Brit HaBirionim
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Brit HaBirionim was a clandestine Zionist organization in the British Mandate of Palestine, active between 1930 and 1933. At the height of its activity, it numbered only a few dozen members.
[edit] Background
The 1929 Arab riots and the Haganah's inability to successfully prevent the massacres of Jews in Hebron and Safed led to the creation of the first militant organization characterized by its complete disassociation from the existing Zionist establishment dominated by the socialist movement.
[edit] Ideology
Founded by Abba Ahimeir, the organization refused to accept the consensus view among the Yishuv, that the British were allies of the Jewish cause. They considered the British authorities corrupt and inefficient, and thus incapable of leading the process of fulfilling the national Jewish destiny in the land of Israel. The ideology of Brit Habirionim was greatly influenced by Italian fascism.
[edit] Activities
Members of Brit Habirionim carried out several largely minor operations, including demonstrations against both Zionist and British institutions, attempts to interrupt the census conducted by the British, and other illegal activities intended as public provocations such as blowing the Shofar at the Western Wall (forbidden to Jews at that time), and removing the flags of foreign consulates.
In 1933, the British Mandatory Authority arrested several members, including Aheimeir, and charged them with the murder of Chaim Arlosoroff. Though acquitted of the charges in 1934, the trial tarnished the group's reputation and led to its isolation by former political supporters among the Jewish populace, and eventually to its demise.
