March 13: Clandestine Radio in Palestine

The Haganah, the main Jewish underground armed force in Palestine during the British Mandate, launched a clandestine radio station, Kol Israel (Voice of Israel), on this date in 1940 in defiance of British press censorship. The station would be shut down by the Haganah within a few months when the Axis powers threatened to invade the Middle East, but the die had been cast; the Haganah persisted in various forms of illegal broadcasting, including Arab-language broadcasts between 1945 and ’48. “Like most secret operations in Palestine during the pre-independence period,” writes Douglas A. Boyd, “there were elaborate security precautions in an attempt to protect both Haganah radio sites and those involved in operating them. Thus, the transmitting equipment, most home-made in Palestine, was very valuable. The stations became regular reminders to listeners that the resistance groups operating them were still active.”

“Listen to the voice of Israel! This is not a terrorist station. This is the station of Hebrew resistance. Never again will Jews be deported from their homeland. Our patience is over. No power in the world shall break our determination.” —1945 broadcast