Editing Zionist political violence (section)

==Condemnation as terrorism==
[[File:Albert Einstein and others letter.jpg|thumbnail|[[Hannah Arendt]], [[Jessurun Cardozo]], [[Albert Einstein]] and others letter]]
Irgun was described as a [[Definition of terrorism|terrorist organization]] by the United Nations, British, and [[United States]] governments, and in media such as ''[[The New York Times]]'' newspaper,<ref>Pope Brewer, Sam. [https://www.nytimes.com/1947/12/30/archives/irgun-bomb-kills-11-arabs-2-britons-missile-thrown-from-a-taxi-in.html?sq=terrorist+Irgun&scp=2&st=p Irgun Bomb Kills 11 Arabs, 2 Britons] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817055447/https://www.nytimes.com/1947/12/30/archives/irgun-bomb-kills-11-arabs-2-britons-missile-thrown-from-a-taxi-in.html?sq=terrorist+Irgun&scp=2&st=p |date=2021-08-17 }}. ''New York Times''. December 30, 1947.</ref><ref>[https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0E16F93D55147B93C4A81783D85F438485F9&scp=3&sq=terrorist+Irgun&st=p Irgun's Hand Seen in Alps Rail Blast] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407231355/http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0E16F93D55147B93C4A81783D85F438485F9&scp=3&sq=terrorist+Irgun&st=p |date=2014-04-07 }}. ''New York Times''. August 16, 1947.</ref> and by the [[Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry]].<ref>W. Khalidi, 1971, 'From Haven to Conquest', p. 598</ref> In 1946, The World Zionist Congress strongly condemned terrorist activities in Palestine and "the shedding of innocent blood as a means of political warfare". Irgun was specifically condemned.<ref name = NYTirgun>[https://www.nytimes.com/1946/12/24/archives/zionists-condemn-palestine-terror-basle-congress-bars-joining-in.html?sq=Irgun+terrorist+president&scp=13&st=p Zionists Condemn Palestine Terror] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615004618/https://www.nytimes.com/1946/12/24/archives/zionists-condemn-palestine-terror-basle-congress-bars-joining-in.html?sq=Irgun+terrorist+president&scp=13&st=p |date=2018-06-15 }} New York Times. December 24, 1946.</ref>

[[Menachem Begin]] was called a [[Terrorism|terrorist]] and a [[Fascism|fascist]] by [[Albert Einstein]] and 27 other prominent Jewish intellectuals in a letter to the New York Times which was published on December 4, 1948. Specifically condemned was the participation of the Irgun in the [[Deir Yassin massacre]]:<ref name="New Palestine Party">{{cite letter |author1=Isidore Abramowitz|author2=Hannah Arendt|author2-link=Hannah Arendt|author3=Abraham Brick|author4=Jessurun Cardozo|author4-link=Jessurun Cardozo|author5=Albert Einstein|author5-link=Albert Einstein|author6=Herman Eisen|author7=Hayim Fineman|author8=M. Gallen|author9=H.H. Harris|author10=Zellig Harris|author10-link=Zellig Harris|author11=Sidney Hook|author11-link=Sidney Hook|author12=Fred Karush|author13=Bruria Kaufman|author13-link=Bruria Kaufman|author14=Irma L. Lindheim|author14-link=Irma Lindheim|author15=Nahman Maisel|author16=Seymour Melman|author16-link=Seymour Melman|author17=Myer D. Mendelson|author18=Harry M. Oslinsky|author19=Samuel Pitlick|author20=Fritz Rohrlich|author21=Louis P. Rocker|author22=Ruth Sagis|author23=Isaac Sankowsky|author24=Isaac Jacob Schoenberg|author24-link=Isaac Jacob Schoenberg|author25=Samuel Shuman|author26=M. Singer|author27=Irma Wolfe|author28=Stefan Wolf |recipient=[[The New York Times]] |subject=New Palestine Party |date=4 December 1948 |url=https://archive.org/details/AlbertEinsteinLetterToTheNewYorkTimes.December41948 |access-date=2015-06-03 }}</ref>

*"terrorist bands attacked this peaceful village, which was not a military objective in the fighting, killed most of its inhabitants – 240 men, women and children – and kept a few of them alive to parade as captives through the streets of Jerusalem."

The letter warns [[American Jews]] against supporting Begin's request for funding of his political party [[Herut]], and ends with the warning:
*"The discrepancies between the bold claims now being made by Begin and his party and their record of past performance in Palestine bear the imprint of no ordinary political party. This is the unmistakable stamp of a Fascist party for whom terrorism (against Jews, Arabs, and British alike), and misrepresentation are means, and a "Leader State" is the goal."<ref name="New Palestine Party"/>

Lehi was described as a [[terrorist]] organization<ref>"Stern Gang"  ''A Dictionary of World History''. Oxford University Press, 2000. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press [http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-SternGang.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090205070033/http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-SternGang.html|date=2009-02-05}}.</ref> by the British authorities and United Nations mediator [[Ralph Bunche]].<ref>[http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/45fc0c6e511ec0c5802564d400560ca0!OpenDocument&Highlight=0,terrorists,bernadotte Ralph Bunche report on assassination of UN mediator] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080507081227/http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/45fc0c6e511ec0c5802564d400560ca0%21OpenDocument%26Highlight%3D0%2Cterrorists%2Cbernadotte |date=2008-05-07 }} 27th Sept 1948, "notorious terrorists long known as the Stern group"</ref>