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95-456: The Canadian Jewish News was founded by M. J. Nurenberger , a friend of Menachem Begin and supporter of his Herut party, and his wife Dorothy and was first published on Friday, January 1, 1960, and was the first exclusively English-language Jewish newspaper published in Ontario . The CJN was considered a "provocative" paper into the 1970s but was later considered something of a "lapdog for

190-526: A Minister without Portfolio . Rafi also joined the unity government at that time, with Moshe Dayan becoming Defense Minister. Gahal's arrangement lasted until August 1970, when Begin and Gahal quit the government, then led by Golda Meir due to disagreements over the Rogers Plan and its "in place" cease-fire with Egypt along the Suez Canal, Other sources, including William B. Quandt , note that

285-478: A "Tachkemoni" school, associated with the religious Zionist movement. In his childhood, Begin, like most Jewish children in his town, was a member of the Zionist scouts movement Hashomer Hatzair . He was a member of Hashomer Hatzair until the age of 13, and at 16, he joined Betar . At 14, he was sent to a Polish government school, where he received a solid grounding in classical literature . Begin studied law at

380-601: A "glass house", as the whole world looked inside. He knew that British total war and civilian repression would create both global sympathy for the Irgun's cause and international diplomatic pressure on Britain. Ultimately, the British Cabinet would be forced to choose between further escalating the repression or complete withdrawal, and Begin was certain that in the end, the British would leave. Further, so as not to disturb

475-489: A belligerent dissident. After the Israeli Declaration of Independence on 14 May 1948 and the start of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War , Irgun continued to fight alongside Haganah and Lehi. On 15 May 1948, Begin broadcast a speech on radio declaring that the Irgun was finally moving out of its underground status. On 1 June Begin signed an agreement with the provisional government headed by David Ben-Gurion , where

570-619: A choice between remaining with the Anders' Army to fight Nazi Germany in Europe, or staying in Palestine to fight for establishment of a Jewish state. While he initially wished to remain with the Polish army, he was eventually persuaded to change his mind by his contacts in the Irgun, as well as Polish officers sympathetic to the Zionist cause. Consequently, General Michał Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski ,

665-528: A clash was now inevitable. Fighting ensued and there were a number of casualties. In order to prevent further bloodshed, the Kfar Vitkin settlers initiated negotiations between Yaakov Meridor (Begin's deputy) and Dan Even , which ended in a general ceasefire and the transfer of the weapons on shore to the local IDF commander. Begin had meanwhile boarded the Altalena , which was headed for Tel Aviv where

760-575: A demonstration in Jerusalem attended by some 15,000 people, and gave a passionate and dramatic speech in which he attacked the government and called for its violent overthrow. Referring to the Altalena Affair, Begin stated that "when you fired at me with a cannon, I gave the order: 'No!' Today I will give the order, 'Yes!'" Incited by his speech, the crowd marched towards the Knesset (then at

855-461: A drastically reduced staff, beginning in January 2014, with Elizabeth Wolfe, daughter of Ray Wolfe, becoming president and former Jerusalem Report , National Post and Maclean's journalist Yoni Goldstein becoming the newspaper's editor. Goldstein subsequently introduced a more diverse range of contributors to the newspaper. The content of the newly revamped paper was described as "racier" and

950-683: A full-scale insurgency against the British, and together with the Haganah's illegal immigration campaign, this forced a large commitment of British forces to Palestine that was gradually sapping British financial resources. Three particular Irgun operations directly ordered by Begin: the Night of the Beatings , the Acre Prison break , and the Sergeants affair , were cited as particularly influencing

1045-677: A landslide, becoming the biggest party in the Knesset . Popularly known as the Mahapakh ("upheaval"), the election results had seismic ramifications as for the first time in Israeli history a party other than the Alignment/Mapai was in a position to form a government, effectively ending the left's hitherto unrivalled domination over Israeli politics. Likud's electoral victory signified a fundamental restructuring of Israeli society in which

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1140-510: A lawyer named Yisrael Halperin. After the British searched the area but missed the street where his house was located, Begin and his family moved to a new home on a Tel Aviv side street, where he assumed the name Yisrael Sassover and masqueraded as a rabbi. Following the King David Hotel bombing, when the British searched the entire city of Tel Aviv, Begin evaded capture by hiding in a secret compartment in his home. In 1947, he moved to

