During the struggle to establish a Jewish state, the Haganah and other Jewish militias used underground tunnels called ‘Sliks’ for arms caches and weapons manufacture. The Sliks were located under schools, synagogues, kibbutzim, and anywhere else the British were not likely to look or attack.
When Jewish militants dug underground tunnels
And like the Hamas militants of today, each and every pre-state Zionist militant group — be it the Haganah, Etzel, or Lehi — operated against the British and the Palestinians by building secret weapons factories or hiding weapon caches — known in Hebrew as slikim — among the civilian population.
Jews, Just Like Arabs, Hid Weapons in Immoral Places
Haganah,the Irgun, and the Stern Gang, which operated against the British government and the Arabs in Palestine, used similar tactics to those implemented by Arab militants.
It is not surprising as every insurgency in history has done the same thing, using the civilian population from which it arose as cover. The IRA in Ireland, the ANC in South Africa, and the partisans in Europe in WW2, to name a few recent examples.
These groups are remembered today as freedom fighters, and the population they used as cover has not been considered human shields. Although they were all called terrorists in their day by the authorities they were fighting. And not always without reason. Many of these groups did engage in terrorism, including the IRA, ANC, and Jewish militias like the Irgun and Lehi (Stern Gang). I’m not talking about civilians as collateral damage. In the case of Irgun and Lehi, I’m talking about the targeted premeditated murder of civilians, killing children in front of their parents before executing the parents, the rape of Palestinian women, and massacring whole villages.
"Let us say that instances of rape occurred in Ramle. I can forgive instances of rape, but I will not forgive other acts." — Haaretz
Aharon Zisling, who would later serve as agriculture minister, made the remark during a provisional government meeting concerning the rape of Palestinian women and other atrocities committed by Jewish militias.
Walk around Tel Aviv and look for the faded, bronze plaques that mark and tell the stories of weapons caches, ambushes against British soldiers and offices that served as illegal meeting points for leaders of the various Zionist militias.
Those underground tunnels hidden among civilians have become part of the mythology of the plucky, brave heroes who founded Israel. Their terrorist crimes have been whitewashed to fit the myth. This sort of behavior is also true of the Palestinians and Arabs in this conflict, along with pretty much every other nation and group in human history. Everyone is the hero and innocent victim in their version of history.
It’s lucky for those civilians back then that they were facing the British Army and not the IDF. The IDF would have reduced those schools, synagogues, and kibbutzim to dust, along with the women, children, and infants in them, and said they died because they were being used as ‘human shields.’ Instead of going from terrorists to statesmen and becoming Israeli Prime Ministers, Irgun boss Menachem Begin and Stern Gang leader Yitzhak Shamir would likely have been liquidated along with their families, relatives, and neighbors.
The point is not to absolve anyone now or in the past of the crimes they have committed. Both sides in this story have taken turns being both victim and villain, and each side is responsible for the horrible atrocities they have committed. This war did not start on October 7th; it has been ongoing with daily violence for 70 years and 56 years of occupation. Committing more atrocities, murdering children and infants, and driving millions from their homes without food, shelter, or water will not bring security. It will guarantee another 70 years of terror.
PS
In case there is confusion about the point of this post.
The point is that you can draw a direct line from the terrorism of Irgun and the Stern Gang to the terrorism of the settler movement and the "Dahiya Doctrine" of the IDF today. Call it “bothsiderism,’ but both sides are now and have been for 70 years engaging in terror and war crimes. The violent extremists on both sides have continually sidelined forces for peace on both sides.
The current Israeli government made up of Netanyahu and his racist settler thugs and Hamas are two sides of the same coin. Neither wants peace, and the goal of both is a state from the Jordan to the Sea that excludes the other. They are both willing to resort to terrorism to achieve it.
For there to be any progress or security for Israelis and Palestinians, the US will need to face that fact and act accordingly.
PPS
I have added some information about rape and sexual violence against Palestinian women which was part of the atrocities committed by Jewish militias and continues to be a problem with cases of sexual violence against Palestinian women by the IDF and in Israeli jails. These instances have been documented by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem.
PPPS
I changed the headline as some in the comments feel using the term Zionist is a dog whistle. These militia, before the creation of Israel, identified themselves as Zionists, so I am surprised by that contention. However, I am happy to change the description to avoid any misunderstanding.