Bidspirit auction | Was a warning given before

Was a warning given before the bombing of the King David Hotel by Irgun members? – A rare poster issued by the organization just two days after the bombing, for clarification - Kol Zion HaLochemet, the broadcasting station of the Irgun Tzva’i Le’umi in Eretz Israel – announcement broadcast on Wednesday, 25 Tammuz 5706 / July 14, 1947 – two days after the bombing of the King David Hotel by Irgun members. A rare poster in which the Irgun claims it issued multiple warnings prior to the bombing, and that it expresses regret solely for the unintended death of Jews in the explosion. The organization states that the British bear direct responsibility for the deaths of the British and Arab victims, as they ignored the explicit warnings sent by the Irgun before the bombing. After the British Government Intelligence Office issued a statement claiming that no warnings were given prior to the bombing of the hotel, the Irgun responded with the Notice. In it, members of the organization assert that three telephone warnings were issued half an hour before the explosion: one to the hotel’s telephone exchange, one to the editorial office of the Palestine Post, and one to the French consulate. They further claim that the explosives were brought into the building during a firefight with the British outpost, which was aware of the assault half an hour before the blast. According to the Irgun, the warnings provided sufficient time to completely evacuate the building of its staff and occupants, and the failure to do so was the fault of the British alone. The leaflet also addresses the organization’s earlier statement expressing mourning only for the Jewish victims, clarifying that the sole objective of the operation was the destruction of the target itself. The Irgun accuses the British of not mourning the six million Jews who were “murdered through their fault during the war… they did not mourn the Struma or the Patria, nor did they mourn the hundreds of Jews murdered in Poland because the British refused them entry into their stolen homeland.” The Irgun reaffirms that they mourn only the Jewish victims. The bombing of the King David Hotel was a terrorist attack carried out by members of the Irgun as part of the Jewish Resistance Movement against the British Mandate in Eretz Israel, on July 22, 1946 (23 Tammuz 5706), following “Black Sabbath”. The Irgun blew up the southern wing of the King David Hotel, which housed the military headquarters of the British Mandate government, as well as administrative personnel. The explosion killed approximately 91 people, most of them Arabs and British, along with 17 Jews. Around 45 others were injured. Whether a warning was given before the bombing, and in what manner, remains a historical mystery that has never been conclusively resolved. According to prevailing accounts, the Irgun did attempt to deliver a telephone warning prior to the explosion, as claimed in the present leaflet, but the British authorities failed to heed the alerts. One account suggests that Heinrich Reinhold, a British agent who had infiltrated the Irgun and was involved in the operation, did not manage to warn his handlers in time about the planned attack, and they chose not to act without an explicit alert. At 12:10 PM, the Irgun reportedly informed the hotel switchboard, the editorial office of the Palestine Post, and the nearby French consulate about the placement of explosives. The consulate staff responded by opening the building’s windows to avoid shattering from the expected blast. The hotel management decided to evacuate the hotel’s guests – except those in the southern wing, where the British authorities were based. The British government claimed the warning was received “not by someone of sufficient rank to authorize the evacuation of the hotel.” According to one testimony, the Chief Secretary of the Mandate government, John Shaw, responded to the warning by saying: “I am not here to take orders from Jews; I give them orders.” Shaw, for his part, stated: “No warning was given to me or to anyone else in the building. Even assuming I had received one, I would not have had enough time to evacuate the people.” At the time of the explosion, a meeting was underway in Shaw’s office with all department heads present. Size: 40x26 cm. Fold mark. Very good condition.