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Lehi (militant group)

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Fighters for the Freedom of Israel
לוחמי חרות ישראל‎
Also known asStern Gang
Lehi
LeaderAvraham Stern[a]
FoundationAugust 1940;84 years ago(August 1940)
Dissolved28 May 1948;76 years ago(28 May 1948)
Split fromIrgun
CountryMandatory Palestine
Israel
AllegianceYishuv
NewspaperHamaas(weekly)[4][5][b]
Ideology
Political positionSyncretic[9]
Notable attacksKilling of Lord Moyne
Cairo–Haifa train bombings
Deir Yassin massacre
Killing of Folke Bernadotte
SizeFewer than 300 members
Part ofJewish Resistance Movement
OpponentsBritish Empire
Battles and warsIntercommunal conflict in Mandatory Palestine
Jewish Revolt in Palestine
1947–48 Palestine Civil War
1948 Palestine war
Flag

Lehi(Hebrew pronunciation:[ˈleχi];Hebrew:לח״י – לוחמי חרות ישראלLohamei Herut Israel – Lehi,"Fighters for the Freedom of Israel – Lehi", sometimes abbreviated "LHI" ), often known pejoratively as theStern Gang,[10][11][12][13]was aZionistparamilitarymilitantorganization founded byAvraham ( "Yair" ) SterninMandatory Palestine.[14][15][16]Its avowed aim was to evict the British authorities from Palestine by use of violence, allowing unrestrictedimmigrationofJewsand the formation of a Jewish state. It was initially called theNational Military Organization in Israel,[17]upon being founded in August 1940, but was renamed Lehi one month later.[18]The group referred to its members asterrorists[19]and admitted to having carried out acts of terrorism.[14][20][21]

Lehi split from theIrgunmilitant group in 1940 in order to continue fighting theBritishduringWorld War II.It initially sought an alliance withFascist ItalyandNazi Germany.[22]Believing that Nazi Germany was a lesser enemy of the Jews than Britain, Lehi twice attempted to form an alliance with the Nazis, proposing a Jewish state based on "nationalist and totalitarian principles, and linked to the German Reich by an alliance".[22][23]After Stern's death in 1942, the new leadership of Lehi began to move towards support forJoseph Stalin'sSoviet Union[17]and the ideology ofNational Bolshevism,which was considered an amalgam of both right and left.[24][22]Regarding themselves as "revolutionary Socialists", the new Lehi developed a highly original ideology combining an "almost mystical" belief inGreater Israelwith support for the Arab liberation struggle.[17]This sophisticated ideology failed to gain public support and Lehi fared poorly in thefirst Israeli elections.[25]

In April of 1948, Lehi and the Irgun were jointly responsible for themassacre in Deir Yassinof at least 107 Palestinian Arab villagers, including women and children. Lehi assassinatedLord Moyne,British Minister Resident in the Middle East, and made many other attacks on the British in Palestine.[26]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,[27]an act condemned by Bernadotte's replacement as mediator,Ralph Bunche.[28]After the assassination, the new Israeli government declared Lehi a terrorist organization, arresting some 200 members and convicting some of the leaders.[29]Just before the first Israeli elections in January 1949, a general amnesty to Lehi members was granted by the government.[29]In 1980, Israel instituted a military decoration, an "award for activity in the struggle for the establishment of Israel", theLehi ribbon.[30]Former Lehi leaderYitzhak ShamirbecamePrime Minister of Israelin 1983.

Founding of Lehi

Avraham Stern

Lehi was created in August 1940 byAvraham Stern.[18]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 an 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. "[31]

Stern wanted to open Palestine to all Jewish refugees from Europe and considered this to be 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" ). In September 1940, the organization was officially named "Lehi", the Hebrewacronymof the latter name.[18]

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.[32]

In 1940, the idea of theFinal Solutionwas still "unthinkable", and Stern believed that Hitler wanted to make Germanyjudenreinthrough emigration, as opposed to extermination.[31][33]In December 1940, Lehi 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.[31]

Goals and ideology

Lehi commemoration inPetah Tikva.Half-clenched fist, in reference to Psalms 137:5.[34]

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.[35]

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."[36]

