Cairo, and on 6 November 1944 they carried out the assassination; they
were quickly caught. The Jewish Agency in Palestine denounced the
“loathsome crime” of the assassination of Lord Moyne and called for
the elimination of the “growing danger posed by the terrorist gang that
still exists in Eretz Yisrael.” Hakim and Ben-Zuri were charged in
Egypt with murder. They were sentenced to death and executed on 23
March 1945.
To prevent independent action by the terrorist groups, Ben-Gurion
established the joint Hebrew Resistance Movement (HRM) in Pales-
tine. Its role was to coordinate operations, and the Haganah was au-
thorized to grant final operational approval. This policy reached its
peak of effectiveness on 16–17 June 1946 when Jewish fighters suc-
ceeded in destroying 10 road and rail bridges, thereby isolating the
country from its neighbors. On the night of 28 June (known as Black
Saturday), the British retaliated. Tanks and armor backed 17,000
British troops as they sealed off the Yishuv and began a wide sweep
against the HRM. Borders were closed, the telephone service
stopped, and a night curfew was imposed. Kibbutzim were subject to
armed searches, in which Kibbutz Yagur was especially damaged;
most of the Yishuv leaders, including Moshe Sharett, were arrested.
Ben-Gurion himself escaped capture only because he happened to be
in Paris.
In the meantime, plans were being finalized for an Irgun bombing
of the British government, army, and Criminal Investigation Depart-
ment headquarters located in a wing of the King David Hotel in
Jerusalem. In light of the new Jewish Agency antiterrorist policy,
Moshe Sneh was supposed to act to stop the operation. Whether he
did so or not is in dispute. He did, in fact, make his way abroad to
Ben-Gurion in the hope of persuading the Jewish leader to fight
Chaim Weizmann’s new policy of moderation. But the Irgun, behind
its leader Begin, was resolved to proceed against the British admin-
istrative premises in the King David Hotel.
The Irgun chose this as their target after British troops had entered
the Jewish Agency building on 29 June 1946 and seized countless
documents. At about the same time, the British placed more than
2,500 Jews from all over Palestine under arrest. The information
about Jewish Agency operations, including intelligence activities in
Arab countries, was taken to the King David Hotel.282 • TERRORISM06-102 (04) Q-Z.qxd 3/24/06 7:26 AM Page 282