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Since you don't seem to be aware of the *actual* history, or seem to be belittling the *actual* terrorism of the pre-State militias, I hope all this info is informative; Details of the terrorism; ' NOVEMBER 7, 2003
Hijacking History
The Israeli Right Sets Out To Magnify Its Role in History and the Creation of the Jewish State
>snip
Golan hagiographically reviews the careers of such men as Ze'ev Jabotinsky, the founder of the Revisionist stream of Zionism, and Avraham Stern, the founder of the Lehi, and focuses on the particular stories of individual fighters/terrorists, such as Eliahu Hakim and Eliahu Bet Zuri, who assassinated British Minister Resident in the Middle East Lord Moyne in November 1944, not knowing — like Golan himself — that Moyne was by this stage a supporter of a Jewish state. The murder greatly angered Moyne's close friend, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and may thus have contributed significantly to the deferment of Jewish statehood.
One may or may not view the Irgun and Lehi policy of attacks on British Mandate personnel from 1944 through 1948 as a legitimate means of evicting a foreign occupier. But Golan completely fails to describe the dark side of the Irgun's (and, to a lesser degree, Lehi's) activities vis-à-vis the Arabs — the mass indiscriminate murder of civilians in retaliation for Arab attacks on Jews during the 1936-39 Arab Revolt and the start of the 1948 war. These bombings preceded, and resemble nothing so much as, the contemporary Hamas-Islamic Jihad-Tanzim bombings of Israel's buses and markets (which the Arabs contend are in reprisal for Israel's oppressive occupation and specific attacks on Arabs by Israeli troops). In one obtuse, deliberately obfuscating reference to the Irgun bombings in 1937 through 1938, Golan writes of the "planned retaliatory bombings in areas used as rendezvous by the Arab gangs." Later, he briefly mentions the repeated Irgun bombing of the Haifa market (which he claims, without offering any proof, deterred further Arab attacks on Jews in Haifa), without giving the reader any sense of the mayhem and fatalities caused, as he does when referring to Arab attacks on Jews. (Indeed, Golan devotes three whole pages to describing in great detail the British torture of one Irgun operative, Benjamin Zeroni, the man who planned the Haifa market bombings.) He doesn't tell his readers that on July 6, 1938, an Irgun bomb, placed inside milk canisters in that market, killed 21 shoppers and wounded 52; or that three weeks later, on July 25, another bomb, in a pickled cucumber can, killed 39 shoppers and wounded at least 70 at the same site. Nor does he tell us that the exiled Jabotinsky, ostensibly in charge of the Irgun, objected to these operations. The Lehi's robbing of banks, including Jewish-owned banks, in the early 1940s is described by Golan as "relieving" these institutions of their funds.
But, clearly, attempting to whitewash the Irgun and Lehi weighed on Golan's mind. At one point, Golan states:
A cursory glance at the above list of almost two dozen acts of sabotage and mayhem perpetrated by the Lehi reveals not one directed at women, seniors riding buses, innocent people walking to work or children playing in schoolyards.... To specifically target women and children would have been unimaginable for any of the Hebrew forces.
Golan seems to be arguing against comparing the Irgun and Lehi with contemporary Palestinian terrorists. But his argument won't fly. I see no difference between planting bombs in Arab markets (1937-38) designed to kill as many shoppers as possible and planting bombs on Jewish buses (2000-03) designed to kill as many passengers as possible. Killing as many civilians as possible is, in both cases, the name of the game. Here's a link to the archives of the Palestine Post, that provides contemporary details of the incidents mentioned; http://jic.tau.ac.il/moreshet/palestineEn.html Details of how the pre-State militias are celebrated by the political/military leadership, today; Interview with a guide at the Lehi museum, details of the museum; The Baker's Daughter
>snip
Today, Ahuva, a retired Jewish studies teacher, volunteers for the Committee for the Lehi Heritage. Its museum is located in the building of Stern's final hideout in Tel Aviv's Florentine neighborhood.
As a Ministry of Defense museum, soldiers guide visitors throughout the two floor structure with permanent exhibitions about Stern's life and death, the struggle against the British, the split from Etzel, and a clandestine weapons production shop.
Volunteers who were former Lehi members, provide firsthand accounts of their experiences. The Committee for the Lehi Heritage organizes lectures and workshops for students, as well study days for teachers, historians and researchers. A publishing house publishes members' memoirs. Annual events include memorials to members and awards are presented to young people writing about the Lehi. A Hebrew Internet site was recently set up.
"There is an increased interest in Lehi's legacy and Avraham Stern," observes Ahuva. "Many high school and university students do research at the museum. The 60thanniversary of Stern's assassination was commemorated at the Knesset in February, and every year more and more people visit his gravesite in Tel Aviv."
The dream of every Lehi member was to participate in a military operation. "Although I wasn't privileged to do this, I realized that whatever I did was as important, freeing others to the task," reflects Ahuva. http://www.wzo.org.il/en/resources/view.asp?id=1183 Israeli PMs giving medals to 'terrorists', & commemorating 'acts of terrorism'; The Etzel Ribbon award ceremony
Official recognition of the contribution of the Etzel underground organization in the struggle for an independent state of Israel came only after former Etzel leader Menahem Begin became prime minister of Israel in 1977. Presentation of the ribbon started in 1979. Here follow some pictures of the April 4, 1979 ceremony at the Western Wall, Jerusalem. http://www.yairmalachi.org/MedalsOfIsrael/MODServiceRibbons/EtzelRibbon.htm British anger at terror celebration
By Ned Parker and Stephen Farrell
The commemoration of Israeli bombings that killing 92 people has caused offence
July 20, 2006
AS ISRAEL wages war against Hezbollah “terrorists” in Lebanon, Britain has protested about the celebration by right-wing Israelis of a Jewish “act of terrorism” against British rule 60 years ago this week.
The rightwingers, including Binyamin Netanyahu, the former Prime Minister, are commemorating the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, the headquarters of British rule, that killed 92 people and helped to drive the British from Palestine.
They have erected a plaque outside the restored building, and are holding a two-day seminar with speeches and a tour of the hotel by one of the Jewish resistance fighters involved in the attack.
Simon McDonald, the British Ambassador in Tel Aviv, and John Jenkins, the Consul-General in Jerusalem, have written to the municipality, stating: “We do not think that it is right for an act of terrorism, which led to the loss of many lives, to be commemorated.”
In particular they demanded the removal of the plaque that pays tribute to the Irgun, the Jewish resistance branch headed by Menachem Begin, the future Prime Minister, which carried out the attack on July 22, 1946. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,251-2277717.html |
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