Bombing of the King David Hotel
BombingBombingJerusalem, Mandatory Palestine
| File:Bombing of the King David Hotel.jpg | |
| Date | 22 July 1946 |
|---|---|
| Location | Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine |
| Type | Bombing |
| Deaths | 91 |
| Injured (non-fatal) | 46 |
| Description | A Zionist bombing in Jerusalem |
| Perpetrators | Irgun |
| Blamed on | Irgun |
The British administrative headquarters for Mandatory Palestine, housed in the southern wing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, was bombed on 22 July 1946 by the militant Zionist terrorist organisation Irgun during the Jewish insurgency.
The Irgun terrorists killed ninety-one people of various nationalities, including 44 Palestinians, 28 Britons and 17 Jews, and 46 were injured.[1]
Background
The King David Hotel was the site of the central offices of the British Mandatory authorities of Palestine, principally the Secretariat of the Government of Palestine and the Headquarters of the British Armed Forces in Palestine and Transjordan. When planned, the attack had the approval of the Haganah, the principal Jewish paramilitary group in Palestine, though, unbeknownst to the Irgun, this had been cancelled by the time the operation was carried out. The main motive of the bombing was to destroy documents incriminating the Jewish Agency in attacks against the British, which were obtained during Operation Agatha, a series of raids by mandate authorities. It was the deadliest attack directed at the British during the Mandate era (1920–1948).
Disguised as Arab workmen and as hotel waiters, the Irgun terrorists planted a bomb in the basement of the main building of the hotel, whose southern wing housed the Mandate Secretariat and a few offices of the British military headquarters. The resulting explosion caused the collapse of the western half of the southern wing of the hotel. Some of the deaths and injuries occurred in the road outside the hotel and in adjacent buildings.
Controversy has arisen over the timing and adequacy of any warnings. The Irgun stated subsequently that warnings were delivered by telephone; Thurston Clarke states that the first warning was delivered by a 16-year-old recruit to the hotel switchboard 15 minutes before the explosion. The British Government said after the inquest that no warning had been received by anyone at the Secretariat "in an official position with any power to take action".[2]
Reactions
British reactions
The bombing inflamed public opinion in Britain. After the bombing, editorials in British newspapers argued that the bombing deflated statements by the government that it had been winning against the Jewish paramilitaries. The Manchester Guardian argued that "British firmness" inside Palestine had brought about more terrorism and worsened the situation in the country, the opposite effect that the government had intended.
Speaker after speaker in the House of Commons expressed outrage. Ex-Prime Minister Winston Churchill, a prominent and enthusiastic supporter of Zionism, criticised the attack. He also related the bombing to the problems within the Mandate system, and he advocated allowing further Jewish immigration into Palestine. Chief Secretary for the Government of Palestine, Sir John Shaw, noted that the majority of the dead had been members of his own personal staff: "British, Arabs, Jews, Greeks, Armenians; senior officers, police, my orderly, my chauffeur, messengers, guards, men and women—young and old—they were my friends."
British Prime Minister Clement Attlee commented in the House of Commons:
Hon. Members will have learned with horror of the brutal and murderous crime committed yesterday in Jerusalem. Of all the outrages which have occurred in Palestine, and they have been many and horrible in the last few months, this is the worst. By this insane act of terrorism 93 innocent people have been killed or are missing in the ruins. The latest figures of casualties are 41 dead, 52 missing and 53 injured. I have no further information at present beyond what is contained in the following official report received from Jerusalem:
It appears that after exploding a small bomb in the street, presumably as a diversionary measure—this did virtually no damage—a lorry drove up to the tradesmen's entrance of the King David Hotel and the occupants, after holding up the staff at pistol point, entered the kitchen premises carrying a number of milk cans. At some stage of the proceedings, they shot and seriously wounded a British soldier who attempted to interfere with them. All available information so far is to the effect that they were Jews. Somewhere in the basement of the hotel they planted bombs which went off shortly afterwards. They appear to have made good their escape.
Every effort is being made to identify and arrest the perpetrators of this outrage. The work of rescue in the debris, which was immediately organised, still continues. The next-of-kin of casualties are being notified by telegram as soon as accurate information is available. The House will wish to express their profound sympathy with the relatives of the killed and with those injured in this dastardly outrage.
