Editing Irgun (section)

===Jewish Resistance Movement===
{{Main|Jewish Resistance Movement}}
[[File:King David Hotel bombing, Jerusalem 1946.jpg|thumb|The King David Hotel after the bombing, photo from [[The Jerusalem Post|''The Palestine Post'']]]]

Towards the end of July 1945 the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] in Britain was elected to power. The Yishuv leadership had high hopes that this would change the anti-Zionist policy that the British maintained at the time. However, these hopes were quickly dashed when the government limited Jewish immigration, with the intention that the population of [[Mandatory Palestine]] (the land west of the [[Jordan River]]) would not be more than one-third of the total. This, along with the stepping up of arrests and their pursuit of underground members and illegal immigration organizers led to the formation of the [[The Jewish Resistance Movement|Jewish Resistance Movement]]. This body consolidated the armed resistance to the British of the Irgun, Lehi, and Haganah. For ten months the Irgun and the Lehi cooperated and they carried out nineteen attacks and defense operations. The Haganah and Palmach carried out ten such operations. The Haganah also assisted in landing 13,000 illegal immigrants.

Tension between the underground movements and the British increased with the increase in operations. On April 23, 1946, an operation undertaken by the Irgun to gain weapons from the [[Tegart fort]] at [[Ramat Gan]] resulted in a firefight with the police in which an Arab constable and two Irgun fighters were killed, including one who jumped on an explosive device to save his comrades. A third fighter, [[Dov Gruner]], was wounded and captured. He stood trial and was sentenced to be death by hanging, refusing to sign a pardon request.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.etzel.org.il/english/ac14.htm |title=The Gallows |publisher=Etzel.org.il |access-date=2013-08-12 |archive-date=2013-09-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130925235135/http://www.etzel.org.il/english/ac14.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1946, British relations with the Yishuv worsened, building up to [[Operation Agatha]] of June 29. The authorities ignored the [[Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry]]'s recommendation to allow 100,000 Jews into Palestine at once. As a result of the discovery of documents tying the Jewish Agency to the Jewish Resistance Movement, the Irgun was asked to speed up the plans for the [[King David Hotel bombing]] of July 22.<ref>Jabotinsky Institute Archives (k-4 1/11/5)</ref> The hotel was where the documents were located, the base for the British Secretariat, the military command and a branch of the [[Criminal Investigation Department|Criminal Investigation Division]] of the police. The Irgun later claimed to have sent a warning that was ignored.<ref>Menachem Begin, ''The Revolt''. 1951, p. 221</ref> Palestinian and U.S. sources confirm that the Irgun issued numerous warnings for civilians to evacuate the hotel prior to the bombing.<ref name="Abrahms">{{cite book|last=Abrahms|first=Max|title=Rules for Rebels: The Science of Victory in Militant History|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=2018|isbn=9780192539441|pages=44–45, 118–120}}</ref> 91 people were killed in the attack where a 350&nbsp;kg bomb was placed in the basement of the hotel and caused a large section of it to collapse. Only 13 were British soldiers.