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Bombs, Terrorism and Fear: the Role of Armed Militia in the Creation of Israel

In the previous post, we attempted to list all crimes committed during the Nakba of 1948 and glossed over the establishment of various militia forces in Palestine.

These forces, however, were a fundamental part for the Zionist entity to pursue its goals of a "national home" for the Jewish people in Palestine as stated in the Balfour Declaration 31 years before.

Before we dive into the crimes committed by these paramilitary forces, we need to describe a couple of terms and some context to understand why they arisen, what did they believe in and what was their goal.

I would like to start by separating the traditional orthodox Jews from the Zionists Jews who arrived later in Palestine. In literature 'the Hebrew settlement' are called Yishuv and we can divide them in two categories:

  • Old Yishuv: Jewish communities in the continuation with the Diaspora life, during the Ottoman empire. The communities were located mainly in Jerusalem, Hebron, Tiberias and Safed. These religious, orthodox Jews centered their lives around the principles of halukka (collection and distribution of charity funds for Jewish residents), yeshiva and kollel (study of Rabbinic literature). In the late 19th century, the Old Yishuv comprised 0.3% of the world's Jews, representing 2–5% of the population of the Palestine region. [source]
  • New Yishuv: from the 1880s new waves (Aliyah, more later) of zionist jewish started to arrive in Palestine. These Diaspora Jews were advocating for a reform of jewish tradition and identity, relying on labour rather then charity and economic independence rather then external help. These settlements were promoted and supported by zionists organization like the Lover of Zion or Bilu or Palestine Jewish Colonization Association, wealthy individuals like Edmond James and Alphonse James de Rothschild [source], Isaac Leib Goldberg, Reuven Yudalevich, Maurice de Hirsch and many more. If charity from Diaspora Jews was a fundamental rule for old Yishuv, for the new reformed Yishuv was a temporary solution to achieve independence in a newly founded nation in Palestine. The new Yishuv, promoted and supported by zionists ideals, was for all intents and purposes a colonization movement [source]. By 1914, the old Yishuv was a minority, and the New Yishuv began to express itself and its Zionist goals.

As we can see, these new Yishuv zionists had specific ethnic nationalism, racial and colonization ideals. In order to achieve the goals of the land for the Jewish people they promoted several waves of immigration in Palestine called Aliyah. From 1919 to 1948 there have been five Aliyah and many "uncounted" waves after, below you can see some interesting statistics:

100 years of Aliyah (immigration) to Mandatory Palestine and Israel, between 1919 and 2020

A map of cumulative aliyah numbers (since 1948, or before 1948 if pre-1948 data is available) by country. Israel is colored in blue.

Olim by source

Jewish immigration to Israel from 1948 to 2007

In this context, it seems only natural the creation of military and paramilitary forces aimed at protecting and expanding the newly founded settlers in Palestine. I would like to cover all the military organizations up to the creation of the state of Israel and the formation of the Israeli Defence Force (which requires a separate post). All these militia, as we can see, contributed and, in the end, merged with the IDF.

An important key figure is Israel Shochat a russian jew immigrated in 1904 in Palestine with the second Aliyah. Shochat was already politically active at that time, he founded some years prior in Europe (and soon expanded worldwide) the Poale Zion a national socialist party aimed at the "political independence of the Jewish People in this country [Palestine]." In 1906, Shochat recruited David Ben-Gurion with whom he shared some fundamental ideology like Hebrew over Yiddish and the segregation of the Jewish and Arab economies. Both of them used rigged election to acquire powerful position inside the party in order shape its manifesto and ideologies.

Later in 1907, with Yitzhak Ben-Zvi established Bar-Giora – a secret paramilitary organization committed to armed struggle.

Ben Zvi, Ben Gurion and Shochat

  • Bar-Giora tactics were to act as a command cell and organize groups that could be manipulated towards the ultimate objective: to "form a Hebrew military force that would organize and implement an armed uprising to bring about its ultimate aim, the creation of an independent Jewish state.". They would focus on replacing Arab guards in the remote colonies in Upper Galilee and set up their own outposts. A team of shepherds was to undertake a detailed survey of the land. This militia was a first (successful) attempt limited to a few cities.

This clandestine organization lasted only a couple of years and Shochat in 1909 founded and merge it with Hashomer (lit. The Watchman), a bigger military group than Bar-Giora.

  • Hashomer was the first attempt to provide an organized defence for all the Jewish communities in Palestine. In the autumn of 1911 it had “35 watchmen, 23 infantry and 12 cavalry”, and were guarding six colonies in Galilee as well as Hadera. By 1912, Hashomer was guarding fourteen Jewish settlements. In addition to guarding settlements, Hashomer secretly began conducting offensive acts, like the assassination of a Bedouin policeman, seeing itself as the nucleus of a future Jewish army. During the 10 years it was active it reached 100 members and established several settlements like Tel Adash, Tel Hai, and Kfar Giladi.

In 1920, after being deported to modern Turkey, Shochat came back to Palestine, joined David Ben-Gurion's political party Ahdut HaAvoda and, just like previously with Bar-Giora, Hashomer was closed to make room to a bigger, more capable organization called Haganah.

Haganah was a proper militia force, with roughly 21.000 members and it operated from 1920 to the establishment of Israel in 1948, under the command of the Jewish Agency for Israel. Compared to the other more radical militia, Haganah was considered moderated, following the strategic policy of havlagah (lit. 'self-restraint').

Irgun: in 1931 within the Haganah organization and in contrast to the havlagah discipline, fighters split and created a new force called Irgun. It was described as a terrorist organization by The New York Times, the Anglo-American Committee of Enquiry, prominent world figures such as Winston Churchill and Jewish figures such as Hannah Arendt, Albert Einstein, and many others. Irgun members began attacks on Arab villages around April 1936, thus ending the policy of restraint. These attacks were intended to instill fear in the Arab side.

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.

Here is a complete list of crimes committed by Irgun between the 1937 and 1948 (when they merged in the official Israeli Defence Force) [source]

  • March 1937, 2 Arabs killed on Bat Yam beach;
  • November 1937, 10 Arabs killed in attacks around Jerusalem ("Black Sunday");
  • April 1938, 2 Arabs and 2 British policemen killed by bomb in Haifa train;
  • April 1938, 1 Arab killed by bomb in cafe in Haifa;
  • May 1938, 1 Arab policeman killed on Jerusalem-Hebron road bus attack;
  • May 1938, 3 Arabs shot and killed in Haifa;
  • June 1938, 18 Arabs (including women and children) killed by bomb in Haifa marketplace;
  • June 1938, 2 Arabs killed near Tel Aviv;
  • June 1938, 7 Arabs killed by bomb in Jaffa;
  • July 1938, 18 Arabs and 5 Jews killed by two simultaneous bombs in Haifa melon market;
  • July 1938, 4 Arabs killed by bomb in Jerusalem;
  • July 1938, 10 Arabs killed by bomb in Jerusalem marketplace;
  • July 1938, 43 Arabs killed by bomb in Haifa marketplace;
  • August 1938, 24 Arabs killed by bomb in Jaffa marketplace;
  • February 1939, 33 Arabs killed in multiple bomb attacks in Haifa and Jerusalem;
  • May 1939, 18 injured including Arabs and British police by mines in Jerusalem cinema;
  • May 1939, 5 Arabs shot and killed during raid on Biyar 'Adas;
  • June 1939, 5 Arabs killed by bomb at Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem;
  • June 1939, 1 British bomb expert killed trying to defuse bomb in Jerusalem;
  • June 1939, 20 Arabs killed by explosives on donkey in Haifa marketplace;
  • June 1939, multiple Arabs killed by shooting attacks around Jaffa;
  • July 1939, several Arabs killed in various bomb attacks in Haifa, Jerusalem, Jaffa, Tel Aviv, and Rehovot;
  • August 1939, 2 British police officers killed by roadside bomb in Jerusalem;
  • September 1944, attacks on British police stations with unknown casualties;
  • September 1944, 1 senior British police officer assassinated in Jerusalem;
  • November 1945, bombs and attacks killing British policemen, soldiers, and others;
  • February 1946, destruction of RAF planes at British stations;
  • July 1946, 91 killed in King David Hotel bombing including civilians of multiple nationalities;
  • October-November 1946, British guards and police killed in railway and embassy bombings;
  • March 1947, 17 British officers killed in bombing of Goldschmidt Officers' Club;
  • July 1947, attacks in Haifa killing British constable and others;
  • July 1947, hanging of two kidnapped British sergeants;
  • August 1947, bombings killing British policemen and injuring others;
  • September 1947, British and Arab policemen killed in Haifa police headquarters bombing;
  • December 1947 and early 1948, multiple bombings and attacks resulting in deaths and injuries among Arabs, British, and Jews in various places including Jerusalem, Haifa, Jaffa;
  • April 1948, Deir Yassin massacre killing more than 100 Arabs and some Jewish militants;
  • April 1948, attacks on British soldiers and Arab towns, including killings of British soldiers during an arms raid;

Lehi: in 1940, another split happen, this time within the Irgun and created a more extreme, radical, racist and supremacist wing of the jewish forces in Palestine. The group referred to its members as terrorists and admitted to having carried out acts of terrorism. It initially sought an alliance with Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. 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". According to Yaacov 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". Lehi advocated mass expulsion of all Arabs from Palestine and Transjordan, or even their physical annihilation.