Lehi also referred to themselves as 'terrorists' and may have been one of the last organizations to do so.[19]

An article titled "Terror" in the Lehi underground newspaperHe Khazit(The Front) argued as follows:

Neither Jewish ethics nor Jewish tradition can disqualifyterrorismas 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.[21]

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.[21]

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 Martin[c]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 honour 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.[37]

Relationship with fascism and socialism

The18 Principles of Rebirth,the ideology of Lehi as laid out by Avraham Stern, notes the need to "solve the problem" of the "alien population".[38]

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-imperialist 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.[39]

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.[39]In a pamphlet entitled18 Principles of Rebirth,Stern noted the need to "solve the problem" of the "alien population" and called for the 'conquest' of Palestine. It also emphasized the need togathertheJewish Diasporainto a new sovereign state, revive theHebrew languageas a spoken language, and build aThird Templeas a symbol of the 'new era'.[38]

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 neighbours[40][41]on the basis of an anti-colonialist alliance with other indigenous inhabitants of the Middle East.[42]

Some writers have stated that Lehi's true goals were the creation of a totalitarian state.[43]Perliger 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. "[44]Perliger and Weinberg state that most Lehi members were admirers of the Italian Fascist movement.[36]According to Kaplan and Penslar, Lehi's ideology was a mix offascistandcommunistthought combined withracismand universalism.[45]

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.[46][verification needed]

Political racism

According toYaacov Shavit,professor at the Department of Jewish History,Tel Aviv University,articles in Lehi publications contained references to a Jewish "master race", contrasting the Jews with Arabs who were seen as a "nation of slaves".[47]American journalistSasha Polakow-Suranskywrites that "Lehi was also unabashedly racist towards Arabs. Their publications described Jews as a master race and Arabs as a slave race." Lehi advocated mass expulsion of all Arabs fromPalestineandTransjordan,[48]or even their physical annihilation.[49]

In contrast, a number of Lehi veterans, including co-leaderNathan Yellin-Mor,went on to establish theSemitic Actionmovement which sought the creation of a regional federation encompassing Israel and its Arab neighbours[40][41]on the basis of an anti-colonialist alliance with other indigenous inhabitants of the Middle East.[42]Yaakov Yardaur,another former Lehi militant, was a strong advocate for equal rights forArab citizens of Israel.[50]

Evolution, tactics and organization

Many Lehi combatants had received military training. Some had attended the Military Engineers School inCivitavecchia,in Fascist Italy.[51]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."[51]

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 inLodin 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.[52]

Wanted Poster of thePalestine Police Forceoffering rewards for the capture of Stern Gang members:Jaacov Levstein(Eliav),Yitzhak Yezernitzky(Shamir), andNatan 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 theCID.[53]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.)[52]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.[54]

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 employ lawyers in their defence. The defendants would conduct their own defence, and would deny the right of the military court to try them, saying that in accordance with the Hague Convention they should be accorded the status of prisoners of war. 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.[55]Moshe Barazani,a Lehi member, andMeir Feinstein,an Irgun member, took their own lives in prison with a grenade smuggled inside an orange so the British could not hang them.[56]

Activities and operations during World War II

Wartime contacts with Italy and Nazi Germany

Italy

In mid-1940, Stern became convinced that the Italians were interested in the establishment of a fascist Jewish state in Palestine.[57]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".[58][59]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 theJewish quarter.[60]In Heller's words, Stern's proposal would "turn the 'Kingdom of Israel' into a satellite of the Axis powers."[61]

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.[62]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.[62]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.[59][63]However, Pritzker was killed by Lehi in 1943.[59]

Nazi Germany

German cover letter from 11 January 1941 attached to a description of an offer for an alliance withNazi Germanyattributed to Lehi.

