Irgun Zeva'i Le'ummi

Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Founder of the Revisionist Movement

The Irgun Zeva''i Le'ummi ("National Military Organization"-I.Z.L., Ezel, or the Irgun) was a Jewish underground armed organization founded in Jerusalem in the spring of 1931 by a group of Haganah commanders, headed by Avraham Tehomi. Joining forces with a clandestine armed group of Betar members, they formed a parallel, yet more activist, defense organization than the Haganah.

In April 1937, during the Arab riots, the organization split over the question of how to react to Arab terrorism, and about half its members returned to the Haganah, which was controlled by the Jewish Agency. The rest formed a new Irgun Zeva'i Le'ummi, which was ideologically linked with the Revisionist movement. Rejecting the "restraint" (havlagah in Hebrew) policy of the Jewish Agency and the Haganah, the organization carried out armed reprisals against Arabs.

After the publication of the White Paper in May 1939, I.Z.L. directed its activities against the British Mandatory authorities. At the outbreak of World War II, I.Z.L. declared a truce, which led to a second split (June 1940) and the formation of a new underground group (Lohamei Herut Israel, or Lehi) led by Avraham Stern. I.Z.L. members contributed to the war effort against the Nazis by joining the British Army's Palestinian units and later the Jewish Brigade. In February 1944 I.Z.L. declared war against the British administration, which continued to implement the White Paper. The Jewish Agency and the Haganah moved against the I.Z.L. in a campaign nicknamed by the underground the sezon ("hunting season"), during which some of I.Z.L.'s members (including several leaders) were kidnapped and handed over to the British authorities.

When the British Labor government's anti-Zionist policy disappointed post-war hopes, Haganah, I.Z.L., and Lehi formed a united front. The I.Z.L. attacks culminated in blowing up a wing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, headquarters of the Palestine government and the military command, on July 22, 1946. The united fighting front disintegrated in August 1946, after the arrest of the Jewish Agency leaders, but I.Z.L. and Lehi continued their attacks on military and governmental objectives. Under the pressure of the continual attacks, the British retreated to security zones where they lived in a state of siege.

David Raziel, Leader of the Irgun

After the Declaration of Independence, the high command of I.Z.L. offered to disband the organization and integrate its members into the army of the new Jewish state, but, until integration was achieved, it acted independently. Its attack on the Arab village of Deir Yasin near Jerusalem, which caused many civilian casualties was denounced by the Jewish Agency. On June 20, during the first Arab-Israel cease fire, an I.Z.L. ship, Altalena, clandestinely reached the shores of Israel, carrying a huge quantity of weapons and ammunition and about eight hundred young people. During negotiations with the newly established provisional government of Israel, I.Z.L. demanded 20% of the arms and rejected a government ultimatum to hand over the ship. When the ship appeared off the shore of Tel Aviv, it was blown up by Israel artillery.

The Jerusalem units of I.Z.L. fought in most sectors of the city and joined the national army on Sept. 21, 1948.