An article titled "Terror" in the Lehi underground newspaper He 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 the Torah, 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.

Here is a list of crimes committed by the Lehi group [source]:

  • April 1946, a unit attacked a car park in Tel Aviv occupied by the British 6th Airborne Division;
  • September 1946, assassination of British CID sergeant T.G. Martin in Haifa;
  • September 1946, explosion and collapse of the Food Control Office near Jaffa-Tel Aviv border, killing British men including Major John Doran;
  • October 1946, bombing of the British embassy in Rome;
  • October 1946, attacks on transportation networks (roads and rails), including dozens of military vehicles attacked;
  • December 1946, car bomb attack on Sarafand military camp, many British soldiers killed or wounded;
  • January 1947, members drove a truckload of explosives into a British police station in Haifa, killing four and injuring 140, in what has been called 'the world's first true truck bomb';
  • February 1947, attack on Jerusalem-Ramle telephone lines in fourteen places;
  • February 1947, shootings at British regional command post in Tel Aviv, bombing British shipping company, Royal Navy office, and Barclays Bank in Haifa;
  • March 1947, attack on Goldsmith House Officers’ Club in Jerusalem, heavy explosion causing extensive damage and several deaths;
  • March 1947, bombing the British Colonial Club in London;
  • March 1947, bombing of Anglo-Iraqi oil refinery in Haifa, massive damage and fire, colony's petroleum tanks destroyed;
  • April 1947 a bomb consisting of twenty-four sticks of explosives was planted in the Colonial Office, Whitehall;
  • April 1947, bombing of the Sharona police fortress in Tel Aviv, several policemen and officers killed;
  • May 1947, assassination of Assistant Superintendent of Police Albert Conquest in Haifa;
  • May 1947, abduction and murder of Alexander Rubowitz by British units;
  • May 1947, Acre Prison break by Lehi and Irgun members, many killed or injured during escape and subsequent fighting;
  • May 1947, five alleged members were arrested in Paris with bomb making material including explosives of the same type as found in London; [source];
  • November 1947, bombings and reprisal attacks in Tel Aviv killing several people after informer-related shootout;
  • March 1948, Lehi mined the train near Binyamina, killing 40 civilians and wounding 60;
  • April 1948, attack on Arab village Sheikh Munis, establishing it as Lehi base;
  • April 1948, assaults on Arab villages Qanir and Biyar ‘Adas, demolishing houses and causing casualties.
  • April 1948, Deir Yassin Massacre where about 110 Arabs were killed by Lehi and Irgun fighters;
  • April 1948, Fighters were captured with a truck filled with explosives on his way to Nablus. 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. [source];
  • January to April 1948, multiple attacks including train bombings, bombing military vehicles, and attacks on British and Arab targets;
  • February 1948, mined the train north of Rehovot, killing 28 British soldiers and wounding 35 [source];
  • March 1948, failed car bomb attack on Nablus, followed by abduction of hostages from al-Sheikh Muwannis;
  • April 1948, bombing of Barclays Bank in Tel Aviv, several successful raids stealing thousands of lira;
  • May 1948, continued attacks on British soldiers during British evacuation;
  • September 1948, assassination of UN mediator Count Folke Bernadotte by Lehi operatives;

Following Israel's Declaration of Independence, Prime Minister and Defense Minister David Ben-Gurion issued an order for the formation of the Israel Defense Forces on 26 May 1948 including Haganah, Irgun and Lehi.

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We cannot offer any adequate compensation to the Palestinian Arabs in return for Palestine. And therefore, there is no likelihood of any voluntary agreement being reached. So that all those who regard such an agreement as a condition sine qua non for Zionism may as well say "non" and withdraw from Zionism. Zionist colonisation must either stop, or else proceed regardless of the native population. Which means that it can proceed and develop only under the protection of a power that is independent of the native population - behind an iron wall, which the native population cannot breach. That is our Arab policy; not what it should be, but what it actually is, whether we admit it or not.

Ze'ev Jabotinsky - The Iron Wall (1923) Founder of the Revisionist Zionist movement and the Jewish Self-Defense Organization

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