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.[22]The organization offered cooperation in the following terms: Lehi would rebel against the British, while 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.[32]Late in 1940, Lehi representativeNaftali Lubenchikwent toBeirutto meet German officialWerner Otto von Hentig.The Lehi documents outlined that its rule would be authoritarian and indicated similarities between the organization and Nazis.[32]Israel Eldad,one of the leading members of Lehi, wrote about Hitler "it is not Hitler who is the hater of the kingdom of Israel and the return to Zion, it is not Hitler who subjects us to the cruel fate of falling a second and a third time into Hitler's hands, but the British."[64]

Stern also proposed recruiting 40,000 Jews from occupied Europe to invade Palestine with German support to oust the British.[22]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."[58][65][66]

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.[67]

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 em Boss ed."[68]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.[69]A second attempt to contact the Nazis was made at the end of 1941, but it was even less successful.[70]The emissary Yellin-Mor was arrested in Syria before he could carry out his mission.[71]

This proposed alliance with Nazi Germany cost Lehi and Stern much support.[72]The Stern Gang also had links with, and support from, theVichy FranceSûreté's Lebanese offices.[73]Even as the full scale of Nazi atrocities became more evident in 1943, Lehi refused to accept Hitler as the main foe (as opposed to Great Britain).[74]

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.[75]The assassination rocked the British government, and outragedWinston Churchill,the BritishPrime Minister.The two assassins,Eliyahu Bet-ZuriandEliyahu Hakimwere captured and used their trial as a platform to make public their political propaganda. They were both found guilty and executed. In 1975, their bodies were returned to Israel, with Egypt exchanging them for 20 Arab prisoners, and given a state funeral.[76][77]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."[78][79]

Post war terrorist campaign and insurgency

As a group that never had more than a few hundred members, Lehi relied on audacious but small-scale operations to drive its message home. They adopted the tactics of groups such as theSocialist Revolutionariesand theCombat Organization of the Polish Socialist Partyin Czarist Russia,[80]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.[81]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.[citation needed]

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 the closure of places of entertainment in the city by the British Army.[81]

British police station in Haifa

On 12 January 1947, Lehi members drove a truckload of explosives into a British police station inHaifa,killing four and injuring 140, in what has been called 'the world's first true truck bomb'.[82]

Operations in Europe

Betty Knouth, Tel Aviv, 24 August 1948

Following the bombing of the British embassy in Rome, in 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.[83]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 Levstein, were arrested crossing fromBelgiumtoFrance.Envelopes addressed to British officials, with detonators, batteries and a time fuse were found in one of Knouth's suitcases. The British Security Services identified Knouth as the person who planted the bomb in the Colonial Office. Shortly after their arrest, 21 letter bombs addressed to senior British figures were intercepted. The letters had been posted in Italy. The intended recipients includedBevin,Attlee,ChurchillandEden.[84]Eden carried a letter bomb in his suitcase for a whole day, thinking it was a Whitehall pamphlet that he would read later in the day. He only realized it was a bomb after being warned by the police, who were informed by MI5.[85]

Knouth was also known as 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 September 1947, a Belgian court sentenced Knouth to one year in prison and Levstein to eight months in prison for illegally transporting explosives with intent to commit a felony.[86]In 1973,Margaret Trumanwrote that letter bombs were also posted to her father, U.S. PresidentHarry S. Truman,in 1947.[87]Former Lehi leader Yellin-Mor admitted that letter bombs had been sent to British targets but denied that any had been sent to Truman.[87][88]

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.[89]

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.

Attempted Nablus terror attack

Shlomo Sandwrites that as a method of applying pressure on Arab villagers to abandon their settlements, Lehi planned a terror attack onNablusand its Arab city headquarters; Lehi fighter Elisha Ibzov (Avraham Cohen) was captured with a truck filled with explosives on his way to the city. Lehi fighters in return abducted four adult villagers and youth from al-Sheikh Muwannis with no connection to Ibzov's capture and threatened to kill them. As rumours spread that they were already murdered, panic set out in the villagers and the settlement became increasingly abandoned, despite the eventual release of the hostages[90]

Deir Yassin massacre

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 launchedOperation Nachshonto break the siege.

