Shlomo Ben-Yosef
Shlomo Ben-Yosef | |
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Execution by hanging | |
Allegiance | Irgun |
Shlomo Ben-Yosef (
Early life
Shlomo Ben-Yosef was born Szalom Tabacznik in
In 1937, Ben-Yosef decided to emigrate to Mandatory Palestine. After his application for an immigration certificate was rejected, he illegally immigrated to Palestine, arriving on September 20, 1937. There, he joined the Betar labor company at Rosh Pinna - upon arrival there, he burned his Polish passport and changed his name to Shlomo Ben-Yosef. Shortly after arriving at Rosh Pinna, Ben-Yosef was accepted into the Irgun.[1] He found a job at the port of Haifa.
1938 revenge attack
On March 28, 1938, a car containing 10 Jews was ambushed by Arabs on the Acre-Safad road and six of them were killed.[2][3] In revenge, Shlomo Ben-Yosef (24), Avraham Shein (17) and Yehoshua "Shalom" Zurabin (19), all of whom were Betar members from Rosh Pina, began planning a revenge attack.
On April 21, 1938, armed with a hand grenade and two guns, Ben-Yosef, Shein, and Zurabin ambushed an Arab bus staged on the Tiberias–Rosh Pina road, a mountain road near Safed. Their plan was to destroy the engine with a hand-grenade; as the bus approached, they shot at it and Ben-Yosef tossed the grenade, which failed to detonate it. The bus drove away.[2][4][5]
The incident occurred at the crest of the 1936–1939 Arab Revolt, and during a high point in tensions between British authorities and the Revisionist Zionist movement. The three perpetrators were soon discovered hiding in a nearby cowshed in the possession of pistols and home-made bombs.[6]
Trial and execution
Ben-Yosef, Shein, and Zurabin were put on trial in the Haifa Military Court, charged with offenses under the Emergency (Defence) Regulations.[7] They pleaded not guilty. Shein and Ben-Yosef were found guilty of discharging a firearm and carrying firearms, bombs and ammunition, but not guilty of a third charge of throwing bombs with intention to cause death or injury.[8] Zurabin was found not guilty of all charges on grounds of insanity, and "ordered to be kept in custody as a criminal lunatic until further notice".[8] Shein and Ben-Yosef were sentenced to death by hanging. According to Shlaim, as the verdict was announced, Shein and Zurabin stood up and shouted at the top of their voices: "Long live the Kingdom of Israel on both banks of the Jordan!" Shein's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment when his birth certificate fetched from Poland proved he was under 18 years old.[9] He was released from prison in 1946.[10] General Robert Haining, the commander of British forces in Palestine, confirmed Ben-Yosef's death sentence, and an attempt by Ben-Yosef's counsel to secure a stay of execution was unsuccessful.
According to J. Bowyer Bell, there was hope that because the attack had not killed anyone, and that because Ben-Yosef was of good character and without any previous record, his death sentence would be commuted, as a similar case involving an Arab youth from Gaza who was found to be of good character had ended with a reprieve. However, the British authorities, who had executed convicted Arabs over the course of the Arab Revolt, wanted to hang Ben-Yosef as a demonstration of their even-handedness, and General Haining was pressured to confirm Ben-Yosef's death sentence by senior figures in the Palestine Mandate administration.[11]
The British authorities received many appeals for clemency from the
Ben-Yosef was executed in Acre Prison on June 29, 1938. Due to his execution date falling on Rosh Chodesh, no rabbi was available to give him consolation. While being escorted to the gallows, he sang the Betar anthem. Seconds before he was hanged, he called out "long live the Jewish state! Long live Jabotinsky!"[11] Following his execution, his body was turned over to six Betar members waiting at the prison gates.
Aftermath
Ben-Yosef's execution provoked outrage and mourning across the Yishuv. In Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, shops were closed and black flags were displayed from windows, and a demonstration against the execution in Tel Aviv was broken up by police. The British authorities imposed curfews in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. A police guard was present at Ben-Yosef's funeral in Rosh Pina.[13][14]
There were demonstrations of mourning across Jewish communities in Europe, particularly in Poland, where synagogues throughout the country were jammed with mourners, and tens of thousands of Jews fasted in mourning accordance with a plea by the rabbinate. In Kaunas, all Jewish theaters were closed as memorial services were held, and in Amsterdam, a stone wrapped in a note protesting "the murder of Ben Joseph" was thrown by Dutch Zionists through a window of the British consulate. Ben-Yosef's mother received cables of condolence from around the world, and Betar promised her a lifetime pension and to secure her immigration to Palestine.[15][16]
The British policeman who served as Ben-Yosef's hangman, Inspector E.T. Turton, was fatally wounded in a
Ben-Yosef became a martyr for the Revisionist cause. Today, he is commemorated by some in Israel as one of the Olei Hagardom. Streets in Israel have been named for him, and he is commemorated on Olei Hagardom memorials throughout the country.
Yehiel Dresner, then 15, would be radicalized by Ben-Yosef's execution, instilling in him an urge for vengeance against the British. He would be involved in numerous Irgun activities, for which he would be executed himself, along with three other men, on April 16, 1947. All four men would each be commemorated as one of the Olei Hagardom.[18]
References
- ^ "Shlomo Ben-Yosef". Archived from the original on 2007-05-20. Retrieved 2007-02-10.
- ^ a b Tom Segev. One Palestine, Complete. p. 385.
- ^ Palestine Post, March 29, 1938 and March 31, 1938.
- ^ Palestine Post, April 24, 1938.
- ^ Avi Shlaim (January 6, 2005). "Bombers not Martyrs". London Review of Books.
- ^ Palestine Post, May 26, 1938
- ^ Palestine Post, May 25–June 1, 1938
- ^ a b Palestine Post, June 6, 1938
- ^ Palestine Post, June 6&8, 1938.
- ^ Palestine Post, March 21, 1946.
- ^ a b c d e Bell, Bowyer J.: Terror out of Zion (1976)
- ^ Palestine Post, June 27–30, 1938.
- ^ Ben Joseph Executed Despite Nation-Wide Protest
- ^ Jew Executed In Palestine
- ^ Ben Joseph's Execution Spreads Desire For Reprisals Against Arabs, Jabotinsky Warns
- ^ Ben Joseph's Mother Gets Life Pension
- ^ Hoffman, Bruce: Anonymous Soldiers (2015)
- ^ "Izkor". www.izkor.gov.il.
External links
- http://www.etzel.org.il/english/people/benyosef.htm Archived 2007-05-20 at the Wayback Machine - profile at the Irgun website
- http://www.betar.org/history/hist-h.htm - profile at betar.org
- https://web.archive.org/web/20070202085118/http://www.betar.co.uk/betaris/shlomo.php - profile at the UK Betarist website
- https://web.archive.org/web/20070203233932/http://www.csuohio.edu/tagar/shlomo.htm- Letters from Ben-Yosef at Acre Prison