1235-526: A means of accentuating their differences. One of the fiercest confrontations between Begin and Ben-Gurion revolved around the Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany , signed in 1952. Begin vehemently opposed the agreement, claiming that it was tantamount to a pardon of Nazi crimes against the Jewish people. While the agreement was debated in the Knesset in January 1952, he led

1330-474: A memoir written by one of the conspirators, Elieser Sudit. Begin's impassioned rhetoric, laden with pathos and evocations of the Holocaust, appealed to many, but was deemed inflammatory and demagoguery by others. In the following years, Begin failed to gain electoral momentum, and Herut remained far behind Labor with a total of 17 seats until 1961. In the 1965 Israeli legislative election , Herut and

1425-744: A new party in the Knesset, the Free Center , with the loss of three seats for Herut. After this revolt, Begin reversed his decision to retire and returned as party chairman in February 1967. The day the Six-Day War started in June 1967, Gahal joined the national unity government under Prime Minister Levi Eshkol of the Alignment, resulting in Begin serving in the cabinet for the first time, as

1520-453: A party chairman being elected; the chair would be vacant for eight months. Internal opposition to Begin' leadership came to a head a month after the convention, when Haim Amsterdam, an assistant to one of the opposition leaders, Shmuel Tamir , published a devastating attack on Begin in Ha'aretz ; this led to the suspension of Tamir's party membership. The leaders of the opposition then established

1615-873: A quarterly. In addition, they launched a new frequent email newsletter and began several original podcasts. The current list includes The CJN Daily , a daily newscast hosted by Ellin Bessner, author of Double Threat ; Bonjour Chai , hosted by Rabbi Avi Finegold and Phoebe Maltz Bovy, a columnist with The Globe and Mail and the author of The Perils of "Privilege" ; Menschwarmers , about Jews and sports; Culturally Jewish , about Canadian Jewish arts and culture, hosted by actors Ilana Zackon and David Sklar; Not That Kind of Rabbi , hosted by CBC veteran Ralph Benmergui ; and Rivkush , about Jews of colour, hosted by Rivka Campbell. In 2024, The CJN debuted its first original audio drama podcast, Justice: A Holocaust Zombie Story , about media narratives and generational trauma. The show

1710-571: A resolution to empower the army to use force if necessary to overcome the Irgun and to confiscate the ship and its cargo. Implementation of this decision was assigned to the Alexandroni Brigade, commanded by Dan Even  [ he ] (Epstein), which the following day surrounded the Kfar Vitkin area. Dan Even issued the following ultimatum: To: M. Begin By special order from the Chief of

1805-561: A serious heart attack in December 1951. Between 1948 and 1977, under Begin, Herut and the alliances it formed ( Gahal in 1965 and Likud in 1973) formed the main opposition to the dominant Mapai and later the Alignment (the forerunners of today's Labor Party ) in the Knesset ; Herut adopted a radical nationalistic agenda committed to the irredentist idea of Greater Israel that usually included Jordan . During those years, Begin

1900-514: A slight resemblance to him, according to Begin, and were fed misinformation by Yaakov Meridor that he had had plastic surgery, and were thus confused over his appearance. Due to the British police conducting searches in the hotel's vicinity, he relocated to a Yemenite neighborhood in Petah Tikva , and after a month, moved to the Hasidof neighborhood near Kfar Sirkin , where he pretended to be

1995-428: A thorn in the side of the establishment." In 1971, following the death of his wife, Nurenberger sold the newspaper for $ 30,000 to a group of community leaders that included Shoppers Drug Mart founder Murray Koffler and real estate developer Albert Latner and was led by philanthropist and businessman Ray Wolfe. Though independent, the newspaper has been owned, since 1971, by a group of Jewish leaders allied with what

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2090-739: The British Empire and damage their prestige; this would cause the British Cabinet, as they had with the Black and Tans and the Auxiliary Division in Ireland, to unleash indiscriminate total war tactics against the whole Jewish civilian population, which would completely alienate the Yishuv . Similarly to Michael Collins, Begin banked on the international media being attracted to the action, which he referred to as turning Palestine into

