AVSHALOM HAVIV (age 21)

Avshalom Haviv was born in Haifa on June 18 1926. As a young child he moved with his family to Jerusalem and while in high school there, he joined the Irgun. After finishing school, Haviv served for a year in the Palmach as a condition for continuing his studies at the Hebrew University (a Jewish Agency ruling obliged every high school graduate to spend a year working on a kibbutz or serving in the Palmach). When he returned to Jerusalem, he enrolled at the Hebrew University’s humanities department and resumed his activities in the Irgun, this time in the organization’s combat unit.

The Acre prison was a Crusader citadel restored by the Turks and considered impregnable. Even the legendary Napoleon had failed in his two month effort to take it by siege. Under British rule, the place served as a maximum security prison where Jewish underground fighters were jailed and executions carried out. The prison was the most highly guarded fortress in the country, surrounded by thick walls and a deep moat. On May 4 1947, the Irgun launched an attack on the Acre fortress, freeing twenty of their comrades and seven Lehi fighters. Despite the heavy toll in human lives, the action was described by foreign journalists as the “greatest jail break in history” while military circles around the world described it as a “strategic masterpiece.” British prestige was greatly damaged and many began questioning the future of their rule over the country.

During the operation, Avshalom Haviv commanded the covering unit (which included Yaakov Weiss and Meir Nakar) that was captured by British soldiers. The trial opened on May 28 and the fighters were sentenced to death on June 16. The trial opened on May 28 and the three were sentenced to death on June 16. The Irgun kidnapped two British sergeants in Netanya and threatened to execute them if Haviv and his comrades mounted the gallows. The British decided to call the Irgun’s bluff and on July 29, Avshalom Haviv, Yaakov Weiss and Meir Nakar were hanged at the Acre prison. All three mounted the gallows with dignity and all three sang HaTikva before their death.

After the execution of the three freedom fighters, the Irgun hanged the two British sergeants in a forest. A large outcry went up from the people of England demanding that their soldiers be brought home and that their government end its occupation of Palestine. The British never again executed Hebrew fighters and in less than one year they had withdrawn their forces from the country. The London Sunday Times would later write the following: “If any one event forced us to leave Israel and permit the Jews to create a Jewish state, it was the defiant resistance of these young Jews who were led to the gallows. It may be said that after two thousand years, the Jewish state rose again on the broken necks of those who mounted the gallows.”

In an act of retribution upon leaving, the British gave over their weapons and military positions to the Arab armies waiting to attack the newly freed Jewish state. In the war that ensued between Israel and seven surrounding countries, two armies – the Egyptian and Trans-Jordanian – were armed, trained and led into battle by British officers. Israel lost large territories to these armies but survived and eventually regained the lands 19 years later in the 1967 Six Day War.

MEIR NAKAR (age 21)

Meir Nakar was born in Jerusalem on July 26 1926. At the age of 12 he left his studies to help support his struggling family. At 17, he forged his birth certificate in order to fight in the British army against Germany. In 1946, following World War II, he joined the Irgun Zvai Leumi, first in the propaganda unit and then later as a fighter.

The Acre prison was a Crusader citadel restored by the Turks and considered impregnable. Even the legendary Napoleon had failed in his two month effort to take it by siege. Under British rule, the place served as a maximum security prison where Jewish underground fighters were jailed and executions carried out. The prison was the most highly guarded fortress in the country, surrounded by thick walls and a deep moat. On May 4 1947, the Irgun launched an attack on the Acre fortress, freeing twenty of their comrades and seven Lehi fighters. Despite the heavy toll in human lives, the action was described by foreign journalists as the “greatest jail break in history” while military circles around the world described it as a “strategic masterpiece.” British prestige was greatly damaged and many began questioning the future of their rule over the country.

During the operation, Meir Nakar was assigned to the covering unit, along with Yaakov Weiss and Avshalom Haviv. Following the escape, British soldiers succeeded in capturing the three. The trial opened on May 28 and the fighters were sentenced to death on June 16. At the trial, Nakar challenged his foreign judges, stating that: “The flame of revolt is spreading in the country and outside… What role is Britain playing in this generation, now that the murderer of Jews from Berlin has been destroyed? Is not Britain the only country in the world that as a state is killing Jews? Is not Britain holding tens of thousands of Jews in concentration camps? Long live the nation of Israel! Long live the Hebrew homeland! Long live freedom!”