On 6 April, the Haganah attackedal-Qastal,a village two kilometres north of Deir Yassin, also overlooking the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv road.[91]

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.[92]This action had great consequences for the war, and remains a cause célèbre 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.[93]

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.[94]The Jewish Agency even sent a letter of condemnation, apology, and condolence to KingAbdullah I of Jordan.[95]

Female Lehi fighters in 1948

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.[96]

Lehi similarly interpreted events at Deir Yassin as turning the tide of war in favour 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".[97][98]

The Deir Yassin story did not much sway international opinion.[citation needed]It did increase, not only support but pressure on Arab governments to intervene. Abdullah of Jordan was now compelled to join the invasion of Palestine afterIsrael's declaration of independenceon 14 May.[citation needed]

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".[99]

Three days after the assassination, the Israeli government passed the Ordinance to Prevent Terrorism and declared Lehi to be a terrorist organization.[100][101]Many Lehi members were arrested, including leadersNathan Yellin-Morand Matityahu Shmulevitz who were arrested on 29 September.[100]Eldad and Shamir managed to escape arrest.[100]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.[102][103][104]However the State (Temporary) Council soon announced a general amnesty for Lehi members and they were released.[102][105]

The Lehi trial and the Fighters' Party

Declaration of Lehi as a terrorist organization, September 20, 1948[106]

Between 5 December 1948 and 25 January 1949, Yellin-Mor and Shmuelevitz were tried in a military court on terrorism charges.[107]The prosecution accused them of the murder of Bernadotte, though they were not specifically charged with it.[107]Senior officers of the IDF, includingYisrael GaliliandDavid Shaltiel,told the court that Lehi had hindered, rather than assisted the fight against the British and the Arabs.[107]

While the trial was in progress, some of the Lehi leadership founded a USSR-leaning political party called theFighters' Listwith Yellin-Mor as its leader.[108]The party took part in theelections in January 1949with Yellin-Mor and Shmuelevitz heading the list.[108]The trial verdict was handed down on 10 February, soon after the Fighters' List had won one seat with only 1.2% of the vote.[108]Yellin-Mor was sentenced to 8 years and Shmuelevitz to 5 years imprisonment, but the court agreed to remit the sentences if the prisoners agreed to a list of conditions.[108]The Provisional State Council then authorised their pardon.[108]The party disbanded after several years and did not contest the1951 elections.[109]

In 1956, some Lehi veterans established theSemitic Actionmovement, which sought the creation of a regional federation encompassing Israel and its Arab neighbours[40][41]on the basis of an anti-colonialist alliance with other indigenous inhabitants of the Middle East.[42]

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.[110][111][112][113]

Publications

Lehi produced a range of publications containing unabashedly racist literature referring to Jews as a "master race" and Arabs as a "slave race".[47][114]Prominent publications includedHamaas(Ahe Action), a weekly publication,[115]as well as the monthlyHaKhazit(The Front),[21]dailyMivrak(Telegram), andBaMahteret(Underground).

Service ribbon

The Lehi 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".[30]

"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.[116][117]

Prominent members of Lehi

Geulah Cohen,announcer of the Lehi underground radio station (1948)

A number of Lehi's members went on to play important roles in Israel's public life.

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^After Stern's murder in February 1942,[2]Nathan Yellin-Morbecame a member of the Lehi's guiding triumvirate, withIsrael Eldadas chief of Lehi's propaganda andYitzhak Shamir[3]as chief of operations.
  2. ^Other publications by the Lehi included the dailyMivrak,the monthlyHeHahzit,andBaMahteret.
  3. ^A British police sergeant, T.G. Martin, who had identified and arrested Shamir, was assassinated near his Haifa home.

