The Heruti code

[Englander]

Haaretz.com

Attorney Yaakov Heruti belonged to three militant organizations - one outlawed by the British, and two by Israel. He recalls his activities, including involvement in blowing up the Soviet legation in Tel Aviv, and hints that he wishes he were younger and could help the settlers fight the Arabs

The terrorist organization came into being during a chance meeting on a bench on Chen Boulevard in Tel Aviv. Yaakov Heruti and Shimon Bachar, both former members of Lehi (a pre-state underground organization, the Israel Freedom Fighters, also known as the Stern Gang, after its founder, Yair Stern), in their first encounter in some time, sat down and launched into a conversation. "We started to talk about how the Arabs are murdering and shooting and the state isn't reacting," Heruti recalls. The two decided to take action. "We said we had to set up an organization." The result was the creation, in the winter of 1952, of the group known as Malchut Yisrael (Sovereignty of Israel), or the Tsrifin Underground.

Dr. Yaakov Heruti is today a 78-year-old lawyer, as passionate in his beliefs as ever. He still works - now in the law firm run by his daughter, Edna. The Tsrifin Underground was not the crowning point of his life, but a way station. As a member of Lehi, he planned to assassinate Ernest Bevin, the British foreign secretary. A booby-trapped envelope that he sent to a British police officer who had killed a Lehi man accidentally, killed the officer's brother. In the War of Independence he was part of the force that tried to enter the Old City of Jerusalem. He was jailed twice in the 1950s for membership in a "terrorist organization."

In the past decade he has been active at the College of Judea and Samaria in the settlement of Ariel and involved in activities of right-wing circles. He is very close to the leaders of Gush Emunim (Bloc of the Faithful), hosted Rabbi Meir Kahane in his home and was one of the founders of the Tehiya (Revival) movement and of Tsomet, the party led by the late former chief of staff, Rafael Eitan. Heruti gave the name Moledet (Homeland) to the movement led by Rehavam Ze'evi, who was assassinated during the intifada.

More at;
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/527102.html


Continuation of The Heruti code

Heruti returned to Israel during the War of Independence and took part in the failed attempt to penetrate the Old City of Jerusalem, in a joint operation of the Haganah, Etzel and Lehi. He helped rescue a wounded Haganah man under fire - an act that stood him in good stead four years later, when he was arrested and accused of membership in an underground organization. Toward the end of the war, after Lehi assassinated the United Nations mediator, Count Folke Bernadotte, of Sweden, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion ordered the head of the Shin Bet security service, Isser Harel, to dismantle the organization. Many Lehi members were arrested and incarcerated in a detention center in Jaffa. After a large number of them escaped from custody, a special detention camp was set up for them in the abandoned Arab village of Sheikh Munis north of the Yarkon River, whose Palestinian inhabitants were expelled by the Haganah (where the neighborhood of Ramat Aviv and Tel Aviv University are now located). There they were inducted into the IDF.

For a few years Heruti and his family lived in a house in Sheikh Munis. In the first years after the War of Independence he was active in a group that Eldad gathered around him, which published the journal Sulam (Ladder).

For Heruti, though, the underground period was not yet over. In 1952, after the meeting on the bench in Tel Aviv with Shimon Bachar, his friend from Lehi, the two established the Malchut Yisrael underground. "The idea behind the word `malchut' was `sovereignty,'" Heruti says, using the English word, "in the sense of ownership, state sovereignty."

The underground organization had a dual goal. One was to attack the legations of the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia, in protest against the trials then under way in Moscow (the defendants, virtually all of them Jews, were accused of having conspired to poison Stalin) and in Prague (the trial of the secretary general of the Czech Communist Party, Rudolf Slansky, who was Jewish and charged with treason). The second goal was to respond by shooting and killing soldiers of the Jordanian Arab Legion whenever they opened fire in divided Jerusalem. Heruti and Bachar, trained in the principles of compartmentalization and secrecy, recruited a few dozen of their former colleagues from Lehi and established an organization of young people - something akin to a youth movement.