2185-603: The Deir Yassin massacre , though Irgun and Lehi sources would deny a massacre took place there. Begin also repeatedly threatened to declare independence if the Jewish Agency did not do so. Throughout the period of the rebellion against the British and the civil war against the Arabs, Begin lived openly under a series of assumed names, often while sporting a beard. Begin would not come out of hiding until April 1948, when

2280-648: The Haganah , had refrained from directly challenging British authority. They were convinced that the British would establish a Jewish state after the war due to support for the Zionist cause among both the Conservative and Labour parties. Giving as reasons that the British had reneged on the promises given in the Balfour Declaration and that the White Paper of 1939 restricting Jewish immigration

2375-560: The Irgun ( Etzel ), an underground Zionist paramilitary organization which had split from the main Jewish military organization, the Haganah , in 1931. Begin assumed the Irgun's leadership in 1944, determined to force the British government to remove its troops entirely from Palestine. The official Jewish leadership institutions in Palestine, the Jewish Agency and Jewish National Council ("Vaad Leumi"), backed up by their military arm,

2470-574: The Jewish Agency . As head of the Irgun, he targeted the British in Palestine . Later, the Irgun fought the Arabs during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine and, as its chief, Begin was described by the British government as the "leader of the notorious terrorist organisation". It declined him an entry visa to the United Kingdom between 1953 and 1955. However, Begin's overtures of friendship eventually paid off and he

2565-762: The Liberal Party united to form the Gahal bloc under Begin's leadership, but the merger prompted several Liberal MKs to split and form the Independent Liberals and Gahal failed to gain seats in the election, or make up the seats it lost from the Independent Liberal defection. In 1966, during Herut's party convention, he was challenged by the young Ehud Olmert . The opposition group within Herut, however, sensed that Begin's leadership position

2660-539: The Nazi and Fascist parties" and accused his group (along with the smaller, militant, Stern Gang ) of preaching "racial superiority" and having "inaugurated a reign of terror in the Palestine Jewish community". In the first elections in 1949 , Herut, with 11.5 percent of the vote, won 14 seats, while Hatzohar failed to break the threshold and disbanded shortly thereafter. This provided Begin with legitimacy as

2755-463: The University of Warsaw , where he learned the oratory and rhetoric skills that became his trademark as a politician, and viewed as demagogy by his critics. During his studies, he organized a self-defense group of Jewish students to counter harassment by anti-Semites on campus. He graduated in 1935, but never practiced law. At this time he became a disciple of Vladimir "Ze'ev" Jabotinsky ,

2850-491: The "Chair of Subversive Activity against England", Begin had also carefully studied the highly successful use of guerrilla warfare tactics by Michael Collins during the Irish War of Independence . While planning the rebellion with Irgun commanders, Begin accordingly devised a highly similar strategy that he believed would force the British Empire out. He proposed a series of guerrilla warfare attacks that would humiliate

2945-621: The Allied war effort against Nazi Germany , only British civilian administration and Palestine Police Force targets would be attacked at first, while British armed forces personnel would only be attacked after Adolf Hitler had been defeated. On 1 February 1944, the Irgun proclaimed a revolt. Twelve days later, it put its plan into action when Irgun teams bombed the empty offices of the British Mandate's Immigration Department in Jerusalem , Tel Aviv , and Haifa . The Irgun next bombed

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3040-535: The British to leave due to the great loss of British prestige and growing public opposition to Britain remaining in Palestine at home they generated. In September 1947, the British cabinet voted to leave Palestine, and in November of that year, the United Nations approved a resolution to partition the country between Arabs and Jews. The financial burden imposed on Britain by the Jewish insurgency, together with

3135-614: The British, and the Jewish authorities sent feelers to the Irgun and Lehi to discuss an alliance. The result was the Jewish Resistance Movement , a framework under which the Haganah, Irgun, and Lehi launched coordinated series of anti-British operations. For several months in 1945–46, the Irgun fought as part of the Jewish Resistance Movement. Following Operation Agatha , during which the British arrested many Jews, seized arms caches, and occupied

