A response to a Jewish Agency meeting in Paris where David Ben-Gurion decided to end the united Jewish Resistance Movement. The decision at “Vichy” was an act of treachery for a nation that is at war and is even turning the tide in said war. Ben-Gurion is leading the Jews into a ghetto and abandoning the Diaspora. The only answer for British tyranny is war, like the Hasmonean rebellion at Modi’in.
An Etzel Broadcast from August 1946. The British are plotting to dissect Eretz Israel, which would be a “reprehensible crime.” It would be at the cost of the survivors of the Holocaust and to future generations. Yet certain Jews are complying with this plan. This compliance is also a crime, and will turn the Jewish people and Jewish leaders against each other. Even worse, it was the Jewish Agency that proposed the idea of partition. The British always delay for time, and the Jewish leadership never learns from past experience to see British tactics for what they are. The Jewish people must unite around new, responsible leadership.
The Etzel attacked the center of British rule in Palestine, the King David Hotel. When the explosives were planted several phone warnings were sent to the hotel and other locations, giving more than twenty minutes to evacuate. Unfortunately no evacuation occurred. Therefore the responsibility for the loss of life rests with the British who refused to evacuate. The Etzel mourns the Jewish casualties. The Etzel calls on all Jewish youth to rise up against the oppressive British rule.
A rebuttal to the argument that violent resistance is futile. It is claimed that because the Yishuv is surrounded by enemies who outnumber it resistance is impossible. Those who oppose resistance seek alternative methods, such as binationalism. But these ideas are themselves doomed to fail, because the hatreds and prejudices the British are fostering among the Arabs make them predisposed not to trust them, and they rightly sense in such proposals weakness. The Etzel is honest about its aims and the limits of what it wants. Only the showing of force can prevent attacks from the Arabs. The Etzel does not consider the Arabs to be its enemies. The Arabs are jealous of the Jews’ standard of living, and that may lead to attacks if the Jewish state is small and weak. But if the Jews are strong and well defended there will be peace with the Arabs.
During an underground operation three Etzel soldiers were killed. One was a machine gun expert that kept his comrades safe. Another had just recovered from life-threatening injuries and insisted on going back into battle. The third had completed the mission and was about to leave when he was struck down. The Etzel will continue to fight.