Citations

  1. ^"סמל לח״י".Archived fromthe originalon 18 May 2020.Retrieved12 September2019.
  2. ^Nachman Ben-Yehuda.The Masada Myth: Collective Memory and Mythmaking in Israel.Madison: Wisconsin University Press, 1995. pp. 322.
  3. ^"Yitzhak Shamir, Israel's modest, hardline ex-PM, dies at 96".The Times of Israel.
  4. ^Khalidi, 1971, p. 606.
  5. ^Cmd. 6873.
  6. ^Shapira, Anita (1999).Land and Power: The Zionist Resort to Force, 1881–1948.Stanford University Press. p. 347.ISBN0804737762.
  7. ^The Stern Gang: Ideology, Politics and Terror, 1940–1949 Joseph Heller p. 114 "Above all, in the summer of 1943 Lehi had still not broken free from the doctrine of persecutor and enemy'. Even after the extent of the Holocaust was revealed, Lehi refused to depict Hitler rather than England as the main foe."
  8. ^Heller, Joseph(1995). "The Zionist Right and National Liberation: From Jabotinsky to Avraham Stern". InWistrich, Robert S.;Ohana, David (eds.).The Shaping of Israeli Identity: Myth, Memory, and Trauma.Routledge. p. 88.ISBN978-0-714-64641-1.
  9. ^Sasson Sofer.Zionism and the Foundations of Israeli Diplomacy.Cambridge University Press, 2007. pp. 254. "Lehi's leader Stern stated that he incorporated elements of both the left and the right."
  10. ^"This group was known to its friends as LEHI and to its enemies as the Stern Gang." Blumberg, Arnold.History of Israel,Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, Incorporated, 1998. p 106.
  11. ^"calling themselves Lohamei Herut Yisrael (LHI) or, less generously, the Stern Gang." Lozowick, Yaacov.Right to Exist: A Moral Defense of Israel's Wars.Westminster, MD: Doubleday Publishing, 2003. p. 78.
  12. ^"It ended in a split with Stern leading his own group out of the Irgun. This was known pejoratively by the British as "the Stern Gang' – later as Lehi"Shindler, Colin.Triumph of Military Zionism: Nationalism and the Origins of the Israeli Right.London, GBR: I.B. Tauris & Company, Ltd., 2005. p. 218.
  13. ^"Known by their Hebrew acronym as LEHI they were more familiar, not to say notorious, to the rest of the world as the Stern Gang – a ferociously effective and murderous terrorist group fighting to end British rule in Palestine and establish a Jewish state."Cesarani, David.Major Faran's Hat: Murder, Scandal and Britain's War Against Jewish Terrorism,1945–1948. London. Vintage Books. 2010. p 01.
  14. ^abArie Perliger, William L. Eubank,Middle Eastern Terrorism,2006 p. 37: "Lehi viewed acts of terrorism as legitimate tools in the realization of the vision of the Jewish nation and a necessary condition for national liberation."
  15. ^"Eliahu Amikam – Stern Gang Leader".The Washington Post.16 August 1995. pp. D5. Archived fromthe original(Free Preview; full article requires payment.)on 18 March 2009.Retrieved18 November2008.The [AMIKAM] Stern Gang – known in Hebrew as Lehi, an acronym for Israel Freedom Fighters – was the most militant of the pre-state underground groups.
  16. ^"Definition of Stern Gang in English".Oxford Dictionaries.Archived fromthe originalon 3 December 2013.Retrieved30 November2013.
  17. ^abcLaqueur, Walter(2003) [1972]."Jabotinsky and Revisionism".A History of Zionism(Google Book Search)(3rd ed.). London:Tauris Parke Paperbacks.p. 377.ISBN978-1-86064-932-5.OCLC249640859.Retrieved18 November2008.
  18. ^abcNachman Ben-Yehuda.The Masada Myth: Collective Memory and Mythmaking in Israel.Madison: Wisconsin University Press, 1995. pp. 322.
  19. ^abCalder Walton (2008). "British Intelligence and the Mandate of Palestine: Threats to British national security immediately after the Second World War".Intelligence and National Security.23(4): 435–462.doi:10.1080/02684520802293049.ISSN0268-4527.S2CID154775965.