In a visit made sometime before the attack, Field Marshal Lord Montgomery, soon to become Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), the professional head of the British Army, had told Lieutenant General Sir Evelyn Barker, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the British Forces in Palestine and Trans-Jordan, to emphasise to the British servicemen that they were facing a cruel, fanatical and cunning enemy, and there was no way of knowing who was friend and who foe. Since there were female terrorists as well, according to Montgomery, all fraternising with the local population would have to cease. Within a few minutes of the bombing, Barker translated this instruction into an order that "all Jewish places of entertainment, cafes, restaurants, shops and private dwellings" be out of bounds to all ranks. He concluded: "I appreciate that these measures will inflict some hardship on the troops, but I am certain that if my reasons are fully explained to them, they will understand their propriety and they will be punishing the Jews in a way the race dislikes as much as any, by striking at their pockets and showing our contempt of them." The future Israeli diplomat Abba Eban, then an officer in the British Army, leaked the order to the press. Barker's wording was interpreted as antisemitic and caused much outrage and bad publicity for the British. Barker was nearly dismissed from his position over the scandal, and only Montgomery's threat to resign if Barker was sacked saved him his job.
In the aftermath of the attack, the Jewish neighbourhoods of Jerusalem were placed under curfew for 16 days until 7 August. On 30 July, the British Army and Palestine Police launched Operation Shark, a cordon and search operation of the entire city of Tel Aviv and sections of Jaffa. The operation was carried out due to British military intelligence having incorrectly concluding that most or all of the bombers had come from Tel Aviv rather than Jerusalem. During the operation, the entire population was placed under curfew while buildings were searched and 102,000 people were screened, with hundreds arrested on suspicion of involvement in insurgent activity. Irgun leader Menachem Begin evaded the dragnet by hiding in a secret compartment of his home but Lehi leader Yitzhak Shamir was arrested and interned in Africa. Five arms caches were discovered during the operation. The British cabinet had also considered a massive arms search operation in Jewish settlements to disarm the Yishuv, imposing a collective fine of £500,000 on the Yishuv, and suspending legal Jewish immigration, but in the end decided to only approve the operation in Tel Aviv. The British cabinet also approved the release of a white paper titled "Statement of Information Relating to Acts of Violence" which presented evidence gathered by British intelligence that the Haganah was cooperating with the Irgun and Lehi and that this had the approval of the Jewish Agency leadership.
The attack did not change Britain's stance toward an Anglo-American agreement on Palestine, which was then in its concluding phase. In a letter dated 25 July 1946, Prime Minister Attlee wrote to American President Harry S. Truman:
"I am sure you will agree that the inhuman crime committed in Jerusalem on 22 July calls for the strongest action against terrorism but having regard to the sufferings of the innocent Jewish victims of Nazism this should not deter us from introducing a policy designed to bring peace to Palestine with the least possible delay."
Israeli and Zionist reactions
The Jewish political leadership publicly condemned the attack. The Jewish Agency expressed "their feelings of horror at the base and unparalleled act perpetrated today by a gang of criminals". The Jewish National Council denounced the bombing. According to the Jerusalem Post, "although the Hagana had sanctioned the King David bombing, world-wide condemnation caused the organisation to distance itself from the attack". David Ben-Gurion deemed the Irgun "the enemy of the Jewish people" after the attack. Hatsofeh, a Jewish newspaper in Palestine, labelled the Irgun perpetrators "fascists".
The Irgun issued an initial statement accepting responsibility for the attack, mourning their Jewish victims, and calling into fault the British for what they saw as a failure to respond to the warnings. A year later, on 22 July 1947, they issued a new statement saying that they were acting on instructions from "a letter from the headquarters of the United Resistance, demanding that we carry out an attack on the centre of government at the King David Hotel as soon as possible". The Irgun's radio network announced that it would mourn for the Jewish victims, but not the British ones. This was explained by claiming that Britain had not mourned for the millions of Jews who died in the Nazi Holocaust. No remorse was expressed for the largest group of victims, the Arab dead.
Richard Crossman, a British Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP), whose experience on the Anglo-American Committee had made him sympathetic to Zionism, visited Chaim Weizmann shortly after the attack. Weizmann's ambivalence towards Zionist violence was apparent in the conversation. While condemning it, he also stated that he sympathised with its causes. When the King David Hotel bombing was mentioned, Weizmann started crying: "I can't help feeling proud of our boys. If only it had been a German headquarters, they would have gotten the Victoria Cross."[3]
80 years of Zionist terrorism
On 19 July 2026, Ghada Karmi was interviewed on The Crispin Flintoff Show and spoke about the 80th anniversary of the King David Hotel bombing:
Ghada Karmi was a young child in Jerusalem when the Zionist terrorist group Irgun blew up the King David Hotel, a UK government building. Her father often visited the hotel for work and one of her neighbours was killed in the bombing.
Here she looks back at the events of 22nd July 1946 and reflects on their significance for the future of Palestine - and how propaganda at the time resonates with today.[4]
References
- ↑ "British anger at terror celebration"
- ↑ "Terror Out of Zion"
- ↑ Thurston Clarke "By Blood and Fire", G. P. Puttnam's Sons, New York, 1981
- ↑ "80 years of Zionist terrorism"
Wikipedia is not affiliated with Wikispooks. Original page source here