New archives reveal Jewish terrorism during British Mandate era

JVL Introduction

The New Arab has marked the 109th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration with this report from documents in the National Archives, showing that the British government was aware of the extent of what it called “Jewish Terrorism” and that some officials also argued that Zionists were wrong to interpret British support for a national home to mean that they were promised a state.

In the original article are photos of some pages from the National archives, eg revealing that at a British intelligence lecture on 8 January 1948, participants were warned “that Zionist terrorism could continue after Britain’s withdrawal from Palestine, citing tensions between the Haganah, Irgun and Stern Gang ” (my emphasis LL)

The article also notes that when the Zionist forces surrendered Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter to Jordan’s Arab League, Jewish soldiers and civilians were not harassed and were often helped by the Jordanian soldiers.

In searching for images to accompany this article I found this one of Yitzhak Shamir of whom Wikipedia tells us:

Shamir joined the Revisionist Zionist Irgun  paramilitary group led by Menachem Begin. During World War II the Irgun split over the question of whether to support the Axis Powers against the British Empire. Avraham Stern and Shamir sought an alliance with Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany and formed the breakaway militia group Lehi. Lehi was unable to persuade the Axis powers to lend it support. Shamir led Lehi after Stern’s assassination in 1942…. During the 1948 Palestine War, Lehi and the Irgun committed the Deir Yassin massacre of over 100 Palestinians

Of course, both Begin and Shamir became Prime Ministers of Israel. The seeds were set from the very beginning.

This article was originally published by The New Arab on Mon 2 Nov 2026. Read the original here.