  20. ^Jean E. Rosenfeld,Terrorism, Identity, and Legitimacy: The Four Waves Theory and Political Violence,2010 p. 161 n. 7: 'Lehi... was the last group to identify itself as a terrorist one'
  21. ^abcdHe Khazit(underground publication of Lehi), Issue 2, August 1943. No author is stated, as was usual for this publication. Translated from original. For a discussion of this article, see Heller, p. 115
  22. ^abcdeSasson Sofer.Zionism and the Foundations of Israeli Diplomacy.Cambridge University Press, 2007. pp. 253–254.
  23. ^Leslie Stein,The Hope Fulfilled: The Rise of Modern Israel,Greenwood Publishing Group 2003 pp. 237–238.
  24. ^Robert S. Wistrich, David Ohana.The Shaping of Israeli Identity: Myth, Memory, and Trauma,Issue 3. London; Portland, Oregon: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd., 1995. p. 88.
  25. ^Joseph Heller.The Stern Gang: Ideology, Politics, and Terror, 1940–1949.p. 8.
  26. ^Ami Pedahzur,The Israeli Response to Jewish Extremism and Violence: Defending Democracy,Manchester University Press, Manchester and New York 2002 p. 77
  27. ^Gabriel Ben-Dor and Ami Pedahzur, 'Jewish Self-Defence and Terrorist Groups Prior to the Establishment of the State of Israel: Roots and Traditions,' in Ami Pedahzur, Leonard Weinberg (eds.),Religious Fundamentalism and Political Extremism,Frank Cass, 2004 pp. 94–120 [115–116]: 'one final terrorist act...'
  28. ^Ralph Bunche report on assassination of UN mediatorArchived7 May 2008 at theWayback Machine27 September 1948, "notorious terrorists long known as the Stern group"
  29. ^abAmi Pedahzur, Arie PerligerJewish Terrorism in Israel,Columbia University Press, 2011 p. 28.
  30. ^ab"Awards for military service towards the establishment of the State of Israel".Israeli Ministry of Defense.Archivedfrom the original on 17 April 2006.Retrieved17 September2018.The ribbon is awarded to: All those who were members of the LEHI underground for a term of six months or more, in the period dating from 1940 up until the establishment of the State of Israel... Presentation of the ribbon began in 1980.
  31. ^abcColin Shindler (1995).The Land beyond Promise: Israel, Likud and the Zionist dream.I.B. Tauris. p. 22.ISBN978-1-86064-774-1.
  32. ^abcThe Jews: A Contrary People Yehuda Bauer pp. 77–78
  33. ^Colin Shindler,The Land Beyond Promise: Israel, Likud and the Zionist Dream,I.B. Tauris, 2002, p. 25: 'Stern perceived Hitler as the latest in a long line of anti-Semites who could be won over if the common interest was identified. In Palestine at that time, Stern was not alone in regarding Hitler as a persecutor and not an exterminator. The dream of attaining a Jewish state dominated Zionist thinking and the very idea of the Final Solution was unthinkable in 1940. Stern believed that Hitler wanted Germany to bejudenreinthrough emigration'.
  34. ^Ben-Ami, Eliezer “Yehezkel”. "How was the Lehi symbol born?".Freedom Fighters of Israel Heritage Association (FFI-LEHI).
  35. ^Heller, p. 112, quoted in Perliger and Weinberg, 2003, pp. 106–107.
  36. ^abPerliger and Weinberg, 2003, p. 107.
  37. ^Bethell Nicholas,The Palestine Triangle: The Struggle between British, Jews, and the Arabs, 1935–48(1979), p. 278
  38. ^abAmichal, p. 316, a copy on the web existshere
  39. ^abIsrael Eldad,The First Tithe,p. 84
  40. ^abcDiamond, James S. (1990)."We Are Not One: A Post-Zionist Perspective".Tikkun.5(2): 107.
  41. ^abcHattis Rolef, Susan."Yellin-Mor (Friedman), Nathan".Encyclopaedia Judaica.
  42. ^abcBeinin, Joel (1998).The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora.University of California Press. p. 166
  43. ^Heller, 1995, p. 70.
  44. ^Perliger and Weinberg, 2003, p. 108.
  45. ^The Origins of Israel, 1882–1948: A Documentary History,by Eran Kaplan, Derek J. Penslar (2011) p. 274 state that "Lehi's ideology was a strange brew of fascism and communism, racism and universalism"