3230-403: The British, who still maintained nominal authority over Palestine, were almost totally gone. During the period of revolt, Begin was the most wanted man in Palestine, and MI5 placed a 'dead-or-alive' bounty of £ 10,000 on his head. Begin had been forced into hiding immediately prior to the declaration of revolt, when Aliza noticed that their house was being watched. He initially lived in a room in

3325-525: The CJN's board announced that it would resume publication of its print edition in August 2013 after moving to smaller offices and pending the results of a subscription and advertising drive and various changes to the newspaper's business model. Among others, editor Mordechai Ben-Dat and senior staffer and columnist Sheldon Kirshner were let go. The newspaper was subsequently reorganized under new leadership, and with

3420-478: The Frumin Building on King George Street) and threw stones at the windows, and at police as they intervened. After five hours of rioting, police managed to suppress the riots using water cannons and tear gas. Hundreds were arrested, while some 200 rioters, 140 police officers, and several Knesset members were injured. Many held Begin personally responsible for the violence, and he was consequently barred from

3515-703: The General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, I am empowered to confiscate the weapons and military materials which have arrived on the Israeli coast in the area of my jurisdiction in the name of the Israel Government. I have been authorized to demand that you hand over the weapons to me for safekeeping and to inform you that you should establish contact with the supreme command. You are required to carry out this order immediately. If you do not agree to carry out this order, I shall use all

3610-669: The Haganah and Lehi during that period. Notable operations in which they took part were the battle of Jaffa and the Jordanian siege on the Jewish Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem . The Irgun's most controversial operation during this period, carried out alongside Lehi, was an assault on the Arab village of Deir Yassin in which more than a hundred villagers and four of the attackers were killed. The event later became known as

3705-472: The Income Tax Offices in those three cities, followed by a series of attacks on police stations in which two Irgun fighters and six policemen were killed. Meanwhile, Lehi joined the revolt with a series of shooting attacks on policemen. The Irgun and Lehi attacks intensified throughout 1944. These operations were financed by demanding money from Jewish merchants and engaging in insurance scams in

3800-523: The Irgun agreed to formally disband and to integrate its force with the newly formed Israel Defense Forces (IDF), but was not truthful of the armaments aboard the Altalena as it was scheduled to arrive during the cease-fire ordered by the United Nations and therefore would have put the State of Israel in peril as Britain was adamant the partition of Jewish and Arab Palestine would not occur. This delivery

3895-515: The Irgun had more supporters. Many Irgun members, who joined the IDF earlier that month, left their bases and concentrated on the Tel Aviv beach. A confrontation between them and the IDF units started. In response, Ben-Gurion ordered Yigael Yadin (acting Chief of Staff) to concentrate large forces on the Tel Aviv beach and to take the ship by force. Heavy guns were transferred to the area and at four in

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3990-597: The Irgun soldiers would be fully integrated with the IDF and not kept in separate units. About a year later, Altalena was refloated, towed 15 miles out to sea and sunk. In August 1948, Begin and members of the Irgun High Command emerged from the underground and formed the right-wing political party Herut ("Freedom") party. The move countered the weakening attraction for the earlier revisionist party , Hatzohar , founded by his late mentor Ze'ev Jabotinsky . Revisionist 'purists' alleged nonetheless that Begin

4085-574: The Israelis, shocked world public opinion, Begin grew increasingly isolated. As IDF forces remained mired in Lebanon and the economy suffered from hyperinflation , the public pressure on Begin mounted. Depressed by the death of his wife Aliza in November 1982, he gradually withdrew from public life, until his resignation in October 1983. Menachem Begin was born to Zeev Dov and Hassia Begun in what

4180-531: The Jewish Agency building, from which many documents were removed, Begin ordered an attack on the British military and administrative headquarters at the King David Hotel following a request from the Haganah, although the Haganah's permission was later rescinded. The King David Hotel bombing resulted in the destruction of the building's southern wing, and 91 people, mostly British, Arabs, and Jews, were killed. The fragile partnership collapsed following

4275-664: The Knesset for several months. His behavior was strongly condemned in mainstream public discourse, reinforcing his image as a provocateur. The vehemence of Revisionist opposition was deep; in March 1952, during the ongoing reparations negotiations, a parcel bomb addressed to Konrad Adenauer , the sitting West German Chancellor , was intercepted at a German post office. While being defused, the bomb exploded, killing one sapper and injuring two others. Five Israelis, all former members of Irgun, were later arrested in Paris for their involvement in