When Nakar’s mother came to visit him in prison, he whispered to her that his friend Yaakov Weiss was a Holocaust survivor and had no family in the country. He asked that she share some of her allotted time to visit with him. The Irgun, meanwhile, kidnapped two British sergeants in Netanya and threatened to execute them if Nakar and his comrades mounted the gallows. The British decided to call the Irgun’s bluff and on July 29, the three fighters were hanged at the Acre prison. All three mounted the gallows with dignity and all three sang HaTikva before their death.

After the execution of the three freedom fighters, the Irgun hanged the two British sergeants in a forest. A large outcry went up from the people of England demanding that their soldiers be brought home and that their government end its occupation of Palestine. The British never again executed Hebrew fighters and in less than one year they had withdrawn their forces from the country. The London Sunday Times would later write the following: “If any one event forced us to leave Israel and permit the Jews to create a Jewish state, it was the defiant resistance of these young Jews who were led to the gallows. It may be said that after two thousand years, the Jewish state rose again on the broken necks of those who mounted the gallows.”

YAAKOV WEISS (age 23)

Yaakov Weiss was born on July 15 1924 in Czechoslovakia. When the Nazis invaded, he escaped to Hungary and posed as a German officer in order to free Jews from Nazi prisons. In 1943, Weiss traveled to the Land of Israel aboard an illegal immigrant ship that was intercepted by a British blockade set up to prevent Jewish immigration. Weiss and the other passengers were interned at the Atlit detention camp for several months. After being freed in a Palmach raid on October 9 1945, Weiss moved to Netanya and was soon recruited into the Irgun Zvai Leumi’s combat unit.

The Acre fortress was a Crusader citadel restored by the Turks and considered impregnable. Even the legendary Napoleon had failed in his two month effort to take it by siege. Under British rule, the place served as a maximum security prison where Jewish underground fighters were jailed and executions carried out. The prison was the most highly guarded fortress in the country, surrounded by thick walls and a deep moat. On May 4 1947, the Irgun launched an attack on Acre, freeing twenty of their comrades and seven Lehi fighters. Despite the heavy toll in human lives, the action was described by foreign journalists as the “greatest jail break in history” while military circles around the world described it as a “strategic masterpiece.” British prestige was greatly damaged and many began questioning the future of their rule over the country.

During the operation, Yaakov Weiss was assigned to the covering unit, along with Meir Nakar and Avshalom Haviv. Following the escape, British soldiers succeeded in capturing the three. The trial opened on May 28 and the fighters were sentenced to death on June 16. At the trial, Weiss challenged his foreign judges, stating: “Your very presence here, against which everyone protests, is illegal. This land is ours from time immemorial and for ever more. What do you, British officers, have to do with our homeland? Who appointed you rulers of an ancient and freedom-loving nation?”

The Irgun kidnapped two British sergeants in Netanya and threatened to execute them if Weiss and his comrades mounted the gallows. The British decided to call the Irgun’s bluff and on July 29, Yaakov Weiss, Meir Nakar and Avshalom Haviv were hanged at the Acre prison. All three mounted the gallows with dignity and all three sang HaTikva before their death.

After the execution of the three freedom fighters, the Irgun hanged the two British sergeants in a forest. A large outcry went up from the people of England demanding that their soldiers be brought home and that their government end its occupation of Palestine. The British never again executed Hebrew fighters and in less than one year they had withdrawn their forces from the country. The London Sunday Times would later write the following: “If any one event forced us to leave Israel and permit the Jews to create a Jewish state, it was the defiant resistance of these young Jews who were led to the gallows. It may be said that after two thousand years, the Jewish state rose again on the broken necks of those who mounted the gallows.”

MOSHE BARAZANI (age 18)

Moshe Barazani was born in Iraqi Kurdistan on June 20 1928. At the age of 6, his family returned to Palestine and made their home in the Old City of Jerusalem. At an early age, Moshe became an apprentice carpenter but later left this job to work in a soft drinks factory. He joined Lehi while still very young, first putting up posters as a member of the youth division and then later as a fighter as part of Lehi’s combat unit.

On March 9 1947, Barazani was arrested in Jerusalem with a grenade in his pocket. At his 90 minute trial on March 17, Barazani sat with a scull cap on his head and read from the Bible during the entire tribunal. His only statement to the court was: “The Hebrew nation sees in you an enemy, a foreign regime in its homeland. We, the Fighters for the Freedom of Israel, are fighting you to free the homeland. In this war I have fallen your prisoner and you do not have the right to judge me. With hangings you will not frighten us, and to destroy us you will not succeed! My people, and all peoples oppressed by you, will fight your empire until its destruction.”

