22 April 2011

Letter to the Daily Telegraph - Reply to Robin Yapp

Sir,

In his article "Israel 'supplied arms to Argentina during Falklands War", Robin Yapp describes Irgun as "the Zionist underground paramilitary movement which Begin commanded before the state of Israel was established."

Irgun was considered a terrorist organisation not only by the British authorities at the time (& Winston Churchill & the NYT) but also by the brand new Israeli government itself, which passed the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance in 1948 with the specific purpose of eliminating Irgun (& the other Zionist terrorist organisation, Lehi aka the Stern Gang). If one examines the list of Irgun attacks from 1937 on, one can see that they include indiscriminate attacks on civilians: bombs planted on trains, buses, and in cafés and cinemas, thrown into crowded markets - there is even record of a donkey-bomb killing 20 civilians in Haifa market - not to mention the truck bombs, shootings and assassinations of British officials and the bombing of the King David Hotel. Let us also not forget the Deir Yassin massacre carried out by Irgun and the assassination of the UN Mediator and President of the Swedish Red Cross: Count Folke Bernadotte which lead directly to the passing of the 1948 Israel Terrorism Act..

Further, considering that all these crimes constitute 'terrorism' under the definitions in the UK Terrorism Act 2000, one wonders exactly why Robin Yapp prefers to call the Irgun an 'underground paramilitary movement'. And in order to maintain impartiality will he and the Telegraph now be referring to Hamas as a 'Palestinian underground paramilitary movement'?

Yours Sincerely

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