4370-470: The Labor party, by formally accepting UN 242 in mid-1970, had accepted "peace for withdrawal" on all fronts, and because of this Begin had left the unity government. On 5 August, Begin explained before the Knesset why he was resigning from the cabinet. He said, "As far as we are concerned, what do the words 'withdrawal from territories administered since 1967 by Israel' mean other than Judea and Samaria. Not all

4465-409: The National Religious Party, as well as numerous corruption scandals. All these weakened the labor camp and finally allowed Begin to capture the center stage of Israeli politics. In 1977 Begin declared that "between the [Mediterranean] Sea and the Jordan River there shall only be Israeli sovereignty". Defunct Defunct On 17 May 1977 the Likud, headed by Begin, won the Knesset elections by

4560-446: The Savoy Hotel, a small hotel in Tel Aviv whose owner was sympathetic to the Irgun's cause, and his wife and son were smuggled in to join him after two months. He decided to grow a beard and live openly under an assumed name rather than go completely into hiding. He was aided by the fact that the British authorities possessed only two photographs of his likeness, of which one, which they believed to be his military identity card, bore only

4655-445: The Six-Day War. Later, Begin's government promoted the construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Begin authorized the bombing of the Osirak nuclear plant in Iraq and the invasion of Lebanon in 1982 to fight PLO strongholds there, igniting the 1982 Lebanon War . As Israeli military involvement in Lebanon deepened, and the Sabra and Shatila massacre , carried out by Christian Phalangist militia allies of

4750-402: The Soviet Union , and following his release under the Sikorski–Mayski agreement because he was a Polish national, Begin joined the Free Polish Anders' Army as a corporal officer cadet . He was later sent with the army to Palestine via the Persian Corridor , where he arrived in May 1942. Upon arriving in Palestine, Begin, like many other Polish Jewish soldiers of the Anders' Army, faced

4845-442: The afternoon, Ben-Gurion ordered the shelling of the Altalena . One of the shells hit the ship, which began to burn. Yigal Allon , commander of the troops on the shore, later claimed only five or six shells were fired, as warning shots, and the ship was hit by accident. There was danger that the fire would spread to the holds which contained explosives, and Captain Monroe Fein ordered all aboard to abandon ship. People jumped into

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4940-443: The bombing, partly because contrary to instructions, it was carried out during the busiest part of the day at the hotel. The Haganah, from then on, would rarely mount attacks against British forces and would focus mainly on the Aliyah Bet illegal immigration campaign, and while it occasionally took half-hearted measures against the Irgun, it never returned to full-scale collaboration with the British. The Irgun and Lehi continued waging

5035-419: The camps in accordance with your arrangements. You have ten minutes to give me your answer. D.E., Brigade Commander The ultimatum was made, according to Even, "in order not to give the Irgun commander time for lengthy considerations and to gain the advantage of surprise." Begin refused to respond to the ultimatum, and all attempts at mediation failed. Begin's failure to respond was a blow to Even's prestige, and

5130-530: The cargo of military equipment. Concomitantly with the events at Kfar Vitkin, the government had convened in Tel Aviv for its weekly meeting. Ben-Gurion reported on the meetings which had preceded the arrival of the Altalena , and was adamant in his demand that Begin surrender and hand over all of the weapons: We must decide whether to hand over power to Begin or to order him to cease his separate activities. If he does not do so, we will open fire! Otherwise, we must decide to disperse our own army. The debate ended in

5225-399: The community". The original CJN hewed a line that supported the right in Israeli politics and was critical of the liberal leadership of the Canadian Jewish community at the time as well as community institutions such as B'nai Brith and the United Jewish Appeal , the latter for its secrecy in how it dispersed money. According to his daughter, Atara Beck, "He believed that a newspaper should be

5320-438: The end of August 1939. Returning to Warsaw afterward, he left three days after the German 1939 invasion began, first to the southwest and then to Wilno . In September 1939, after Germany invaded Poland, Begin, in common with a large part of Warsaw's Jewish leadership, escaped to Wilno (today Vilnius ), then eastern Poland, to avoid inevitable arrest. The town was soon occupied by the Soviet Union , but from 28 October 1939, it

