Editing Irgun (section)

===Struggle against the British===
{{Main|Jewish insurgency in Palestine}}
The Irgun began a militant operation against the symbols of government, in an attempt to harm the regime's operation as well as its reputation. The first attack was on February 12, 1944, at the government immigration offices, a symbol of the immigration laws. The attacks went smoothly and ended with no casualties{{snd}}as they took place on a Saturday night, when the buildings were empty{{snd}}in the three largest cities: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa. On February 27 the income tax offices were bombed. Parts of the same cities were blown up, also on a Saturday night; prior warnings were put up near the buildings. On March 23 the national headquarters building of the British police in the [[Migrash Harusim|Russian Compound]] in Jerusalem was attacked, and part of it was blown up. These attacks in the first few months were sharply condemned by the organized leadership of the Yishuv and by the Jewish Agency, who saw them as dangerous provocations.

At the same time the [[Lehi (group)|Lehi]] also renewed its attacks against the British.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishagency.org/JewishAgency/English/Jewish+Education/Compelling+Content/Eye+on+Israel/120/Chapter+Eight+The+Struggle+for+the+Establishment+of+the+State+of+Israel.htm |title=Chapter Eight: The Struggle for the Establishment of the State of Israel |publisher=Jewishagency.org |access-date=2013-08-12 |archive-date=2012-06-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120607061434/http://www.jewishagency.org/JewishAgency/English/Jewish+Education/Compelling+Content/Eye+on+Israel/120/Chapter+Eight+The+Struggle+for+the+Establishment+of+the+State+of+Israel.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Irgun continued to attack police stations and headquarters, and [[Tegart fort|Tegart Fort]], a fortified police station (today the location of [[Latrun]]). One relatively complex operation was the takeover of the radio station in [[Ramallah]], on May 17, 1944.

One symbolic act by the Irgun happened before [[Yom Kippur]] of 1944. They plastered notices around town, warning that no British officers should come to the [[Western Wall]] on Yom Kippur, and for the first time since the mandate began no British police officers were there to prevent the Jews from the traditional [[Shofar]] blowing at the end of the fast.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.daat.ac.il/daat/history/hayom/2a-2.htm|title=שער שני המרד|website=www.daat.ac.il}}</ref> After the fast that year the Irgun attacked four police stations in Arab settlements. In order to obtain weapons, the Irgun carried out "confiscation" operations – they robbed British armouries and smuggled stolen weapons to their own hiding places. During this phase of activity the Irgun also cut all of its official ties with the [[New Zionist Organization]], so as not to tie their fate in the underground organization.

Begin wrote in his [[memoir]]s, ''[[The Revolt]]'':
<blockquote>History and experience taught us that if we are able to destroy the prestige of the British in Palestine, the regime will break. Since we found the enslaving government's weak point, we did not let go of it.<ref>{{cite book
| title = The Revolt
| url = https://archive.org/details/revolt00mena
| url-access = registration
| author = Menachem Begin
| year= 1977| isbn = 9780440175988
}}</ref></blockquote>