While awaiting the gallows in the Jerusalem central prison, Barazani shared a cell with Meir Feinstein, a young Irgun fighter also on death row. The two became close friends and together decided that rather than allow themselves to be executed in Jerusalem (no Jew had been executed by a foreign ruler in Jerusalem since the time of Roman occupation nearly 2,000 years earlier), they would emulate the Biblical hero Samson and find a way to die together with their enemies. They had comrades in the underground smuggle a grenade into the prison hidden inside an orange. When the guards would come to take them to the gallows, they planned to blow themselves up together with the British.

The night before their scheduled execution, Rabbi Yaakov Goldman came to comfort the boys. But rather than recite the traditional confession, the rabbi told the fighters that they had nothing to confess as they would be giving their lives for the freedom of Israel. He encouraged them to be strong and praised their heroism. After many hours, the rabbi insisted that he return the following day to witness the execution. The fighters attempted to discourage him from returning but the rabbi was determined to witness the bravery of the condemned boys so that he could tell the Jewish youth of their heroism in the face of death. Feinstein and Barazani had a dilemma. On the one hand, they could not set off the grenade with the rabbi present. On the other hand, they did not want to put the rabbi in a difficult moral position by telling him of their plot. The boys decided to forgo their plan to take the guards with them but they would still prevent the British from desecrating Jerusalem with their hangings.

On Monday April 21 1947, half an hour before the execution would take place, an explosion echoed through the Jerusalem central prison. Meir Feinstein and Moshe Barazani had sang HaTikva and then embraced in their cell. The grenade was held between their hearts. Meir lit a cigarette, with which he ignited the fuse that Moshe held. They fighters died together in their cell. During the entire Jewish revolt to free Palestine from foreign rule, the British would not execute even one Hebrew in Jerusalem.

MEIR FEINSTEIN (age 19)

Meir Feinstein was born on October 5 1927 to a religious family in the Old City of Jerusalem. As a boy he studied Torah at the Etz Chaim yeshiva but, after losing his father at an early age, was forced to work in order to help support his family. At first he found a job in Jerusalem but soon began farming at Kibbutz Givat Hashlosha. During his time as a farmer, Feinstein joined the Haganah (the official militia of the Jewish community at the time).

In 1944, at age 17, Feinstein obtained a forged document from the Mukhtar of Petah Tikva in order to join the British army in the fight against Nazi Germany. After the war, Feinstein joined the Irgun and worked in the organization’s propaganda unit. He was eventually selected for a commander’s course, during which he was often sent out on operations. On October 30 1946, Feinstein participated in an attack on the Jerusalem railway station. During the battle, he was severely wounded and captured by the British. Following the amputation of his arm, he was sentenced to death before a military court.

While awaiting the gallows in the Jerusalem central prison, Feinstein shared a cell with Moshe Barazani, a young Lehi fighter also on death row. The two became close friends and together decided that rather than allow themselves to be executed in Jerusalem (no Jew had been executed by a foreign ruler in Jerusalem since the time of Roman occupation nearly 2,000 years earlier), they would emulate the Biblical hero Samson and find a way to die together with their enemies. They had comrades in the underground smuggle a grenade into the prison hidden inside an orange. When the guards come to take them to the gallows, they planned to blow themselves up together with the British.

The night before their scheduled execution, Rabbi Yaakov Goldman came to comfort the boys. But rather than recite the traditional confession, the rabbi told the fighters that they had nothing to confess as they would be giving their lives for the freedom of Israel. He encouraged them to be strong and praised their heroism. After many hours, the rabbi insisted that he return the following day to witness the execution. The fighters attempted to discourage him from returning but the rabbi was determined to witness the bravery of the condemned boys so that he could tell the Jewish youth of their heroism in the face of death. Feinstein and Barazani had a dilemma. On the one hand, they could not set off the grenade with the rabbi present. On the other hand, they did not want to put the rabbi in a difficult moral position by telling him of their plot. The boys decided to forgo their plan to take the guards with them but they would still prevent the British from desecrating Jerusalem with their hangings.

