Zionist terrorism
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The term Zionist terrorism is used by some to refer to militant acts of violence committed by Zionists, generally against civilian targets, before and after Israel's establishment.
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Pre-statehood Zionist militancy
In the 1930s and 1940s, two Jewish underground organizations, the Irgun and Lehi, were responsible for a number of violent acts in their campaign against the British for a Jewish national homeland:
- During the period 1937-1939, the Irgun conducted a campaign of marketplace bombings and other acts of violence. See Great Uprising.
- The King David Hotel bombing on July 26, 1946, killing 91.
- The bombing of the British Embassy in Rome, also in 1946.
- Lehi assassinated British minister Lord Moyne in Cairo in 1944.
- Lehi assassinated the UN mediator Count Bernadotte in September 1948 for his allegedly pro-Arabic conduct during the cease-fire negotiations.
- The killings of several suspected collaborators with the Haganah and the British mandate government during The Hunting Season.
- The 1947 killing of two British sergeants who had been taken prisoner in response to British refusal to cancel the death sentence for two Jewish criminals in Akko prison.
- Attacked British military airfields and railways several times in 1946.
Actions during the 1948 War of Independence
- See Deir Yassin massacre.
Post-Statehood Zionist militancy
- Kach and Kahane Chai are categorized as terrorist groups by the US State Department, the Canadian government,[1] (http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/May2005/24/c2655.html) and the Israeli government. Kach was originally disqualified as a political party by Israel before the 1988 elections for racism. In 1994, Baruch Goldstein (who was a Kach member) killed 29 Muslim civilians, injuring approximately 100. Though it was found that Goldstein acted alone, in response to his affiliation, and some outspoken support for his action by different Kach members and for their verbal attacks on the Israeli government, Israel outlawed the two groups completely, prohibiting any financial or verbal support, and branding them "terrorist organizations."
Controversy
The use of this term is a bitterly contested issue, with many in the Jewish and Zionist communities portraying it as anti-Semitic revisionism of the Israeli independence movement.
See also
- British Mandate of Palestine
- Violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- Israeli terrorism
- Views from the other side
- Terrorism against Israel