5415-504: The enthusiasm of the Haganah began to wane, and Begin's assumptions were proven correct. The Irgun's restraint also earned it much sympathy from the Yishuv, whereas previously it had been assumed by many that it had placed its own political interests before those of the Yishuv. In the summer of 1945, as it became clear that the British were not planning on establishing a Jewish state and would not allow significant Jewish immigration to Palestine, Jewish public opinion shifted decisively against

5510-411: The establishment as second-class citizens. His open embrace of Judaism stood in stark contrast to the Alignment's secularism, which alienated Mizrahi voters and drew many of them to support Begin, becoming his burgeoning political base. In the years 1974–77 Yitzhak Rabin 's government suffered from instability due to infighting within the labor party (Rabin and Shimon Peres ) and the shift to the right by

5605-432: The founder of the nationalist Revisionist Zionism movement and its youth wing, Betar. His rise within Betar was rapid: at 22, he shared the dais with his mentor at the Betar World Congress in Kraków . The pre-war Polish government actively supported Zionist youth and paramilitary movements. Begin's leadership qualities were quickly recognised. In 1937 he was the active head of Betar in Czechoslovakia and became head of

5700-396: The founding socialist Ashkenazi elite was being replaced by a coalition representing marginalized Mizrahi and Jewish-religious communities, promoting a socially conservative and economically liberal agenda. The Perils of %22Privilege%22 The Perils of "Privilege": Why Injustice Can't Be Solved by Accusing Others of Advantage is a 2017 non-fiction book by Phoebe Maltz Bovy ,

5795-413: The heart of Tel Aviv and took the identity of Dr. Yonah Koenigshoffer, the name he found on an abandoned passport in a library. In the years following the establishment of the State of Israel, the Irgun's contribution to precipitating British withdrawal became a hotly contested debate as different factions vied for control over the emerging narrative of Israeli independence. Begin resented his portrayal as

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5890-401: The hostilities over the Altalena Affair , underpinned the political dichotomy between Mapai and Herut. Begin was a keen critic of Mapai, accusing it of coercive Bolshevism and deep-rooted institutional corruption . Drawing on his training as a lawyer in Poland, he preferred wearing a formal suit and tie and evincing the dry demeanor of a legislator to the socialist informality of Mapai, as

5985-506: The impact of the coronavirus pandemic in Canada on its finances. CJN president Elizabeth Wolfe stated that "The CJN suffered from a pre-existing condition and has been felled by COVID-19 ." In May 2021, The CJN resumed publication once again, for the first time without a physical weekly newspaper. Instead, it returned at a new website, thecjn.ca, which resumed its reporting tradition. The CJN also printed its first magazine for pre-existing subscribers in March 2021, which has since continued as

6080-581: The largest branch, that of Poland. As head of Betar's Polish branch, Begin traveled among regional branches to encourage supporters and recruit new members. To save money, he stayed at the homes of Betar members. During one such visit, he met his future wife Aliza Arnold , who was the daughter of his host. The couple married on 29 May 1939. They had three children: Binyamin , Leah and Hassia. Living in Warsaw in Poland, Begin encouraged Betar to set up an organization to bring Polish Jews to Palestine. He unsuccessfully attempted to smuggle 1,500 Jews into Romania at

6175-457: The leader of the Revisionist stream of Zionism. During the 1950s, Begin was banned from entering the United Kingdom , as the British government regarded him as "leader of the notorious terrorist organisation Irgun." Begin's disappointment at the result of the 1951 Israeli legislative election , in which Herut lost six of its 14 seats, led Begin to resign as Herut leader in August 1951, and naming Aryeh Ben-Eliezer as his successor. Despite sending

6270-433: The local diamond industry. In 1944, after Lehi gunmen assassinated Lord Moyne , the British Resident Minister in the Middle East, the official Jewish authorities, fearing British retaliation, ordered the Haganah to undertake a campaign of collaboration with the British. Known as The Hunting Season , the campaign seriously crippled the Irgun for several months, while Lehi, having agreed to suspend their anti-British attacks,

