Word: irgun
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...occupied West Bank, cheered and sang as their distinguished guest presented a Torah scroll for the settlement's new synagogue. For others, though, these were chilling words in a chilling context. The speaker was Menachem Begin, 63, onetime leader of the anti-British, anti-Arab terrorist group known as Irgun Zvai Leumi (National Military Organization), who almost certainly will be Israel's next Premier. In a stunning upset victory, Begin's Likud (Unity) coalition last week became the dominant bloc in Israel's parliament, replacing a shattered, scandal-ridden Labor alignment that had governed the Jewish state since its founding...
...fleeing the Nazis in 1940 (his parents and a brother were killed), he escaped to Lithuania but was arrested by the Russians for Zionist activities and briefly imprisoned. After his release, he joined the Polish army and was sent to Palestine where, in 1943, he deserted and joined the Irgun Zvai Leumi...
...Arabs. The fates of two villages, as reported in both books, Deir Yasin and Kfar Kassim, demonstrate the extremes to which this policy could be carried. Deir Yasin has become the well-known rallying cry of the Palestinian resistance; on April 9, 1948, the terrorist bands Lehi and Irgun Zvai Leumi--the latter under Menahim Begin's leadership--massacred some 250 Arabs. But Deir Yasin is merely the most remembered of several massacres that summer which were intended to drive the Arab population from Israel, and that not so surprisingly often succeeded...
...Successor. Likud, a union of hawkish groups that insists on retaining the occupied territories, is led by a right-wing former Irgun terrorist, Menachem Begin. Hospitalized last month by a heart attack, Begin, 63, will miss the campaigning. Ironically, many voters who detest Begin might be drawn to Likud if he were to resign as the leader. But since he has no logical successor, the coalition could fall apart...
...economics of terrorism tells more about its limited effectiveness than its causes. The bloody activities of the Irgun and the Stern Gang had much less to do with establishing Israel in 1948 than the financial support of American Jews and the backing of the U.S. Government. Likewise, if there ever is a Palestinian state in the Middle East, it will owe its existence to the fabulous wealth and political leverage of OPEC Arabs, not to the murderous acts of Al-Fatah. As Laqueur, Parry and Psychiatrist Frederick J. Hacker demonstrate in their books, guerrilla tactics (as differentiated from partisan action...