Lehi - Lohamei 'Herut Yisrael

LEHI- (Hebrew) - Acronym for Lohamei 'Herut Yisrael - Freedom Fighters of Israel (also LHI)  (also called "the Stern Gang" after its founder, Avraham ("Yair") Stern. Organization founded 1940 by Avraham Stern as the Irgun Tzvai Leumi Beyisrael (National Military Organization in Israel), a breakaway from the Irgun in Palestine under the British Mandate to fight the British and bring about an end to the mandate. Lehi disagreed with the Zionist program of cooperating with the British in fighting the Axis powers, because the British were preventing Jewish immigration to Palestine.   Irgun Tzvai Leumi Beyisrael  carried out mostly abortive operations against British personnel initially, killing Jews instead of British personnel. In 1941 LEHI tried to offer cooperation to the Nazis in a bizarre attempt to enlist German aid against the British and to save the Jews of Europe. Stern was killed by the British in 1942. The group was then reorganized by Yitzhak Shamir, Nathan Yellin-Mor and Israel Eldad as LEHI.  The  Lehi had leftist anti-imperialist ideological components as well as right-wing ones. It refused to be accountable to any Zionist organization including the Jewish agency, but the entire Jewish community had to suffer the consequences of its actions.

You can read more at Lehi - Lohamei 'Herut Yisrael

BACK TO MENU