As renewed Israeli airstrikes on Gaza killed one person and left seven injured on Sunday, a newsreel from 1946 throws light on the long roots of the violence. Demands for the creation of Israel were accompanied by terrorist bombings by Zionist extremist groups like the Stern Gang and the Irgun. Scores of innocent people were killed in the actions, which were among the earliest terrorist attacks in the Middle East.
This clip shows the aftermath of an attack by the Irgun on the Jerusalem railway station and other targets in October 1946.
A few months earlier, on July 22, the Irgun killed 91 people when it bombed the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, which housed the headquarters of Palestine's British administrators. The man who planned the attack, Menachem Begin, would go on to become Israel's prime minister. This footage depicts the funerals of some of the victims.
Ironically, the extremists used a tactic that Israelis now claim the Palestinian group Hamas has adopted: hiding weapons in a school.
This clip shows the aftermath of an attack by the Irgun on the Jerusalem railway station and other targets in October 1946.
A few months earlier, on July 22, the Irgun killed 91 people when it bombed the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, which housed the headquarters of Palestine's British administrators. The man who planned the attack, Menachem Begin, would go on to become Israel's prime minister. This footage depicts the funerals of some of the victims.
Ironically, the extremists used a tactic that Israelis now claim the Palestinian group Hamas has adopted: hiding weapons in a school.
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