This proclamation describes the background to the "night of beatings" organised by the Irgun on December 29, 1946.
On December 13, 1946, the Irgun robbed a bank in Jaffa. Whilst two of the perpetrators were convicted of robbery and subsequently jailed for a lengthy period of time, Benjamin Kimkhi was sentenced to 18 lashes. Upon receiving notification about the punishment, the Irgun headquarters convened and decided that such a "humiliating" punishment was not to be tolerated. It published a warning, in Hebrew and English, to the British authorities not to carry out the flogging, threatening to do the same to British officers.
On Saturday, December 28, Kimkhi was lashed eighteen times. As a result, a number of British soldiers were abducted and given 18 lashes by the Irgun. With the British forces then placing a curfew in many areas across the country, the subsequent action resulted in 4 more Irgun men were captured (one already having been killed when the Brits opened fire on their car), and 3 of them were eventually executed by hanging on April 16, 1947.
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Etzel (Irgun) – The Etzel, also known as the Irgun, was a Zionist paramilitary underground organisation that operated in Israel at the time of the British Mandate. The Etzel was based on Ze’ev Jabotinsky’s revisionist Zionist ideology. Originally part of the Haganah, the Etzel moved away due to differences of opinion about their relationship with the British Mandate and the Arab forces; the Etzel believed that stronger measures should be used to advance the Zionist dream and bring an end to British rule. The Etzel, under the leadership of Menachem Begin (subsequent prime minister of Israel) and others, carried out military operations including the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. These operations resulted in the persecution of members of the Etzel in a period that was dubbed the “The Hunting Season”. With the establishment of the State of Israel, Etzel fighters joined the IDF together with fighters from other organisations. The Etzel was the political predecessor of the right-wing Herut party, also headed by Menachem Begin. Herut later joined with other parties to form the Likud party of today.
Connection to Parashat Bechukotai
Our parasha is one of two in the Torah which discusses the punishment that the Jewish People would receive should they not follow G-d’s commandments. There are a number of curses which are then placed on the Jewish People, particularly as a result of not having adhered to the laws surrounding shmittah.