On Monday April 21 1947, half an hour before the execution would take place, an explosion echoed through the Jerusalem central prison. Meir Feinstein and Moshe Barazani had sang HaTikva and then embraced in their cell. The grenade was held between their hearts. Meir lit a cigarette, with which he ignited the fuse that Moshe held. They fighters died together in their cell. During the entire Jewish revolt to free Palestine from foreign rule, the British would not execute even one Hebrew in Jerusalem.

YEHIEL DREZNER (age 24)

Yehiel Drezner was born to a religious family in Poland on October 13 1922. In 1933 his family returned to the Land of Israel and in 1940 he was recruited into the Irgun. After a period of time working in the organization’s intelligence department, Drezner was transferred to the combat unit. He participated in several battles against the British and was eventually given command over the Irgun fighters in Petah Tikva.

Binyamin Kimchi, a 16 year old Irgun fighter, was arrested after an attack on the Ottoman Bank in Jaffa. In December of 1946 he was sentenced by a British court to not only 18 years imprisonment but also 18 lashes. This was the first time that a Jewish underground fighter had been given such a humiliating sentence. The Irgun General Headquarters warned the British against carrying out the flogging. “If it is implemented,” they wrote in a leaflet which was widely distributed, “the same punishment will be inflicted on British army officers. Each of them will be liable to receive 18 lashes.” The British ignored the Irgun warnings and on December 27 1946, Kimchi received 18 lashes in the Jerusalem central prison. A unit of Irgun fighters immediately sprung into action and whipped a captain from the Sixth Airborne Division in Netanya, two British sergeants in Tel Aviv and another sergeant in Rishon Letzion.

A second unit under Drezner’s command (comprised of Mordechai Alkachi, Eliezer Kashani, Haim Golovsky and Avraham Mizrahi) set out by car from Petah Tikva on a similar mission but soon encountered a British road-block and came under heavy fire. Mizrahi, the driver, was immediately shot dead. The other four were dragged out of the vehicle and taken to a nearby army camp where they were stripped, beaten and tortured for five days and then finally taken to the central prison in Jerusalem. At the time of the arrest, Drezner was carrying false papers that identified him as Dov Rosenbaum. As a result, this became the name used for him throughout the trial.

Because Golovsky was only 17, the court only sentenced him to life in prison. But the other three fighters were condemned to death by hanging. After hearing the sentence, the four rose to their feet and sang HaTikva in the courthouse. They were returned to the Jerusalem central prison, where Dov Gruner was already awaiting the gallows. From there, they sent a letter to the Jewish community saying that: “They cannot break our spirits. We will know how to die with honor, as befits Hebrews.”

On April 15 1947, the British transferred Drezner, together with the three other death row inmates, from Jerusalem to the Acre prison fortress. The move was carried out in secret and the British were careful to hide their intentions from the public. At 4am the following morning, Yehiel Drezner (still known as Dov Rosenbaum) and his three comrades were aroused from their sleep and taken to the gallows. As the condemned men walked through the halls of the fortress, all the Jewish prisoners rose to their feet and sang HaTikva. All four fighters were hanged within half an hour and each of them, as his turn arrived, sang HaTikva until he died. Each was joined in his singing by those awaiting their turn. It was only after the execution that the British authorities and general public learned of Drezner’s true identity.

ELIEZER KASHANI (age 24)

Eliezer Kashani was born in Petah Tikva on March 13 1923. At age 13, he began to work in order to help his struggling parents support their large family. On August 23 1944, during a widespread British sweep of Petah Tikva, Eliezer was arrested on the false suspicion of belonging to an underground organization. He was taken to the Latrun prison and then exiled to Eritrea. When his lawyer tried to talk him into asking for clemency and urged him to think of his parents, Eliezer replied: “That is the problem. We think too much of ourselves and our families and not enough about our people and homeland.” While in Eritrea, Kashani joined the Irgun and after finally returning home to Palestine in February 1944, he became an active fighter in the Hebrew revolt against British rule. This he managed while still reporting to a British probation officer once each day.

Binyamin Kimchi, a 16 year old Irgun fighter, was arrested after an attack on the Ottoman Bank in Jaffa. In December of 1946 he was sentenced by a British court to not only 18 years imprisonment but also 18 lashes. This was the first time that a Jewish underground fighter had been given such a humiliating sentence. The Irgun General Headquarters warned the British against carrying out the flogging. “If it is implemented,” they wrote in a leaflet which was widely distributed, “the same punishment will be inflicted on British army officers. Each of them will be liable to receive 18 lashes." The British ignored the Irgun warnings and on Friday, December 27 1946, Kimchi received 18 lashes in the Jerusalem central prison. A unit of Irgun fighters immediately sprung into action and whipped a captain from the Sixth Airborne Division in Netanya, two British sergeants in Tel Aviv and another sergeant in Rishon Letzion.

