Editing Haganah (section)

===World War II===
[[File:JEWISH SOLIDERS IN THE BRITISH ARMY MARCHING ON "PETAH TIKVA" ROAD IN TEL AVIV ON "JEWISH SOLDIERS DAY". יום החייל היהודי. בצילום, מצעד של חיילים יהודD817-121.jpg|thumb|Marching Jewish troops in the British army (1942)]]<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:To-the-flag.jpg|thumb|left|A British recruitment drive poster for the Jewish Brigade from the 1940s reads: "[[Jewish Legion|Soldiers of 1915–1918]]: to the flag!"]] -->
In the first years of [[World War II]], the British authorities asked Haganah for cooperation again, due to the fear of an [[Axis powers|Axis]] breakthrough in North Africa.{{citation needed|date=October 2010}} After [[Erwin Rommel|Rommel]] was defeated at [[El Alamein]] in 1942, the British stepped back from their all-out support for Haganah.{{citation needed|date=October 2010}} In 1943, after a long series of requests and negotiations, the British Army announced the creation of the [[Jewish Brigade|Jewish Brigade Group]]. While Palestinian Jews had been permitted to enlist in the British army since 1940, this was the first time an exclusively Jewish military unit served in the war under a Jewish flag. The Jewish Brigade Group consisted of 5,000 soldiers and was initially deployed with the 8th Army in North Africa and later in [[Italy]] in September 1944. The brigade was disbanded in 1946.{{citation needed|date=October 2010}} All in all, some 30,000 Palestinian Jews served in the British army during the war.<ref>{{cite book |last=Niewyk |first=Donald L. |title=The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_QQ7AAAAQBAJ&q=30%2C000+Palestinian+Jews+enlisted+in+the+British+army&pg=PA247 |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2000 |page=247 |isbn=0231112009}}</ref>

On May 14, 1941, the Haganah created the [[Palmach]] (an acronym for ''Plugot Mahatz''{{snd}}strike companies), an elite commando section, in preparation against the possibility of a British withdrawal and [[Axis powers|Axis]] invasion of Palestine. Its members, young men and women, received specialist training in guerrilla tactics and sabotage.<ref>Yigal Allon, ''Sword of Zion''. {{ISBN|978-0-297-00133-1}}. pp. 116, 117.</ref> During 1942 the British gave assistance in the training of Palmach volunteers but in early 1943 they withdrew their support and attempted to disarm them.<ref>Allon, pp. 125, 126.</ref> The Palmach, then numbering over 1,000, continued as an underground organization with its members working half of each month as [[kibbutz]] volunteers, the rest of the month spent training.<ref>Allon, p. 127.</ref> It was never large{{snd}}by 1947 it amounted to merely five battalions (about 2,000 men){{snd}}but its members had not only received physical and military training, but also acquired leadership skills that would subsequently enable them to take up command positions in Israel's army.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

==== "The Saison" post-assassination of Lord Moyne ====
In 1944, after the assassination of [[Lord Moyne]] (the British Minister of State for the Middle East) by members of the [[Lehi (group)|Lehi]], the Haganah worked with the British to kidnap, interrogate, and, in some cases, deport Irgun members. This action, which lasted from November 1944 to February 1945, was called the ''[[The Hunting Season|Saison]]'', or the Hunting Season, and was directed against the Irgun and not the Lehi.{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}} Future [[Jerusalem]] mayor [[Teddy Kollek]] was later revealed to be a [[Jewish Agency]] liaison officer working with the British authorities who had passed on information that led to the arrest of many Irgun activists.<ref>Andrew, Christopher (2009) ''The Defence of the Realm. The Authorized History of MI5.'' Allen Lane. {{ISBN|978-0-7139-9885-6}}. pp. 355, 356.</ref>

Many Jewish youth, who had joined the Haganah in order to defend the Jewish people, were greatly demoralized by operations against their own people.<ref name=Bell>Bell, Bowyer J.: ''Terror out of Zion''</ref> The Irgun, paralyzed by the Saison, were ordered by their commander, [[Menachem Begin]], not to retaliate in an effort to avoid a full blown civil war. Although many Irgunists objected to these orders, they obeyed Begin and refrained from fighting back. The Saison eventually ended due to perceived British betrayal of the Yishuv becoming more obvious to the public and increased opposition from Haganah members.<ref name=Bell/>