The blast that still echoes: The King David Hotel bombing, 80 years on

Eighty years ago, on July 22, 1946, the King David Hotel in Jerusalem was bombed, a seminal event in the history of pre-state Israel that is not widely remembered today. This act of resistance against British rule occurred during a period of heightened tension and a unified rebellion by three major Zionist military organizations: the Hagana, the Irgun, and Lehi.

Following the end of World War II, the Zionist leadership had hoped the British would repeal the White Paper, which severely limited Jewish immigration to Palestine. When these restrictions continued, the three groups, despite their differences, united in September 1945 as the United Hebrew Resistance Movement. For ten months, they targeted British infrastructure, including bombing railroads and attacking police stations.

A significant action was "The Night of the Bridges" on June 16, 1946, when Palmah forces blew up eight bridges connecting Palestine to neighboring countries, symbolizing a closure of the country to all if it remained closed to Jewish refugees. The British responded with Operation Agatha on June 29, deploying 25,000 troops to raid the Jewish Agency headquarters, seize arms, and arrest 2,700 individuals, including prominent leaders.

The bombing of the King David Hotel, the headquarters for the British Mandatory government and military, was carried out by the Irgun. The attack aimed to dismantle the British administration's presence and pressure them to revoke the White Paper. While the bombing was a dramatic escalation, the subsequent British crackdown, including mass arrests and the confiscation of vital documents, temporarily disrupted the united resistance efforts. The event remains a critical, though often overlooked, moment in the struggle for Israeli independence.