  46. ^Amichal, 77
  47. ^abJabotinsky and the Revisionist Movement 1925–1948.Yaacov Shavit, Routledge; 1st ed., 1988) p. 231 "Articles in contemporary Lehi publications talked about the Jewish nation as a heroic people, even a 'master race' (in contrast to theArabs,who were considered a nation of slaves) "
  48. ^Polakow-Suransky, Sasha(2010).The Unspoken Alliance: Israel's Secret Relationship With Apartheid South Africa.Random House. p. 107.ISBN978-1-77009-840-4.OCLC656825836.
  49. ^"Religious Fundamentalism and Political Extremism", edited by Leonard Weinberg, Ami Pedahzur, p. 112, Routledge, 2008
  50. ^"Yaredor (Lederman), Dr. Yaacov –" Rashdal "".Freedom Fighters of Israel Heritage Association.Retrieved18 February2024.
  51. ^ab(in Polish)Jakub Mielnik:Jak polacy stworzyli IzraelArchived7 April 2009 at theWayback Machine,Focus.pl Historia, 5 May 2008
  52. ^abPerliger and Weinberg, 2003, p. 109.
  53. ^Boyer Bell, 1996, p. 71.
  54. ^N. Ben-Yehuda,Political Assassinations by Jews(State University of New York, 1993), p. 397.
  55. ^The Stern Gang: Ideology, Politics and Terror, 1940–1949,Joseph Halper, Routledge p. 129
  56. ^Masada Myth: Collective Memory and Mythmaking in Israel,Nachman Ben-Yehuda, University of Wisconsin Press, p. 143
  57. ^Heller, 1995, p. 86.
  58. ^abHeller, 1995, p. 86
  59. ^abcNachman Ben-Yehuda (2012).Political Assassinations by Jews: A Rhetorical Device for Justice.SUNY Press. pp. 147–150, 185–188.ISBN978-0791496374.
  60. ^Heller, 1995 p. 86
  61. ^Heller, 1995, pp. 78–79.
  62. ^abYossi Melman (3 June 2011)."Undermining the underground".Haaretz.
  63. ^Yaacov Eliav (1984).Wanted.Shengold Publishers. pp. 144–145.
  64. ^"Political Theologies in the Holy Land: Israeli Messianism and its Critics", David Ohana
  65. ^David Yisraeli,The Palestine Problem in German Politics, 1889–1945,Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel, 1974. Verified web copies:GermanEnglish.Also see Otto von Hentig,Mein Leben(Goettingen, 1962) pp. 338–339
  66. ^Lenni Brenner,Zionism in the Age of the Dictators2004, p. 234
  67. ^Natan Yellin-Mor, manuscript in English quoted by Lenni Brenner,51 Documents(Barricade Books,2002) p. 308.
  68. ^Heller (1985) p. 85
  69. ^A Meeting in Beirut, Habib Canaan,Haaretz(musaf), 27 March 1970
  70. ^Heller 1995, p. 91.
  71. ^Heller, 1995, p. 91
  72. ^"Stern Gang"The Oxford Companion to World War II.Ed. I. C. B. Dear and M. R. D. Foot. Oxford University Press, 2001.
  73. ^James Barr,A Line in the Sand: Britain, France and the struggle that shaped the Middle East,Simon and Schuster, 2011 p. 255
  74. ^The Stern Gang: Ideology, Politics and Terror, 1940–1949 Joseph Heller p. 114 "Above all, in the summer of 1943 Lehi had still not broken free from the doctrine of persecutor and enemy'. Even after the extent of the Holocaust was revealed, Lehi refused to depict Hitler rather than England as the main foe."
  75. ^Yitzhak Shamir, 'Why the Lehi Assassinated Lord Moyne',Nation,32/119 (1995) pp. 333–337 (Hebrew) cited in Perliger and Weinberg, 2003, p. 111.
  76. ^Israel honours British minister's assassins,The Times,26 June 1975, p. 1.
  77. ^"Israel Will Exchange 20 Jailed Terrorists for Remains of Sternists Hanged in Cairo in 1945".Jewish Telegraphic Agency.20 March 2015.Retrieved12 April2024.
  78. ^"הרוגי מלכות גליונית זכרון – התאחדות בולאי ישראל".Archived fromthe originalon 18 April 2012.Retrieved1 August2007.
  79. ^"(detailed)".Archived fromthe originalon 18 April 2012.Retrieved1 August2007.
  80. ^Iviansky 1986, 72–73.
  81. ^abBell, Bowyer J.:Terror out of Zion(1976)
  82. ^Law, Randall David (2009).Terrorism: A History.Cambridge MA: Polity Press. p. 186.
  83. ^Cesarani, David:Major Farran's Hat: The Untold Story of the Struggle to Establish the Jewish State(2009)