More at;
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/527101.html

[number6]

1. kick

:nuke: kaboom ....including involvement in blowing up the Soviet legation in Tel Aviv

[pelsar]

2. amusing.....

actually Englander I definitly find it interesting that in trying to "lambast" israel and show how "bad" we are, you use our newspapers.

what you showing is a very open society examing itself both past present and examing its future potential.

from my point of view, I see it as our strength. We have taken all kinds of people with widly different viewpoints/cultures, some more violent than others and have made a society flexibly enough, confident enough to live together within our laws.

few other countries can do that without going racist. Case in point, France, already they have banned moslem head scarves (what are they afraid of.....a couple of busses blowing up?)

Denmark is now "wondering about their future open society" due to a mere two racists killings. etc.

Us, we can examine our faults, our extremists, our history, check it again, write about our screwups, all of this during an on going war and not be afraid, because we arent.

[ashiebr]

3. France, [has] already ....... banned moslem head scarves...

Pelsar, either you are being deliberately deceitful or you do not understand what happened in France.

There has been no ban on headscarves in France. People walk around the streets there all the time wearing them. All they did was to confirm their policy of banning religious symbols in school. That applies to symbols from other religions too.

[pelsar]

4. my mistake...

i wrote too fast...i was thinking soley about the ban in schools. But here your playing a game, the change in policy was directed against the head scarf, that predominatly muslms wore. The fact that it applied also to other religions was a by product

The fact is that up until recently there was no real ban on religious symbols, be it yalmuka, headscarves etc......until something happend..the question why now? what changed? (but we know dont we....)

and it wasnt confirming anything, it was a new law:

The 276-20 vote in the French Senate forbids religious apparel that shows a student’s religious affiliation

[King Mongo]

5. The secret to being good rather than bad

Israel shows how bad it is by expanding. If Israel accepted the green line, then one would be pressured to believe that Israel is no longer as bad as it used to be.

[pelsar]

6. thank you king.....

so we wont be "as bad".....i guess its inherent in our genes...this badness (at least if we are to go by history). I guess since were talking about "relative "badness" it doesnt make a difference, bad is bad

[King Mongo]

7. Criticism of politics is not anti-Jew

Israel consists of many people such as Jews, Arabs, Africans, Americans, Europeans, etc. As far as I'm aware, the genetic makup of the people of Israel is very mixed. To say that the people of the world are bad because of the activities of the Israeli government, is incorrect.

Being bad, in my opinion, means harming people, such as grabbing their land. The Israeli government is wrong for practicing such. Many Israelis are attempting stop the Israeli government from practicing crime.

[pelsar]

8. i was just kidding....

king.....just playing with you....

[tinnypriv]

9. "confident enough to live together within our laws"

As demonstrated, for example, by an Israeli school booting out a student because she coverted to Islam and wore the Hijab in class.

That's a "provocative practice" in Israel (unless of course you're in one of the defunded Arab schools, part of a "backward population", to quote high Israeli officials).

It's also pretty much nigh on impossible to covert from Judaism to Islam in Israel and have it recognised by the authorities. Try it, and the apparachicks try and convince you of the errors of your ways. Another indication of the "general atmosphere of intolerance currently prevalent in Israel", according to a lawyer involved in these affairs.

Of course, Israel is one of the "few countries" that can do this "without going racist", except that it already has, in the real world that is.

[pelsar]

10. tsk tsk tsk....nit picking are we.

problems within israel within the jewish and arab societies, racisim, violence, rape, honor killings, we have it all

name the country your from....bet i can find enough racism there to fill a book.....as a whole we seem to be more democratic, more tolerant then france. Arab students dress as they feel in our schools and in our universities, as do christians, jews, buddists, etc they can scream to the top of their lungs that sharon is a murderer if they feel like it...didnt france deport some imans recently for saying things the govt didnt like? Didnt france install a nation wide dress code that removes religous articles..what are they afraid of?

yes were confident in our selves and for a country at war we still manage to keep the peace within on a day to day basis, with all of our subculture groups, from german christians, to druze to muslims, orthodox christians, jews for jesus, etc. working together....

and the arab israelis? unlike the subculture groups found on the bottom of almost all western countries these are members of the larger community, are active in the public life, and are improving their lives through commitment and involvement.

what was that country your from again...shall we examine the culture group on the bottom rung and see how their doing?

[tinnypriv]

11. "all of our subculture groups ... working together...."

As demonstrated, for example, by a Russian immigrant stealing weapons from the IDF, and a resident of Jerusalem making bus bombs which he sold to Hamas. Two minor examples. This discussion is ridiculous...