6365-493: The means at my disposal in order to implement the order and to requisition the weapons which have reached shore and transfer them from private possession into the possession of the Israel government. I wish to inform you that the entire area is surrounded by fully armed military units and armored cars, and all roads are blocked. I hold you fully responsible for any consequences in the event of your refusal to carry out this order. The immigrants – unarmed – will be permitted to travel to

6460-462: The party his resignation letter and going abroad to Europe, the party's national council voted instead to make Ben-Eliezer deputy chairman and grant Begin a six month leave of absence , while re-electing him as party chairman. Begin did not return to public life until January 1952, prompted to do so by the growing debate around the Reparations Agreement between Israel and the Federal Republic of Germany as well as by Ben-Eliezer being hospitalized due to

6555-412: The plot. Chancellor Adenauer decided to keep secret the involvement of Israeli opposition party members in the plot, thus avoiding Israeli embarrassment and a likely backlash. The five Irgun conspirators were later extradited from both France and Germany, without charge, and sent back to Israel. Forty years after the assassination attempt, Begin was implicated as the organizer of the assassination attempt in

6650-454: The political center. His 1977 electoral victory and premiership ended three decades of Labor Party political dominance. Begin's most significant achievement as Prime Minister was the signing of a peace treaty with Egypt in 1979, for which he and Anwar Sadat shared the Nobel Prize for Peace . In the wake of the Camp David Accords , the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula , which had been captured from Egypt in

6745-413: The river. His mother and his elder brother Herzl also were murdered in the Holocaust. Begin quickly made a name for himself as a fierce critic of the dominant Zionist leadership for being too cooperative with the British, and argued that the only way to save the Jews of Europe, who were facing extermination, was to compel the British to leave so that a Jewish state could be established. In 1942 he joined

6840-515: The second-in-command of the Army, issued Begin with a "leave of absence without an expiration" which gave Begin official permission to stay in Palestine. In December 1942 he left Anders's Army and joined the Irgun. During the Holocaust , Begin's father was among the 5,000 Brest Jews rounded up by the Nazis at the end of June 1941. Instead of being sent to a forced labor camp, they were shot or drowned in

6935-497: The ship); six were killed in the Kfar Vitkin area and ten on Tel Aviv beach. Three IDF soldiers were killed: two at Kfar Vitkin and one in Tel Aviv. After the shelling of the Altalena , more than 200 Irgun fighters were arrested. Most of them were released several weeks later, with the exception of five senior commanders (Moshe Hason, Eliyahu Lankin , Yaakov Meridor , Bezalel Amitzur , and Hillel Kook ), who were detained for more than two months, until 27 August 1948. Begin agreed

7030-450: The state of Israel's security policies. By 2013, it had a circulation of 40,000 copies per week. On April 22, 2013, the newspaper issued termination notices to its 50 staff and announced that it will cease printing with its June 20 edition due to financial constraints. The publishers sought benefactors to provide funding that would allow the CJN to continue as an exclusively online publication less reliant on advertising. On June 14, 2013,

7125-635: The territories; but by all opinion, most of them." In 1973, Begin agreed to a plan by Ariel Sharon to form a larger bloc of opposition parties, made up from Gahal, the Free Centre , and other smaller groups. They came through with a tenuous alliance called the Likud ("Consolidation"). In the elections held later that year, two months after the Yom Kippur War , the Likud won a considerable share of

7220-556: The tremendous public opposition to keeping troops in Palestine it generated among the British public was later cited by British officials as a major factor in Britain's decision to evacuate Palestine. In December 1947, immediately following the UN partition vote, the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine broke out between the Yishuv and Palestinian Arabs. The Irgun fought together with

7315-557: The votes, though with 39 seats still remained in opposition. Yet the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War saw ensuing public disenchantment with the Alignment. Voices of criticism about the government's misconduct of the war gave rise to growing public resentment. Personifying the antithesis to the Alignment's socialist ethos, Begin appealed to many Mizrahi Israelis, mostly first and second generation Jewish refugees from Arab countries , who felt they were continuously being treated by

