By Patrick Bishop
One of Britain's most famous army historians revisits a arguable homicide: that of Zionist chief Avraham Stern, head of Israel's infamous Stern Gang, in Tel Aviv in the course of WWII.
Militant Zionist Avraham Stern believed he was once destined to be the Jewish liberator of British Palestine. because the ringleader of the notorious Stern Gang, sometimes called Lehi, he masterminded a chain of high-profile terrorist assaults in pursuit of his dream. at the run from British experts who'd placed a bounty on his head, Stern used to be hiding in an attic in Tel Aviv while he used to be killed via Assistant Superintendent Geoffrey Morton, a British colonial policeman assigned to seize him.
Morton claimed Stern used to be attempting to break out. yet witnesses insisted he used to be done in chilly blood. His arguable demise encouraged a cult of martyrdom that gave new lifestyles to Lehi, supporting to smash hopes of a detente among the British, the Arabs, and the Jews.
The Reckoning is the tale of Patrick Bishop's quest to find the reality. in accordance with huge research—including entry to Morton's deepest archive and eyewitness interviews—it recounts this seismic occasion in complete, with out bias, putting it in the context of its turbulent time. Bishop's gripping, groundbreaking narrative brings to lifestyles males related in ambition and commitment, chronicles the occasions that ended in their deadly assembly, and explores how the impression of Stern's demise reverberated during the ultimate years of British rule and the delivery of Israel.
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Extra resources for The Reckoning: Death and Intrigue in the Promised Land - A True Detective Story
Example text
Whatever the reason, an instant after the order to fire, the ringleader ‘lay, 20 yards away in front of the mob, stone dead, with a neat, round hole between the eyes’. The gunshot was followed by ‘a split second of petrified silence and then by the vague sounds of myriad feet running for dear life’. Moments later ‘there was not a soul to be seen, and that particular riot was over’. In later life Morton recounted this incident – and many more like it – with relish. He liked the smell of danger. He welcomed the psychological challenge inherent in every confrontation between the forces of law and order and the mob.
The clock on the cabinet ticked ominously. One, two, three seconds passed. Eventually Stern nodded. Tova rose and padded the few steps across the chilly tiles to the hallway, opened the door and pulled Hassia inside. She was full of apologies. The police were everywhere but she had to risk coming. She was carrying a vital letter, one that might save Stern’s life. He calmed her and led her to Tova’s bed, telling her to get under the covers and keep warm until it was light and she could slip away.
The gunshot was followed by ‘a split second of petrified silence and then by the vague sounds of myriad feet running for dear life’. Moments later ‘there was not a soul to be seen, and that particular riot was over’. In later life Morton recounted this incident – and many more like it – with relish. He liked the smell of danger. He welcomed the psychological challenge inherent in every confrontation between the forces of law and order and the mob. Inevitably the police were outnumbered and, though armed, would be overwhelmed if the rioters went on the rampage.