As to your question, I'm from the UK. There is a forum to discuss it, so if you want to do that, I suggest we take it there. This is the Israeli/Palestinian Affairs forum.

By the way, Arab students cannot "dress as they feel" in Israeli schools, as I said (accurately). This has been well reported in Israel - you can be directed to it if you like (since you're from there, that won't be hard).

[pelsar]

12. your right its absurd

i think your saying that all the subculture groups in israel are at each others throats...that we have racism in every corner, etc.

did i get that right?

russian immigrants stealing from the IDF...so?... we have rapes in the army, we have incests within religious groups, we have whites that that think black Ethiopians are idiotes, we have a local maifa...i could go on an on about the warts that we have......but does that make our society racist?

to whom are you comparing it to?......

the UK?....that would be easy, i understand the UK is now considering a "thought crime" now thats racism:

Now let us ponder that for a moment. Incitement to commit racial hatred. He has been arrested for trying to get someone else to hate non-white people. Now if he had incited someone to hate Manchester United supporters, the Old Bill in West Yorkshire would not have hauled him off for questioning, so clearly we are still permitted to suggest to others that they should hate some folks without being dragged into court, just not folks of a given race.

but thats not the point. Attempting to call israel a racist country given our mix of people here can only come from someone who has never been.

We dont have black ghettos like in the states, or segregated muslim neighborhood to the extent of france etc. I could go on an on, but it seems to me that you who have acused us of racism should have more than a couple of examples.....it should be something strong and consistent you know like a law...saying blacks cant.....or arabs have to use the back entrance....


BTW, i would be interested in knowing about which schools limit arab dress.....since I've neither heard of it nor have I come across it.

[tinnypriv]

16. Eh

i think your saying that all the subculture groups in israel are at each others throats...that we have racism in every corner, etc.

Yeah, that's it. You got that nonsense from what I said? Please.

russian immigrants stealing from the IDF...so?... we have rapes in the army, we have incests within religious groups, we have whites that that think black Ethiopians are idiotes, we have a local maifa...i could go on an on about the warts that we have......but does that make our society racist?

Obviously not, by definition. You're claiming that Israeli society has no racism. Check your post above.

seems to me that you who have acused us of racism should have more than a couple of examples.....it should be something strong and consistent you know like a law...saying blacks cant.....or arabs have to use the back entrance....

Like, say, legislation under review in the Knesset which is prohibits Arabs (text is "of a certain character") from purchasing land in "Jews-Only" development towns? Or the Knesset painting Red X's on the heads of Arab workers? Or a law prohibiting marriage between an Arab from the territories and a Jew in Israel? Or the virtual impossiblity of being able to get the Israeli rabbinate to recognise an Islamic conversion? Or the constant spitting at christians in Jerusalem? Or high officials in the Raphael Industries calling for "family planning", because the "delivery rooms in Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva have turned into a factory for the production of a backward population"? Or Netenyahu calling Israeli-Arabs a "demographic threat"? Or Ariel Sharon stating "may god avenge his death" when eulogising a facist? Or Monopoly games sold in the settlements to children which have cards like "your settlement employs Arab workers, lose 200 points"? Or T-shirts being sold in Rabin Square saying "I Buy from Jews Only"?

Need I go on? This is off the top of my head, and I've been discussing these examples on this forum for the last year. Try looking. In any event, does the above make Israeli "society" racist? Perhaps not, but you're presenting a fabricated illusion. Why, I have no idea. It's not like all this isn't well known in Israel among those paying attention.

BTW, i would be interested in knowing about which schools limit arab dress.....since I've neither heard of it nor have I come across it.

See the post below.

[pelsar]

17. i think we're off topic...

if the impression you got from me that israel doesnt have racism on a "local level" then it was wrong. People are people and groups hate other groups for a multitude of reasons. But theres a big difference between that an a state being racists. None of your above examples hold any water once looked at

high official at raphael.....big deal...you might as well say my grandmother.

