The “Irgun Zvai Leumi” an illegal Jewish military organization, today announced that it is responsible for the terroristic acts recently committed in Palestine, including the bombing of the Government Immigration Offices in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa, and the assassination of two police officers in Haifa.
The announcement was made in the form of a letter delivered to the editorial offices of Palestine newspapers by an anonymous messenger. The letter, which was signed by the “Commander-in-Chief of the Irgun,” stated, “We started a battle for opening the gates of Palestine to the masses of persecuted Jews of Europe, and not for the insulting gesture of 900 immigration certificates which the Palestine Government has now granted.”
The letter also warns the editors of the Palestine Jewish newspapers not to oppose the policy of the Irgun. Its contents have aroused protests on the part of all Jews in Palestine. The Jewish community in Haifa has adopted a resolution condemning the terroristic acts. In Tel Aviv, the crimes were denounced by Mayor Rokach addressing a session of the Municipal Council. He pointed out that the acts of terror only serve to discredit all Jewish achievements.
(The Irgun Zvai Leumi was founded in Palestine in 1936, as a secret Jewish military movement, when Arab anti-Jewish riots broke out in the country. Some observers believe it is an independent organization, while others believe it to be connected with the Zionist Revisionist movement. The number of members belonging to the organization has never been disclosed, but the organization was credited with many acts of self-defense and some military activities against Arab terrorists in Palestine from 1937 until the outbreak of the war. The proclamations of the Irgun are always issued from “Headquarters of the Jewish Military Organization in Palestine.”)
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
