Condoning Massacres

"I was the commander. I was responsible for any operations being earned out".

Begin said this recently when asked about the Deir Yassin massacre in 1948. While Palestine was under British rule, Begin was the head of the Irgun Zvai Leumi (National Military Organisation) which the pro-Israel magazine Time described as an "anti-British, anti-Arab terrorist group." Begin joined the lrgun in 1943. Time describes its activities from that time:

"Irgun, and the smaller group, the Stern Gang, began a campaign of terror designed primarily to drive the British out of Palestine. In 1946 Begin's men blew up the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, which was then then British Government headquarters. Ninety people — Jewish and Arab employees, in addition to the British officials — were killed. The Irgun also tortured two British soldiers to death and then strung up their booby-trapped bodies in an orange grove.

"An incident that shocked the world was an assault on the Arab village of Deir Yassin in April 1948. Using Sten guns, rifles, hand grenades and long Arab knives, Begin's men massacred more than 200 villagers, mostly old men, women and children. Many were mutilated and women raped."

Now this man who "was the commander" during Deir Yassin is to hold the reigns of power in 'peace-loving' Israel.