Irgun & Stern Gang: The British-Labeled 'Terrorists' Who Became Israel's Founding Fathers

The terrorist attack on the hotel was the biggest blow struck against British rule in Palestine by fighters of the Jewish 'Irgun' organisation.


Meet the rebel groups that made the British Empire sweat in Palestine: Irgun (led by future PM Menachem Begin) and their radical cousins LHI—nicknamed the Stern Gang by terrified Brits. These weren’t your grandma’s freedom fighters. Irgun bombed the King David Hotel (killing 91), while LHI straight-up assassinated British Minister Lord Moyne in Cairo. When Abraham Stern (LHI’s leader) got gunned down by police in ‘42, his crew didn’t back down—they doubled down on guerilla warfare.

The British called them terrorists. Zionists called them heroes. History calls them the guys who won. By 1948, their tactics—plus global sympathy for Holocaust survivors—helped birth Israel. Now their descendants run the country. Talk about a plot twist.

(Source: National Army Museum - British Army in Palestine)

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