Netenyaho calling israeli arabs a demographic threat....hes talking about the jewish character in a democratic country at war with arabs.... hmm...so why is that racist?

palestenians not marring jews in israel....try security reasons.

constant spitting at christians?....show me 3 examples...and the kid was forced by the state to apologise (so much for a racist state....)

shirts/games....i may not llke them, but it is a democracy and that is private enterprise.

etc

if your trying to call israel a racist state you'll have to do better than that, it wouldnt take much to find similar examples in western europe or worse: from my memory.....

how about the Dutch MP, Wilders wanting to halt non western immigration:-guess that makes the netherlands a racist state

France deporting imans....racist state

US-computer game Ethnic Cleansing is big on killing jews....

The point is that states are not perfect, and trying to make israel in to a racist state is just another variation on the "israel has no right to exist because....."

and the schools with the racist dress code that you mentioned was "well reported"....well if it was so well reported it should be easy to find....or was it the exception hence it was reported once and then taken care of.... i get the impression that this may be exagerated on your part..unless you can find something for a such a well reported happening.

[tinnypriv]

18. No, we're very much on topic

And if you knew anything about the structure of Israeli political and military society, you wouldn't have just made the mistake of dismissing the high official from Raphael.

Not only is that the most important industry in Israel, but the statement was made at the Herliyza conference, the most important annual event in Israel. "Big deal" to that is about the most laughable statement I've seen around here in a while, and I've seen a lot.

Though it isn't worth the effort, I will point out that if you read any competent analysis of the marriage law (say that by Ha'moked and others) and the law itself (which I quoted on this forum at the time), you'll easily discover that the "security" justification collapses on inspection. Not only does Israel refuses to disclose whether marriage licence holders who helped carry out attacks were aided in any way by that status, the State does not contend that any directly participated in such attacks. Of the extreme few who were accused of being involved in "assisting" terror activity (rougly 0.02% of the marriage license holders), some weren't even tried and convicted, giving you an indication of the factual basis for the accusations.

On a similar basis (the result: wrecking the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and depriving their children of parental care), I could argue that Israel should prevent settlers from crossing the Green Line or entering Jerusalem, since at least two were directly involved in terror attacks ("The Jewish Engineer" is a famous case in Israel, not known outside), many have sold weapons to Palestinian organisations etc. That's putting aside the fact that as the occupying power, Israel is responsible for the Palestinian population, and should therefore immediately conclude that settlers should be banned from Judea and Samaria, on the basis of dozens of shooting attacks on Arabs, bombing of Mosques, children's schools etc. Is that reasonable?

Further to the "security" nonsense, here in an interesting exercise: try and find any official in the Israeli government responsible for the matter referring to "security" in the internal meetings which discussed the law. The primary source on this is the Population Adminstration's presentation to the GOI cabinet before the vote. Try and find any remote mention of actual security - you'll find talk of "demographics", and "financial burdens", and the like, but not much security (except in one case, which is irrelvant, you'll readily discover if you check). The same goes for government statements in the Knesset, the justifications offered by the Interior Minister at the time etc.

As for the shirts, you're correct that it is "private enterprise" (the game is not, since the settlements are subsidized to the tune of $$ billions), but I think "may not like them" is a bit weasly - do you like them, or not? I rather think you wouldn't be playing these games with words if the Palestinians were doing the same, or anybody in the hated Europe - which is where the slogan is taken from - i.e. the Nazis. Center-right commentators who have the merits of honesty in Israel just say it straight: that is a "racist inscription" (Shalom Yerushalemi, writing in Ma'ariv, talking about manhigut yehudit). Of course, racists don't think so.

In any event, you can have another example, which is not private: Givati soldiers in Rafah wearing jumpers with the inscription: "every Arab mother should know that the fate of her children is in our hands".

In any case, all this is perhaps irrelvant, since I'm afraid if you don't see any racism in calling 18% of a society's citizens a "threat" based on ethnic purity grounds, then we don't have a lot to say to each other. Luckily, the courageous human rights organisations in Israel feel differently, which is why Netenyahu's statement was bitterly protested and condemned (by all of them).

As for your examples, this is the Israeli/Palestinian affairs forum. If you want to deflect the issues, do it somewhere else.

The school example (just one example) was reported in Ma'ariv, 18 (or 19) Nov 2003. There were a couple of follow ups and a number of letters from the Israeli government in subsequent issues. That was on Ma'ariv's old Hebrew site, which is no longer available. As I said, this is noted in the archives of this forum (where I believe there is some translation of it from myself and Gimel).

