Jews only attacked military targets, and called in warnings first. Right?
There are lots of myths surrounding the establishment of the state of Israel, and in the fullness of time I hope to address them all. Today, I'm going after the one that comes up whenever you point out that Jews engaged in terrorism back in the 30s and 40s when they were trying to beat back the Arabs and drive out the British.
CLAIM: Jews only attacked military targets, and always called in warnings firstSTATUS: Myth
This claim is so easy to disprove, its almost embarrassing to go to the effort. Where to begin...
Here's the list of Irgun attacks provided by Wikipedia. You can easily see that many of the attacks are against non-military targets. But here are some highlights (and really this is the tip of the iceberg; the Irgun perpetrated dozens of shooting and bombing attacks on civilians)
July 25, 1938
43 Arabs were killed by a bomb at a marketplace in Haifa.
February 27, 1939
33 Arabs killed in multiple attacks, incl. 24 by bomb in Arab market in Suk Quarter of Haifa and 4 by bomb in Arab vegetable market in Jerusalem.
June 2, 1939
5 Arabs killed by a bomb left at the Jaffa Gate
June 19, 1939
20 Arabs were killed by explosives mounted on a donkey at a marketplace in Haifa.
June 29, 1939
13 Arabs were killed in several shooting attacks around Jaffa during a one-hour period.
November 1, 1945
Night of the Trains. Palmach units sabotage railway networks around the country
June 16, 1946
Night of the Bridges Palmach units destroy 8 bridges linking Palestine to neighboring countries.
December 30, 1947
Irgun operatives kill 6 Arabs and injure 42 by throwing grenades at a crowd of 100 Arab day-labourers who had gathered outside the main gate of the Haifa Oil Refinery looking for work. Arabs on the spot responded by killing 39 Jews.
January 1, 1948
Palmach members respond to the massacre at the refinery by firing into the town of Balad al-Shaykh from the slopes of Mt. Carmel. The raiding unit's orders were to 'kill maximum adult males'. Haganah reports put Arab casualties variously at 'about 70 killed', and 21 killed ('including two women and five children') and 41 injured
March 31, 1938
Lechi mines the train near Binyamena killing 40 civilians
April 9, 1948
120 Arabs killed in Deir Yassin
To the best of my knowledge, the only time an advance warning was called in was when the Irgun bombed the King David Hotel. Other attacked on military installations, such as the Lechi truck loaded with explosives that was driven into a British police station on January 12, 1947, were not preceded with warnings.
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