A second unit (comprised of Mordechai Alkachi, Yehiel Drezner, Eliezer Kashani, Haim Golovsky and Avraham Mizrahi) set out by car from Petah Tikva on a similar mission but they soon encountered a British road-block and came under heavy fire. Mizrahi, the driver, was immediately shot dead. The other four were dragged out of the vehicle and taken to a nearby army camp where they were stripped, beaten and tortured for five days and then finally taken to the central prison in Jerusalem.

Because Golovsky was only 17, the court only sentenced him to life in prison. But the other three fighters were condemned to death by hanging. After hearing the sentence, the four rose to their feet and sang HaTikva in the courthouse. They were returned to the Jerusalem central prison, where Dov Gruner was already awaiting the gallows. From there, they sent a letter to the Jewish community saying that: “They cannot break our spirits. We will know how to die with honor, as befits Hebrews.”

On April 15 1947, the British transferred Kashani, together with the three other death row inmates, from Jerusalem to the Acre prison fortress. The move was carried out in secret and the British were careful to hide their intentions from the public. At 4am the following morning, Eliezer Kashani and his three comrades were aroused from their sleep and taken to the gallows. As the condemned men walked through the halls of the fortress, all the Jewish prisoners rose to their feet and sang HaTikva. All four fighters were hanged within half an hour and each of them, as his turn arrived, sang HaTikva until he died.

MORDECHAI ALKACHI (age 22)

Mordechai Alkachi was born into a poor Petah Tikva family on March 10 1925. By the age of 14 he was working full time in a local factory to help support his family and in late 1943 he joined the Irgun Zvai Leumi. After his training, Alkachi was transferred to the Irgun’s combat unit. The first operation he participated in was at the Kalkiliya police station, which was part of a larger Irgun action against four British police stations on Yom Kippur. For nearly four years, Alkachi would continue working at the factory by day and serve as a fighter in the Irgun by night.

Binyamin Kimchi, a 16 year old Irgun fighter, was arrested after an attack on the Ottoman Bank in Jaffa. In December of 1946 he was sentenced by a British court to not only 18 years imprisonment but also 18 lashes. This was the first time that a Jewish underground fighter had been given such a humiliating sentence. The Irgun General Headquarters warned the British against carrying out the flogging. “If it is implemented,” they wrote in a leaflet which was widely distributed, “the same punishment will be inflicted on British army officers. Each of them will be liable to receive 18 lashes.” The British ignored the Irgun warnings and on December 27 1946, Kimchi received 18 lashes in the Jerusalem central prison. A unit of Irgun fighters immediately sprung into action and whipped a captain from the Sixth Airborne Division in Netanya, two British sergeants in Tel Aviv and another sergeant in Rishon Letzion.

A second unit (comprised of Mordechai Alkachi, Yehiel Drezner, Eliezer Kashani, Haim Golovsky and Avraham Mizrahi) set out by car from Petah Tikva on a similar mission but they soon encountered a British road-block and came under heavy fire. Mizrahi, the driver, was immediately shot dead. The other four were dragged out of the vehicle and taken to a nearby army camp where they were stripped, beaten and tortured for five days and then finally taken to the central prison in Jerusalem.

Because Golovsky was only 17, the court only sentenced him to life in prison. But the other three fighters were condemned to death by hanging. After hearing the sentence, the four rose to their feet and sang HaTikva in the courthouse. They were returned to the Jerusalem central prison, where Dov Gruner was already awaiting the gallows. From there, they sent a letter to the Jewish community saying that: “They cannot break our spirits. We will know how to die with honor, as befits Hebrews.”

On April 15 1947, the British transferred Alkachi, together with the three other death row inmates, from Jerusalem to the Acre prison fortress. The move was carried out in secret and the British were careful to hide their intentions from the public. At 4am the following morning, Mordechai Alkachi and his three comrades were aroused from their sleep and taken to the gallows. As the condemned men walked through the halls of the fortress, all the Jewish prisoners rose to their feet and sang HaTikva. All four fighters were hanged within half an hour and each of them, as his turn arrived, sang HaTikva until he died. Each was joined in his singing by those awaiting their turn.

