Today, Irgun, one of the several main militant Zionist groups, took resistance too far. The bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem was a horrible mistake, and puts a bad face on the resistance. The events that transpired today are an outrage and embarrassment to the Jews of Israel. 91 people were killed today, and 46 injured, most of them innocent citizens.
I have supported resistance against the British for years, as Israel should be a free state, not under the control of any other nation. The Labor Party, elected in 1945, promised that they would reverse the White Paper and support a Jewish state in Palestine. But since they have come into office, they have done quite the opposite. They redoubled their efforts to prevent Jewish immigration, and have not done anything to help us create a state of Israel. Because of these lies, I have supported the united militant organizations such as the Irgun and the Hanagah in helping Jews illegally immigrate to Palestine and using force to try to drive out the British. There have been many train bombings and bridge bombings that have hindered the British, and they have been with few civilian casualties. These attacks have sent a message to England: either help us, or leave our country now. But the hotel bombing today brought it too far.
Initially I agreed with Menachem Begin, the mastermind of the plan, that this bombing would be a good idea. I was under the impression that it would just embarrass the
British military personnel stationed there. It was in response to the Black Sabbath, a day last month when 2,700 people were arrested throughout the country and sent to the Rafiah internment camp for suspected involvement in resistance. They organized a huge weapons search, which yielded hundreds of guns and thousands of bullets. So when I found out that Irgun and Hanagah were working together to plan a retaliation attempt. I thought that it would be a good opportunity to show the British that we are a force to be reckoned with. But when I found out the risks of killing dozens of innocent civilians, I told Begin to call it off, but he refused.And so since then I have been dreading this day, and doing all I could to get Begin to understand the risks. But he was blinded by his hatred of the British, and nothing would stop him. And because of this, today will go down as the worst bombing in the history of the resistance. It makes the victim look like the attacker, the oppressed people look like the oppressors. The bombing was a horrible mistake, and I now believe that the Irgun is the enemy of the Jewish people, not the ally. I hope that we as a people can learn from our mistake and pursue more peaceful forms of resistance. I hope that nothing like the events of today ever happen again.