7410-499: The water, whilst their comrades on shore set out to meet them on rafts. Although Captain Fein flew the white flag of surrender, automatic fire continued to be directed at the unarmed survivors swimming in the water. Begin, who was on deck, agreed to leave the ship only after the last of the wounded had been evacuated. Sixteen Irgun fighters were killed in the confrontation with the army (all but three were veteran members and not newcomers in

7505-1095: Was a featured columnist in the newspaper for several decades until his death in 1998; and Rabbi Gunther Plaut , who contributed a weekly column for many years. In its final print years, Bernie Farber and Barbara Kay were weekly columnists. The main Toronto edition of the CJN had a rotating group of guest columnists: among them were academics Norma Baumel Joseph and Norman Ravvin of Concordia University; Sarah Horowitz of York; Gil Troy of McGill; Gerald Steinberg of Bar-Ilan University , as well as Jean Gerber in Vancouver, and Rabbi Dow Marmur and Avrum Rosensweig in Toronto. Menachem Begin Menachem Begin ( Hebrew : מְנַחֵם בֵּגִין Menaḥem Begin , pronounced [menaˈχem ˈbeɡin] ; Polish : Menachem Begin (Polish documents, 1931–1937); Russian: Менахем Вольфович Бегин , romanized:  Menakhem Volfovich Begin ; 16 August 1913 – 9 March 1992)

7600-588: Was accused of being an "agent of British imperialism " and sentenced to eight years in the Soviet gulag camps. On 1 June 1941 he was sent to the Pechora labor camps in Komi Republic, the northern part of European Russia. Much later in life, Begin recorded and reflected upon his experiences in the interrogations and life in the camp in his memoir White Nights . In July 1941, just after Germany attacked

7695-411: Was agreement on the anchoring place of the Altalena , there were differences of opinion about the allocation of the cargo. Ben-Gurion agreed to Begin's initial request that 20% of the weapons be dispatched to the Irgun's Jerusalem Battalion , which was still fighting independently. His second request, however, that the remainder be transferred to the IDF to equip the newly incorporated Irgun battalions,

7790-521: Was an Israeli politician, founder of both Herut and Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of Israel . Before the creation of the state of Israel , he was the leader of the Zionist militant group Irgun , the Revisionist breakaway from the larger Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah . He proclaimed a revolt , on 1 February 1944, against the British mandatory government , which was opposed by

7885-505: Was an escalation of their pro-Arab policy, he decided to break with the official institutions and launch an armed rebellion against British rule, in cooperation with Lehi , another breakaway Zionist group. Begin had also carefully studied the tactics of the Indian independence movement . Even more importantly, during multiple meetings with Jewish Lord Mayor of Dublin and senior IRA veteran Robert Briscoe , who jokingly described himself as

7980-492: Was granted a visa in 1972, five years prior to becoming prime minister. Begin was elected to the first Knesset , as head of Herut , the party he founded, and was at first on the political fringe, embodying the opposition to the Mapai -led government and Israeli establishment. He remained in opposition in the eight consecutive elections (except for a national unity government around the Six-Day War ), but became more acceptable to

8075-416: Was more reliant on freelancers. By 2016, the newspaper's subscriptions remained mostly unchanged at 31,000, but Wolfe reported advertising and subscription revenues were enough to invest in new projects. The paper announced that it would cease publication with its 9 April 2020 issue, with its final circulation estimated at 32,000. It had suffered from financial shortfalls for years, which were exacerbated by

8170-595: Was out to steal Jabotinsky's mantle and ran against him with the old party. The Herut party can be seen as the forerunner of today's Likud . In November 1948, Begin visited the US on a campaigning trip. During his visit, a letter signed by Albert Einstein , Sidney Hook , Hannah Arendt , and other prominent Americans and several rabbis was published which described Begin's Herut party as "terrorist, right-wing chauvinist organization in Palestine," "closely akin in its organization, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to

8265-500: Was produced in association with the Ashkenaz Foundation . At the end of 2023, longtime editor-in-chief Yoni Goldstein stepped down and was replaced by CEO Michael Weisdorf. The CJN also began hosting live podcast tapings across Toronto. Initial guests included actress Jennifer Podemski and sports broadcaster Michael Landsberg . Notable contributors to the newspaper have included Jacob Elbaz and J. B. