The neutrality of this article is disputed.
This article is about hostile actions, or actions termed terrorist against Palestinians and British soldiers, by Jewish groups within the British Mandate of Palestine, and later, by Israelis.
These attacks were not all directly connected with the "mainstream" pre-Statehood Jewish leadership, who condemned these attacks publicly, and often extradicted their members. Strong ties remained, though, between the formal Jewish leadership and its underground counterparts.
See also: terrorism against Israel.
In the 1940s, two Jewish underground organizations, the
Irgun Zvai Leumi and the
Stern gang, were responsible for a number of terrorist acts:
- Qibya massacre, carried out among others by Unit 101 under the command of Ariel Sharon. It lead to the death of almost 70 civilians.
- Operation Suzannah (also known as the Lavon Affair), conducted in 1954. Conducted by an Israeli intelligence agency, it was an attempt to thwart Egypt's relations with the West by bombing selected Western targets in that country.
- In numerous cases during the al-Aqsa Intifada, Israel has assassinated self-declared freedom fighters that have been employed by the Palestinian Authority security forces and terrorist organisations including, the Fatah, Hamas, and the Islamic Jihad. Most of these assassinated people have publicly stated (before, not after their assassination) that they were behind terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians. Israel has asked the Palestinian Authority numerous times to either arrest them or extradict them; the Authority never did either. Palestinians have claimed this constitutes terrorism, due to the many civilians killed as a result of this policy; Israel on the other hand declares all killings were due to a specific security alert, intended to prevent the deaths of many more civilians and as a result of the Palestinian Authority's total failure to accept responsibility.
An Israeli investigation found a number of officials (including the Defense Minister of that time, Ariel Sharon) "indirectly responsible" for the massacre, as they allowed the entry of Christian soldiers into the camps. This was done despite a documented history of abusive, murderous acts by the Lebanese Christian Militias. Many Arabs claim that there was an Israeli conspiracy with intent to carry out the massacre, although no evidence has been uncovered to support this claim.
See also Terrorism against Arabs -- Terrorism against Israel --Palestinian terrorism -- New Historians -- B'Tselem -- Anti-Semitism