  84. ^Andrew, Christopher (2009)The Defence of the Realm. The Authorized History of MI5.Allen Lane.ISBN978-0-7139-9885-6.p. 922. Note 39. pp. 355–359.
  85. ^Walton, Calder (28 June 2024)."How Zionist Extremism Became British Spies' Biggest Enemy".Foreign Policy.Retrieved24 June2024.
  86. ^Andrew, Christopher (2009).Defend the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5.Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 357.ISBN978-0-307-27291-1.
  87. ^abNachman Ben-Yehuda (2012).Political Assassinations by Jews: A Rhetorical Device for Justice.SUNY Press. p. 331.ISBN978-0791496374.
  88. ^Ira Smith and Joe Alex Morris,Dear Mr President,Julian Messner Inc. New York 1947 p. 230 writes that "the same kind of terrorist letters" which Lehi claimed responsibility for sending to British politicians had been detected in mail to the White House:
  89. ^Rosenbaum, Ron.Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil.p. 63.
  90. ^Sand, ShlomoThe Invention of the Land of Israel: From Holy Land to Homelandp. 268
  91. ^Silver 1984, p. 91.
  92. ^Yoav Gelber,Palestine 1948,Appendix IIArchived27 February 2008 at theWayback Machine
  93. ^Ezra Yakhin(1992),Elnakam,pp. 261–272.
  94. ^Yoav Gelber(2006),Palestine 1948,p. 317.
  95. ^Benny Morris(2003),The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited,p. 239.
  96. ^Benny Morris(2003),The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited,p. 239. "the most important immediate effect of the atrocity and the media campaign that followed it was how one started to report the fear felt in Palestinian Arab towns and villages, and, later, the panicked fleeing from them."
  97. ^Israel Eldad (1950),The First Tithe,pp. 334–335.
  98. ^Heller, 1995, p. 209.
  99. ^UNSC"S/RES/57 (1948) of 18 September 1948".Archived fromthe originalon 3 December 2013.Retrieved30 November2013.resolution 57 (18 September 1948).
  100. ^abcSprinzak, p. 45
  101. ^Ami Pedahzur,The Israeli Response to Jewish Terrorism and Violence: Defending Democracy,Manchester University Press, Manchester and New York 2002 p. 77
  102. ^abSprinzak, p. 47
  103. ^Heller, p. 265.
  104. ^"LHY leaders get 8,5 years",Palestine Post,11 February 1949.
  105. ^Heller, p. 267.
  106. ^"For the purposes of Regulation 8 of the Emergency Regulations – Prevention of Terrorism – 5748–1948, the Provisional Government has decided to declare that the group of people known as 'Freedom Fighters of Israel' and the members of the so-called 'Homeland Front' are terrorist organizations. By order of the provisional administration. Ze'ev Sharaf (Government Secretary)."
  107. ^abcHeller (1995), pp. 261–266
  108. ^abcdeHeller (1995), pp. 265–267
  109. ^Heller (1995), pp. 279–284
  110. ^Baram, Daphna (10 September 2009)."Amos Keinan: Controversial Israeli journalist, writer and artist".The Independent.Retrieved8 November2009.
  111. ^Melman, Yossi (13 August 2009)."Time bomb".Haaretz.Retrieved8 September2009.
  112. ^Segev, Tom;Arlen Neal Weinstein (1998).1949: The First Israelis.Macmillan. pp.230–231.ISBN0-02-929180-1.
  113. ^Pedahzur, Ami, and Arie Perliger (2009).Jewish Terrorism in Israel.Columbia University Press.pp. 31–33
  114. ^Sasha Polakow-Suransky, "The Unspoken Alliance: Israel's Secret Relationship with Apartheid South Africa", p. 107
  115. ^Khalidi, Walid.(1971).From Haven to Conquest: Readings in Zionism and the Palestine Problem Until 1948.Institute of Palestine Studies.p. 606.ISBN0-88728-155-9.
  116. ^Zev Golan (2011).Stern: The Man and his Gang.Yair Publishing. pp. 18–19, 81.
  117. ^s:Unknown soldiers (song)
  118. ^Melman, Yossi (13 August 2009)."Inside Intel / Time Bomb".Haaretz.
  119. ^Washington Report on Middle East Affairs,December 1986,"Portrait of a Mideast Terrorist"

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