The radical militants who sought an alliance with Nazi Germany

Cultures · Published 1 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: In 1940, a splinter group of Zionist paramilitaries decided that the British Empire was a greater threat to Jewish survival than the Third Reich. Driven by a desperate need for unrestricted immigration, the Lehi pursued a high-stakes, often contradictory strategy of political assassination and unlikely international diplomacy.

Founded in August 1940 by Avraham Stern, Lehi—officially the Fighters for the Freedom of Israel—split from the Irgun group. While the Irgun sought a truce with Britain during World War II, Stern believed diplomacy had failed. He viewed the British Mandate as an illegal foreign occupation and argued that the primary obstacle to a Jewish state was British restrictions on immigration and land purchases.

This conviction led to one of the most controversial chapters in Zionist history. Believing Nazi Germany was a 'lesser enemy' than Britain, Lehi attempted to negotiate with the German Reich in December 1940. Their proposal sought a Jewish state built on nationalist principles in exchange for military cooperation against the British. The group's ideology was a volatile mix: some historians see traces of fascism and extreme racism, while others point to their later shift toward 'National Bolshevism' and revolutionary socialism.

Lehi's tactics were defined by targeted violence. They were responsible for 42 assassinations, including British Minister Resident Lord Moyne. However, their violence was not exclusively directed at the British; more than half of their political assassination victims were actually Jews. The group's history is marked by extreme conviction, exemplified by members like Moshe Barazani, who committed suicide in a British prison using a grenade hidden inside an orange to avoid the gallows.

The group's legacy remains deeply contested. While some members later became prominent Israeli politicians, such as Yitzhak Shamir, the organization's actions—including the 1948 Deir Yassin massacre—led the nascent Israeli government to formally disband them in May 1948 and declare them a terrorist organization.

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