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The Irgun was considered to be a terrorist organization by the British, amongs others, but many Jews regarded its members as freedom fighters. Irgun is known by its Hebrew acronym Etzel. Its best known activity was the bombing of King David Hotel in Jerusalem in 1946, which killed close to a hundred people.

It branched off Haganah in Jerusalem under Avraham Tehomi in 1931. The reasons for their withdrawal was discontent with Haganah's policy of restraint when faced with Arab and British pressure. After a short independent period, Irgun re-joined the Haganah, but never integrated with it and quit once more in 1937 because of Arab riots. Irgun adopted the revisionist views of Zeev Jabotinsky.

Irgun was secretly supported from 1936 by the Polish government, who hoped that establishing a Jewish state would help emigration of Jews from Poland, who by that time constituted one of the poorer segments of Polish society. Irgun received guns from Poles as well as military training. In 1943 Menachem Begin, who later became Prime Minister of IsraelIn its foundation, the State of Israel adopted the parliamentary political system, with a Prime minister at the top of the government and a largely ceremonial president as head of State. In past years, with the introduction of the direct elections to Prim, became its leader. Later, the Irgun was merged into the Israeli Defence Force.

One well-known ex-member of the Irgun is Uri Avneri, who became famous for his fighting as a part of the Samson Foxes jeep unit during the 1948 Arab-Israeli WarThe 1948 Arab-Israeli War called the War of Independence by Israelis and al Nakba "the catastrophe" by Arabs, was the first in a series of wars in the Arab-Israeli conflict. It established the state of Israel as an independent state, with the rest of the, and then for his turn into radical pacifism as the leader of the Gush ShalomGush Shalom ( Hebrew: , "the Peace Bloc") is a radical left group which sees itself as the hardcore of Israeli peace movement. Gush Shalom is an extra-parliamentary organization, independent of any party or other political grouping. Some of its activists movement.

1 Irgun actions

• 1937- 1939Events January-June January 2 End of term for Frank Finley Merriam, 28th Governor of California. He is succeeded by Culbert Levy Olson. January 24 Earthquake kills 30. 000 in Chile about 50. 000 sq mi razed January 26 Falangists take Barcelona January 26 - A large number of attacks against Arabs, sometimes en masse, were carried out, especially under the command of Moshe Rosenberg and David RazielDavid Raziel (December 19, 1910 May 17, 1941) was a Jewish freedom fighter during the British mandate in Palestine, and one of the heads of the Irgun. Born in Vilna district in the Russian Empire, he immigrated with his family at the age of three to Eretz. For example, 24 Arabs were killed and 39 injured by a marketplace bomb in Haifa, February 27, 1939, and further casualties were caused by bombs in Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv on the same day. (Sources: Palestine Post 2/28/39; Y. Ben-Ami, Years of Wrath, Days of Glory; Memiors of the Irgun (1982))
• July 22, 1946 - Irgun bombs King David Hotel in Jerusalem, headquarters of the British civil and military administration, killing 91 people (17 Jewish). The Irgun gave a warning to evacuate the building (Source: [1])
• October 31, 1946 - Irgun bombs British Embassy in Rome, Italy. (Source: [2]).
• May 4, 1947 - the Irgun breaks into the Akko prison and releases 27 Jewish activists (Source: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Acre.html , http://www.etzel.org.il/english/ac13.htm )
• September 29, 1947 - Irgun bombs police station in Haifa, Palestine, killing four British and four Arab policemen, and two Arab civilians. (Source: [3]).
• December 29, 1947 - Irgun throws grenades into cafe in Jerusalem, Palestine, killing 11 Arabs and 2 British policemen. (Source: [4]).
• 9 April, 1948 - The Irgun together with the Stern gang attacked the Palestinian village of Deir Yassin during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, killing at least 107 civilians. See Deir Yassin massacre.