Menachem Begin's Irgun and Zionist Revisionism: 1944-1948

Abstract

This essay will examine the historic links between Zionist Revisionism and the militancy of the Irgun under the command of Menachem Begin in Palestine before Israel won its statehood in 1948. The tactics utilized by the Irgun would be an extension of Zionist ideals coming to grips with the aftermath of the Holocaust and being channeled into a rational exercise of violence against the British occupation and the Palestinian Arabs. They would detonate a bomb at the King David Hotel, execute two British sergeants in what became known as the Sergeants Affair, and actively participate in the massacre at the village of Deir Yassin. These actions achieved mixed results, but saw both the British and Arabs retreat while compromising the ideals of the greater Zionist movement for peace (with their Arab neighbors) in the eyes of the international world and demonstrated in the eyes of the colonials worldwide the potency of terrorism and guerilla warfare.