 9. Attributes attack to 'LHI', doesn't number dead and gives date as 4th January. p. 46 In Jerusalem, two days later, Irgun members in a stolen police van rolled a barrel bomb Larry Collins/Dominique Lapierre, 'O Jerusalem'.History Book Club/ Weidenfeld and Nicolson. London. 1972. Page 135: 'two fifty-gallon oil drums packed tight with old nails, bits of scrap iron, hinges, rusty metal filings. At their center was a core of TNT...' into a large group of civilians who were waiting for a bus by the Jaffa Gate, killing around sixteen. Collins/Lapierre. Page 138: 17 killed. Dov Joseph, 'The Faithful City - The siege of Jerusalem, 1948'. Simon and Schuster, New York, 1960. Library of Congree Number: 60-10976. page 56: 14 killed and 40 wounded.The Scotsman, 8 January 1948: 16 killed, 41 injured.

Collins/Lapierre name one of the survivors as Uri Cohen In February the Irgun attacked traffic near Yehudiya ('Abassiya), Yazur, and Ramle. Irgun fighters participated in fights against Arab militants in Ramle and Qalqilyah. On 29 February the Irgun blew up the Cairo to Haifa train shortly after it left Rehovot Railway Station killing 29 British soldiers. The Irgun announcement said the bombing was in retaliation for the bombing of Ben Yehuda Street, Jerusalem, a week earlier. The Scotsman March 1st, 1948.

The British demanded the evacuation of the newly conquered city, however the Irgun 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 a population estimated at 55,000, 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.

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 cease all independent arms acquisition activities. 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 to the Israeli shore 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.

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 (all but three were veteran members and not newcomers in the ship); 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.

Most of them were released several weeks later. The Irgun soldiers were fully integrated with the IDF and not kept in separate units.

The Irgun operated a force known as the Jerusalem Battalion , numbering around 400 fighters. Following the assassination of Folke Bernadotte by the LEHI in September 1948, this separate unit was disbanded and integrated into the IDF.

Source: Wikipedia > Irgun