As to your slanderous insinuation that I am "trying" to call Israel a "racist state", and your inplication that therefore I am using a variant of denying Israel's right to statehood, I have nothing but contempt. I suggest you withdraw it, since it is an outrageous lie, as anybody on this forum will know instantly.

[pelsar]

19. tinnpriv....

first off, if your not calling israel a racist state, that i obviously got the wrong impression, since this is our first bit of interaction I made some poor assumptions...hence i apologise.
(had the reverse happen to me with Idonwantaname....).

that kind of takes the "wind out of my sails"....but as far your response, yes I am quite familiar with the Herliyza conference as well as Raphael....i am also well aware that our (and the PAs and other arab "leaders") have been known to make incredibily stuiped statements and hence I, nor do many get all excited about them, nor do I immediatly "pounce and proclaim them an example of our society. May I suggest for the juicyiest ones, as I am sure you know, can be found coming out of our spirtual leaders mouth: rabbi Ovadia Yosef. Nor do I believe Netanyaho is a racist, not too smart sometimes, but not racist.

the comparison of settlers to palestenians as equally "dangerous or criminal" always fails the reality test. When on reserves when my back is turned to a settler I'm not worried, its never turned toward a palestenian. Its not a matter of racism as reality. Chances are higher that the palestenian will stab me than the settler. Hence comparing their activities in terms of dangerous to the citizens of israel doesnt work...and israels responsability toward the palestenians is not the same as it is toward its own citizens.

That said, I dont have any utopian view of israel but I believe your lacking in insight on what makes people tick. The sayings on the givati jumpers, the pictures, the notches in the weapons, whether or not you agree, can be found within every army involved in combat, since time immoral.....that doesnt make them racist, its makes them very very human. (Ask any combat vet.....or take a course in the psychology of the effects on combat upon young people involved in combat...)

and the school example is most interesting, though i dont doubt it happend, i find the claim that it represents a typical or many schools in israel as an exageration (as I understand your post-correct me if I am wrong) ...if not it shouldnt be hard to find others- I volunteer to even go to some of them if they're within reasonable distance. So to with the spitting incident on the priest..you've claimed that "its constant"....I know of one incident that was written up, and never witnessed any myself, so where does your claim come from?

I dont understand the exagerations.....we dont have a lack of examples, there is no need to make the existing ones more than what they are.

and no I dont like the t-shirts and the game does disgust me, and the internet site that had a list of jewish businesses has now been shut down by the israeli govt as racist. Racism exists, and its up to the govt to balance between a liberal society and one that limits those liberal values. Its a constant war since us humans seem to tend towards racism.

As far as the arab minority, the druz, the christians etc,....they all get the "short end of the stick over here" less money less resources etc- I dont have any illusions about that, and yes it is a form of racism on a large scale, nor do I offer any excuses for it, for I have none. I can offer explanations but that still doesnt excuse it.

On the judicial level however, when the courts decide I find them to be very fair, and it is their judgements that govern our society on the macro level. And on the micro level, the day to day, we have no discrimination, that the society accepts, between arab and jew and druze and russian etc.

our problem lies in middle govt, our knesset, our clerks and their beurocrats -and for them I offer no excuse....so if thats the jist of your posts, i have no arguement with you. (though i do have this "thing" against exagerating)

nor was I trying to "defect" when mentioning france etc. Values do not live in a vacuume, they are based on their environment. Comparisons are essential to gage how different societies balance liberal values (if they have them) vs defending their society against non-liberal threats. Hence israel or France or Norway can and should be compared, as that is the only way to understand human reactions and flexibility within a changing society.

[eyl]

13. Regarding dress

I have no idea what school you're talking about. My university has quite a few Arab students, many of which wear traditional dress, and I've never heard of anyone even trying to restrict that.

[pelsar]

14. eyl.....

any idea what hes talking about?...this one is "new one" for me.....

[tinnypriv]

15. Don't have the name to hand right now

Since the story which I posted last year is in the archives and searching is disabled. The story was posted from Ma'ariv I believe. I think Gimel (poster here from Israel) was the only one to seriously address the topic.

[Englander]

20. Who's lambasting?

What's the matter,have I touched on a sensitive subject?

btw,have you ever tried these? They're the best,& colour-free!!

http://www.loch-fyne.com/pages/content.asp?PageID=57&shopAction=2&cat=16⊂=29

;-)