On This Day in Jewish History: July 22nd, 1946

https://www.instagram.com/p/CC8pJmdlte-/

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The HQ of the British Millitary for the Mandate of Palestine, The King David Hotel in Jerusalem, was bombed by the Irgun #onthisday

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The King David Hotel was the site of the British military command and the British Criminal Investigation Division. This was chosen as a target after British troops conducted their Black Sabbath raids (see post on 6/29)

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More than 2,500 Jews had been placed under arrest all over the Mandate in the days right after the incidents on Black Sabbath, including most key Jewish leaders. The documents which the British Army had confiscated were brought to the King David Hotel.

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The Irgun leader, Menachem Begin, told everyone that he did not want casualties and, therefore, the Irgun called the British Army and the King David Hotel before the attack to warn them to evacuate. The British denied receiving the warning at first, but then later admitted it was received but not given to anyone who actually had power to evacuate the building.

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This led to 91 people dying in the attack. Three bombs were detonated- one down the street to break windows and cause panic, the second in the hotel, and the third right outside the hotel as a diversion.

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The Jewish Agency, Jewish National Council and Jewish leaders such as David Ben Gurion and Chaim Weizmann denounced the bombing by the Irgun. There are reports that the planning was done by all three Israeli defense groups, the Haganah, Irgun and Lehi but shortly before the attack the Haganah pulled out and denounced the high casualty numbers of the attack.

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The British public was angry at the British government after the attack since the government had previously said that they were in control of the situation in the Mandate.

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Britain continued to hold on to the territory and although this was a horrible act by some Jews living in pre-state Israel, it signaled the sense of desperation throughout the Land for independence following 20+ years of British colonialism.

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#judaism#jewish#history#jewishhistory#onthisday#otdjh#kingdavidhotel#bombing#irgun#begin#britishcolonialism

Image Source:

http://thomassuarez.com/kingdavidbombing.html

Text Source:

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/bombing-of-the-king-david-hotel