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June 29: The Black Shabbat

lawrencebush
June 29, 2012

British troops arrested over 2,700 Zionist activists in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, and several dozen settlements in pre-state Israel in an operation that began on this date in 1946. Less than two weeks earlier, the Palmach had blown up bridges, Lehi (the Stern Gang) had attacked railways in Haifa, and the Irgun had kidnapped six British officers to force the commutation of death sentences for two Irgun members. The British struck back with “Operation Agatha,” which included a nationwide curfew, road blocks, round-ups, and raids (including on the Jewish Agency), with the goal of dissuading further attacks against British troops and officials — and, some historians say, to preempt the unilateral declaration of a Jewish state. At Kibbutz Yagur, the British uncovered an arms cache of 300 rifles, 100 2-inch mortars, more than 400,000 bullets, some 5,000 grenades, and 78 revolvers; all the men of the kibbutz were arrested. The Haganah command responded with a raid on the Bat Galim army camp, where the weapons confiscated at Yagur were being stored, and by conspiring with the Irgun to blow up the King David Hotel, where the offices of the Mandatory government and the British military command were located.
“In Jerusalem, British troops entered the Jewish Agency buildings and, after ransacking the offices and in particular the archives, confiscated a large number of documents. This material was loaded onto three trucks and taken to the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, which housed the government secretariat and the military command. The documents included cables, which clearly demonstrated the role of the Jewish Agency in the leadership of the United Resistance. Also found was the text of the agreement between the Haganah and the Irgun and Lehi, and cables approving Irgun and Lehi operations against the British in the framework of the United Resistance.” —Yehuda Lapidot, www.etzel.org.il (“The Irgun Site”)
Watch British newsreel footage about Operation Agatha: