Word: irgun
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1940-1949
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...gesture was meant to warn the British that, if it came to real war, the Jews had a well organized army. The extremist Irgun Zvai Leumi went further: they kidnaped six British officers, held them as hostages for two Irgun gunmen who had been sentenced to death. Gangs raided central railway shops in Haifa; nine Jews were killed. The Haviva Reik, carrying 450 illegal immigrants (see cut), was nabbed by British patrol ships and brought into Haifa. She flew a banner proclaiming: "Keep the gate open; we are not the last...
...Jewish Labor Government, Colonial Secretary George Hall denounced "the dastardly series of outrages" in Palestine, carefully planned by a "very considerable organization among the Jewish community." Hall did not identify the organization. But two groups, both disavowed by the Jewish Agency, were almost certainly involved: the strongly militant underground Irgun Zvai Leumi (National Military Organization) and its still more aggressive offshoot, a gang of gunmen who called themselves "Israel's Freedom Fighters." Both were wellarmed, experienced guerrillas whose credo was: the time for talk is past...