Corpun file 23613

The Times, London, 16 December 1946, p.4

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Terrorists' threat

JERUSALEM, Dec. 15. -- Irgun Zvai Leumi, the Jewish terrorist organization, to-night broadcast a threat that British army officers in its hands would be punished with 18 strokes of the cane if the sentence on a 16-year-old Jew named Benjamin Yossef Kimchin -- 18 years' imprisonment, with 18 strokes of the birch, on two charges arising out of a bank hold-up in Jaffa last September -- were carried out. -- Reuter.

Corpun file 23612

The Times, London, 24 December 1946, p.4

Jaffa Bank Robbery

Sentence on Youth Confirmed

From our own correspondent

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JERUSALEM, Dec. 23

The sentence of 18 years' imprisonment and 18 cuts with a cane which was passed on a Jewish youth who took part in a bank robbery in Jaffa, has been confirmed by the General Officer commanding. A sentence of 18 cuts, but without imprisonment, passed on an Arab who was convicted of carrying arms, has also been confirmed.

Terrorists are showing signs of becoming restive in their present inactivity, and are very active with pamphlets. The latest they have distributed call for recruits, and declare that the "fatherland is in danger."

In spite of the Colonial Secretary's recent announcement that the cost of immigrant camps in Cyprus was to be met from the Palestine Budget, the Palestine Government to-day announced that it was discussing this question with the Colonial Secretary. This is taken to mean that the matter is not yet finally settled.

Corpun file 23615

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The Times, London, 28 December 1946, p.4

Palestine Facts and Basle Theories

Jews' Disappointment

From our own correspondent

(extracts)

JERUSALEM, Dec. 27

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The Jews in Palestine to-day awaited with some interest the announcement of who has finally been elected to the new Executive as Basle [...]

[...]

The sentence of 18 strokes with a cane passed on a Jewish youth for robbing a bank at Jaffa was carried out to-day.

Corpun file 23621

The Morning Bulletin, Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia, 31 December 1946, p.1

Jewish Terrorists Kidnap and Flog Four British Soldiers

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LONDON, December 29. An officer and three sergeants of the British Army in Palestine have been seized and flogged by members of the Irgun Zvai Leumi, the Jewish terrorist organisation.

The officer was kidnapped from his hotel at Nathanya, taken to a spot about six miles away, tied to a rack and given 20 strokes.

Two of the sergeants were flogged in the zoo gardens. They were given 18 strokes while terrorists stood guard armed with tommy guns.

The third sergeant was found strapped to a tree.

The officer was Major Brett, DSO, MC, of the 6th Airborne Division.

The "Daily Mail's" Jerusalem correspondent says that five terrorists, who had left five guards outside entered the lounge of the Hotel Metropole, ordered Brett and Mrs. Brett to keep quiet. They tied the unarmed major's hands behind his back putting a pistol against his stomach when he protested. Just then the manager entered and the terrorists ordered him against the wall, "Don't move and no harm will be done to you or the other guests," they said. Then they forced the major into a car, crowded in after him and drove off at high speed. Brett called back to his wife: "Don't worry, I will be back."

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Brett limped back to the hotel in his underwear.

Other British officers in the Hotel Metropole were also unarmed and were forced to stand while Brett was marched past them. Brett and his wife were alone in the hotel lounge when the gunmen entered but the dining room next door was full of people.

The British United Press says that Brett, after hospital treatment, joined in the house to house search near Nathanya. The British have put a cordon of troops round the town. Police dogs have been brought in to help trace the terrorists.

The British United Press says that 10 men held Brett while the flogging was going on.

An official statement confirmed that the Irgun told Major Brett "You are the first of several.

The statement described the beating as "severe."

Reuter's correspondent, quoting the Palestine Broadcasting Service, said that Brett received 20 strokes with a leather strap. However, the manager of the Hotel Metropole told the Associated Press that Brett was severely beaten with a thin cane.

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Brett, according to the British United Press said he was given "two extra." (Eighteen lashes was the sentence carried out today on Abraham Kimchin, Jewish terrorist, implicated in the Jaffa bank robbery).

The "Daily Express" says that the flogging took place in a house in Nathanya for which the police are now searching.

The Jerusalem correspondent of the Associated Press says that the two sergeants were taken to the zoo from Arman Hotel on the sea-front of Tel Aviv and were left tied to trees when the gunmen fled.

The fourth British soldier flogged was a staff-sergeant who was kidnapped near Rishon, says the Exchange Telegraph Agency. Sentries outside the Army demobilisation centre at Rishon heard, cries from a passing taxi and then found the staff-sergeant's blood-stained cap on the roadway, indicating that the soldier was putting up a fight. He later was found by the police strapped and tied to a tree. He was taken to hospital.

The British United Press says that according to underground reports from Tel Aviv the Irgun has threatened to birch British officers on a mobile platform, which will be taken into Tel Aviv for the people to see.

Whips Found In Taxi

British troops fired on a taxi which tried to crash through a road block at Wilhelmina, 10 miles east of Tel Aviv at 11 p.m. (local time). They captured the four Jewish occupants, one of whom was seriously wounded by the British fire, says Renter's Jerusalem correspondent. Soldiers found in the taxi several raw hide whips, Tommy gun ammunition and plastic hand grenades.

It is officially stated that the taxi contained five whips 3 ft long, in addition to arms and ammunition. There were no British casualties.

Reuter's Jerusalem correspondents says that all troops, of the 6th Airborne Division were recalled to camp following the floggings. Armoured cars equipped with loud speakers, toured localities around division headquarters calling the troops back to camp. Simultaneously hastily scribbled messages were flashed on cinema screens.

Tel Aviv city was deserted last night, civilians fearing violent reaction to the floggings from the airborne troops stationed on the outskirts.

Strong forces of military police searched all cars and were particularly on the watch for soldiers attempting to enter the city. A special army conference will be held tomorrow with the view to preventing reprisals.

The national language newspaper, "Haaretz," received an anonymous telephone call in Hebrew stating that the Irgun was responsible for the kidnappings.

The Irgun announced in posters stuck on walls throughout Jerusalem its decision to continue the fight against the British forces in Palestine and added that there would be no cease fire in the struggle for the freedom of the nation. The posters also repeated the threat publicly to flog British officers in retaliation for the birching of one of their "fighters." Haganah issued a leaflet that the defence forces of Yishav (the Jewish community in Palestine) are standing-to there and that there will be no laying down of arms." The leaflet said that Jewish illegal immigration was the key-note of the Zionist struggle and Haganah was now organising to transfer the Jewish masses from Europe to "countries nearer the shore of the Mediterranean."