February 29: The Stern Gang

Lehi (“Fighters for the Freedom of Israel”), also known as the Stern Gang, the most radical Zionist militia in Palestine, bombed the military cars of the Cairo-Haifa train on this date in the leap year of 1948, killing 28 British soldiers and wounding 35. They would repeat the deed on March 31, this time killing 40 civilians, mostly Arabs. Lehi was also responsible for the assassination of United Nations mediator Count Folke Bernadotte and (with the Irgun) for the April, 1948 Deir Yassin massacre, including more than 100 Palestinian Arabs, including women and children, were killed.

“Neither Jewish ethics nor Jewish tradition can disqualify terrorism as a means of combat. Rather, terrorism had a great part to play in our war against the occupier.” —Yitzhak Shamir