DOV GRUNER (age 34)

Dov Gruner was born in Hungry on December 6 1912. In 1940 he escaped Europe and traveled to the Land of Israel. Because the British rulers of Palestine were prohibiting Jews from entering the country, Gruner entered clandestinely aboard an illegal immigrant vessel.

Dov Gruner eventually settled in Rosh Pinah and was recruited into the Irgun Zvai Leumi. In 1941, while the organization had agreed to a truce with Great Britain (so long as England was fighting against Hitler), Gruner joined the British army and, together with his comrades in the Jewish Brigade, came to the aid of Holocaust survivors in post-World War II Europe. After his demobilization in 1946, Gruner joined the Irgun’s combat unit. The organization had broken its truce with Great Britain in 1944 by publicly declaring a revolt and joining Lehi in the struggle for Israel’s freedom.

The British succeeded in capturing Gruner after he was wounded by a bullet to his jaw during an Irgun raid on the Ramat Gan police station. After refusing to participate in his trial or to recognize the right of a British military court to judge Jews in the Land of Israel, Gruner was sentenced to death by hanging.

Dov Gruner became famous overnight. Only two years after the end of World War II, he came to personify the struggle for Hebrew liberation. International sympathy for the condemned fighter put the British administration in a difficult situation. Gruner was informed that if he were to acknowledge the British court and beg it for his life, his sentence would be commuted. But even when bribed with the opportunity to save his own life, the fighter would not accept British dominance over his country.

On April 15 1947, the British transferred Gruner, together with three other captured Irgun fighters (Mordechai Alkachi, Yehiel Drezner and Eliezer Kashani), from their jail cells in Jerusalem to the Acre prison fortress. The move was carried out in secret and the British were careful to hide their intentions from the public. At 4am the following morning, Dov Gruner and his three comrades were aroused from their sleep and taken to the execution chambers. As the condemned men walked through the halls of the fortress, all the Jewish prisoners rose to their feet and sang HaTikva. Standing by the gallows was the head of the prison service in Palestine, the governor of Acre prison, a physician and six British officers. As the execution was to be carried out in secret, no rabbi was present. All four fighters were hanged within half an hour and each of them, as his turn arrived, sang HaTikva until he died. Each was joined in his singing by those awaiting their turn.

ELIYAHU HAKIM (age 17)

Eliyahu Hakim was born in 1927 to a wealthy family in Beirut. His father, a fine silk dealer, had always dreamed of returning to the Land of Israel and finally did so in 1933 when he moved his family to the port city of Haifa. Although the move had been a great financial risk, importing silk proved to be a very lucrative business and in 1936, the family moved into a spacious home on Mount Carmel overlooking the scenic Haifa bay.

Young Eliyahu Hakim traveled in fast social circles, often frequenting Haifa’s nightclubs and cafés. Handsome and adventurous, he earned the nickname “Roxy” for his dancing abilities. Although he appeared to most people as a wild and carefree teenager, Eliyahu was deeply troubled by the oppression of his people under British occupation.

In December 1941, 767 Jewish refugees from Rumania had boarded a boat called the Struma. They planned to travel to Istanbul, apply for visas and then sail home to Palestine. The Struma was overcrowded and lacked adequate sanitary facilities. Despite engine problems, it reached Istanbul on December 16. There, the passengers were informed that Palestine’s High Commissioner, Sir Harold MacMichael, would under no circumstances permit the ship to enter the country. The dilapidated boat was kept quarantined in Istanbul’s harbor for more than two months. Turkish authorities denied the passengers permission to land without British agreement to their continued journey home. On February 23, the Turkish police towed the boat out to sea and abandoned it. It sank the next day and only one passenger, David Stoliar, survived. Posters with Sir Harold MacMichael’s face on them appeared all over Palestine reading: “Wanted for Murder”

Following the tragedy of the Struma, Eliyahu was invited by schoolmates to a Purim party. He wrote in his diary: “How can we even ask if we should have a Purim party? How can the youth of Palestine go to cafés and drink when they know that only yesterday our brothers drowned at sea? These people have no conscience. If we don’t understand what our reaction should be – that the very minimum we should do is mourn – then this has been a slap in the face to the entire Jewish people.”

Eliyahu joined Lehi and soon proved himself a reliable soldier. Despite his privileged upbringing, he adapted well to underground life and even became known as the organization’s best marksman. He was selected, along with Eliyahu Bet-Zuri, to travel to Cairo and assassinate Lord Moyne. The mission was successful but the boys were arrested. On trial, the two Eliyahus used the courtroom as a platform to educate the world to their struggle for freedom. At one point Hakim told the judges: “We accuse Lord Moyne and the government he represented of murdering hundreds and thousands of our brothers and sisters. We accuse them of stealing our homeland and our property…Where is the law by which they should be tried for their crimes?”

Both Eliyahus were sentenced to death. When approaching the gallows for execution, Hakim began to laugh. When a guard questioned his unusual demeanor before death, he responded: “I am laughing to the next generation who will see a Hebrew flag over Jerusalem.” Both Eliyahus then sang the HaTikva and were hanged.

ELIYAHU BET-ZURI (age 23)

Eliyahu Bet-Zuri was born in 1922 to a poor Tel Aviv family that had lived in Palestine for many generations. In 1931, Eliyahu’s father was made postmaster of the half-Jewish, half-Arab city of Tiberius. Eliyahu loved Tiberius. The ancient Galilee region was laid out before him and he eagerly devoured the history of his country. He knew that Israel had been subjugated by foreign powers in the past and that his ancestors had frequently rebelled to win their freedom. That the nation of Israel should once again revolt against an occupier seemed only natural to Eliyahu. By the time he was ten, he had smuggled ammunition for the Haganah militia in order to help it better defend Jewish villages. The British, insisting that law and order was their concern, refused to allow a Hebrew militia to exist and anyone caught with ammunition was sent to prison. By the time he was twelve, Eliyahu Bet-Zuri had learnt to hate the British and these feelings were only intensified by the arrival of Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany.

Shortly after Eliyahu’s thirteenth birthday, his father was reassigned back to Tel Aviv. Two years later, during the winter of 1937, Eliyahu was recruited into the Irgun Zvai Leumi (National Military Organization) – an underground movement fighting to free Palestine from British rule. After only a short time of activity in the Irgun, Eliyahu proved himself as a courageous, intelligent and disciplined soldier. On the day of Shlomo Ben-Yosef’s funeral, Eliyahu – like most Jewish teenagers at the time – attached a black ribbon to his clothes and marched silently through Tel Aviv. The name of the martyr became a call to action among the youth.

When World War II broke out, the Irgun decided to suspend its anti-British activities in order to assist in the war effort against Hitler. Some Irgun leaders, however, maintained that it was the British who were occupying the Jewish homeland and the British who were actively preventing Jews in Europe from being saved. A group of fighters left the organization to form their own group, Lohamei Herut Yisrael (Fighters for the Freedom of Israel) or Lehi, and continued the struggle to free Palestine from British rule. Eliyahu Bet-Zuri eventually joined Lehi and helped to build the group’s Jerusalem branch.

In 1944, Eliyahu Bet-Zuri and Eliyahu Hakim were sent by Lehi to Cairo with orders to assassinate Lord Moyne – the highest ranking British official in the Middle East. The assassination succeeded but both boys were captured. The Eliyahus then used their trial as a means to draw attention to their struggle for freedom from Great Britain. In fact, Eliyahu Bet-Zuri had been selected for this mission precisely because of his exceptional ability to articulate Lehi’s goals. It was known that if captured, Bet-Zuri would be the best fighter to convey Israel’s struggle for freedom to the world. Impressed with the behavior of two Eliyahus during their trial, Muslim students in Egypt began demonstrating that the Jewish assassins be pardoned. But the British had placed heavy pressure on the Egyptian courts. At their execution, the Eliyahus proudly sang HaTikva and then calmly allowed the hangman to do his job. The hangman, who was so overwhelmed by the composure of the two fighters, later remarked that after twenty years as an executioner, this was the first time that he had felt like a murderer.

SHLOMO BEN-YOSEF (age 25)

Shalom Tabechick was born in 1913 to a poor family in Poland. He worked hard as a youth to help support his family while devoting his nights to the local Betar chapter. After hearing of the difficulties facing his people in the Land of Israel, Shalom felt unable to further stomach life in the exile and yearned more each day to return to his homeland. Without a passport, visa or any money, Shalom Tabechick left everything he knew behind and smuggled himself across several borders all the way from Poland to Beirut. There he met a Greek fisherman who agreed to transport him to the shores of Palestine. Toward the journey’s end, however, the fisherman demanded a fare. Shalom had no money and was thrown overboard. Not allowing himself to be deterred, he swam to Palestine and hiked to Naharia where he joined the Jewish community of Rosh Pinah.

