Brit HaBirionim

History

The 1929 Palestine riots and the Haganah's inability to successfully prevent the 1929 Hebron and Safed massacres led to the creation of the first militant organization characterized by its complete disassociation from the existing Zionist establishment.{{Cite book

Ideology

The organization's ideology was Revisionist Maximalism, which was modelled upon Italian Fascism; Ahimeir suggested that Ze'ev Jabotinsky be referred to as '''duce'''. The group also was influenced by the ancient Jewish Sicarii insurgents.

Brit HaBirionim was part of the Zionist Revisionist movement. Its formerly socialist members primarily targeted the British and other Zionists rather than Arabs. It sought to create an integralist nationalism among Jews. It looked unfavorably upon liberal Zionists for only being for middle-class Jews rather than all Jews, including the poor. In 1932, Ahimeir also called for

• the creation of an independent Zionist federation;
• a "war on funds" to end corruption in the Zionist movement;
• a war on anti-Semitism. The movement's motto was "conquer or die".

Operations

Members of Brit HaBirionim carried out several "minor operations", including demonstrations against the British, interfering with British census takers, removing the Nazi flag from two German consulates, and other activities that would now be considered religious freedom but at the time were forbidden for Jews, e.g. blowing the Shofar at the Western Wall in celebration of Rosh Hashanah.{{Cite web |access-date=2007-12-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071217214450/http://terrorismexperts.org/terrorism_research_roots1.htm |archive-date=2007-12-17

The British Mandatory Authority arrested Ahimeir in 1933 for the murder of Chaim Arlosoroff. He was fully acquitted of the charges in 1934, by which time the group had dissolved.

Some of the group, such as Gershon Schatz, became members of Irgun and Lehi.

References

References

1. Casif, Erez. (2014-01-08). "Why was the State of Israel 'Really' Established?". Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
2. Ben-Yehuda, Nachman. (1996-01-01). "Masada Myth: Collective Memory and Mythmaking in Israel". Univ of Wisconsin Press.
3. Gur-Ze'ev, Ilan. (1997). "Total Quality Management and Power/Knowledge Dialectics in the Israeli Army". Journal of Thought.
4. Kaplan, The Jewish Radical Right. University of Wisconsin Press, 2005. p15
5. Shindler, Colin. ''The Triumph of Military Zionism: Nationalism and the Origins of the Israeli Right''. I.B.Tauris, 2006. p13.
6. Ofira Seliktar. New Zionism and the foreign policy system of Israel. Beckenham, England, UK: Croom Helm, Ltd., 1986. p. 84
7. Peleg, Ilan. (2005). "The Zionist Right and Constructivist Realism: Ideological Persistence and Tactical Readjustment". Israel Studies.
8. McGlynn, Margaret. (2004-12-20). "The Royal Prerogative and the Learning of the Inns of Court". Cambridge University Press.
9. Larsen, p364-365.
10. Kaplan, p15
11. Shindler, Colin. ''The Triumph of Military Zionism: Nationalism and the Origins of the Israeli Right''. I.B.Tauris, 2006. p. 156.
12. Larsen, Stein Ugelvik (ed.). Fascism Outside of Europe. New York: Columbia University Press, 2001. {{ISBN. 0-88033-988-8. p. 378.
13. Golan, Zev. ''Free Jerusalem: Heroes, Heroines and Rogues Who Created the State of Israel'', (Israel: Devora, 2003), pp. 49-53, 66-77.
14. Ben-Yehuda, Nachman. (2012-02-01). "Political Assassinations by Jews: A Rhetorical Device for Justice". SUNY Press.
15. (2015-04-17). "נסיכי הליכוד: ילדי המחתרת שהפכו למנהיגי המדינה". [[Makor Rishon]].