Avraham Tehomi

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Avraham Tehomi ( Hebrew אברהם תהומי; * 1903 in Odessa ; † 1990 ) was the commander and founder of the underground organization Irgun Zwai Leumi .

Avraham Tehomi, the first commander of the Irgun

Emigration to Palestine

He was born under the name Silberg in 1903 in Odessa in Tsarist Russia, emigrated to Palestine in 1923, changed his name there to Avraham Tehomi and worked in road construction. In Palestine he became a member of the then Zionist - socialist oriented Histadrut and of the Hagana .

Murder of Jacob Israël de Haan

As an officer in the Hagana, he was under the command of Jizchak Ben Zwi , who was to become Israel's second president in 1952 . On June 30, 1924, Tehomi murdered the Jewish writer Jacob Israël de Haan , who was working as a journalist in Jerusalem . De Haan had immigrated to Palestine as a staunch Zionist, but became increasingly critical of Zionism and advocated a negotiated solution to achieve peace between Arabs and Jews.

The murder caused shock in Palestine and Europe. The motive for the murder and the murderer remained undetected. Sixty years later, Tehomi confessed his act in a television interview on Israeli television. He explained: “I did what the Hagana asked me to do. And nothing was done without the order of Yitzhak Ben Zwi. I have no regrets because he [de Haan] wanted to destroy the whole idea of ​​Zionism. "

Hagana and commander of the Irgun

In 1925 Tehomi became deputy commander of the Jerusalem district of the Hagana, and between 1929 and 1931 he was district commander.

The Arab unrest in 1929 led to a rift within the Hagana leadership, as the Hagana organization was not up to the challenge. The disputes resulted in Tehomi leaving the Hagana and becoming leader of the Irgun. He later attempted to unite the two organizations and returned to the Hagana in 1937. Only about 1500 of the 3000 members followed him back to the Hagana. The rest of the Irgun members went underground and fought against the Arabs and British in Palestine with terrorist acts.

Tehomi lived in the USA after Israel's independence.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Shlomo Nakdimon , Shaul Mayzlish:דה האן: הרצח הפוליטי הראשון בארץ ישראל[De Haan: The first political assassination in Israel] ( Ivrit ), 1st edition, Modan Press, Tel Aviv 1985, OCLC 21528172 .
personal data
SURNAME Tehomi, Avraham
ALTERNATIVE NAMES אברהם תהומי (Hebrew); Tehomi, Abraham; Silberg, Abraham (birth name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Russian emigrant and Zionist underground fighter (Irgun Zwai Leumi)
DATE OF BIRTH 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Odessa
DATE OF DEATH 1990