In Rosh Pinah, Shalom Hebraized his name to Shlomo Ben-Yosef and obtained a job at the Haifa port. Arab attacks in the area and the British administration’s policy of turning a blind eye had made life tough for Jews in the north. Working the fields became increasingly difficult and the money Shlomo earned helped Rosh Pinah to survive.

The Arab community of Djani was located on Mount Canaan overlooking Rosh Pinah. During the first days of Passover 1938, the Djani Arabs were openly preparing for an assault on the Jewish village and the British authorities were unwilling to intervene. Arabs attacked a Jewish taxi, resulting in two girls being violated and three boys being killed. Shlomo Ben-Yosef, Avraham Shein and Shalom Zuravin decided to take action themselves and close the road to Rosh Pinah.

On Thursday April 21, the boys spotted an unknown Arab bus on the road from Tzfat to Rosh Pinah. As they attacked the vehicle, a gun misfired and their grenade failed to explode. The Arabs fled in panic and British police arrested the boys. Although no one was hurt, the authorities feared the prospect of continued Hebrew vigilantism and sought to make an example of the three. An eleven day trial ensued before a British military court. Shalom Zuravin was sentenced to life in prison while Shlomo Ben-Yosef and Avraham Shein were condemned to death by hanging. Because it was later proven that Shein was a minor, his sentence was reduced to life imprisonment. But despite appeals from Jewish leaders around the world, there was no convincing the British to rescind Ben-Yosef’s execution. Experienced in matters of colonialist rule, the authorities wanted Palestine’s Jewish natives to recognize British dominion and were therefore determined to make an example of at least one of the youths.

Shlomo Ben-Yosef inscribed two messages in his death row cell. The first, “it is good to die for the homeland”, was a reflection of the young man’s attitude towards his imminent death and a tribute to Yosef Trumpeldor’s heroic last words at Tel Chai. The second message, “I believe that after my death the Jews will no longer have this policy of restraint” expressed hope that the Hebrew youth would follow in his footsteps rather than submit to Arab terror and British oppression.

Shlomo wrote to his mother in Poland that “you should be proud of me because I am not going to die like a humiliated exile Jew.” She had sent a telegram to the British High Commissioner of Palestine, Sir Harold MacMichael, requesting that the hanging be delayed until she could make the journey and hug her son for the last time. The request was denied and the execution was scheduled.

Reuven Hazan, the only Jewish officer in the Acre prison, was on duty the night of Ben-Yosef’s execution. Hoping to comfort the boy, Hazan was shocked when he arrived at the death row cell to see Shlomo sleeping with a smile on his lips. When he arose, the youth washed himself carefully, brushed his teeth and combed his hair. The officer was astounded. Never before had he seen a prisoner condemned to death behave with such calmness and dignity on the night before his execution.

The officer brought the boy civilian clothes – a white shirt and clean pants. But Ben-Yosef protested that he had been promised his Betar uniform for the hanging and would not go willingly unless he could wear it. The officer was well acquainted with the British sergeants and knew that this demand might instigate a struggle. He told Ben-Yosef that he would be dragged by force to the gallows and that this would be interpreted as a sign of fear. “Very well,” responded the boy after reconsidering a moment. “I will go. Let it not be said that a Jewish soldier is afraid of death.”

As Shlomo Ben-Yosef approached the gallows, he began to sing HaTikva – the Jewish national anthem. The prisoners of Acre, including his two companions from the attack, arose and joined in the singing. When the hangman’s rope cut off Shlomo’s voice, the prisoners finished their anthem without him. Shlomo Ben-Yosef was the first Hebrew executed by a foreign regime in the Land of Israel since the Roman occupation nearly two thousand years prior. On the wall of his cell was found a third message.

“You cannot conquer the mountain without leaving graves behind”

The British had made an example of Ben-Yosef – but not the kind they had intended. Stories of his heroism at the time of execution excited the youth and inspired them towards dreams of freedom from foreign rule. Anti-British demonstrations erupted throughout Palestine. In every country with large Jewish populations, the windows of British consulates were smashed. Jews everywhere attached a black ribbon to their clothes as a symbol of mourning for the heroic young martyr. Ben-Yosef’s hanging had triggered the beginnings of a revolt that would grow over time until freedom would be won.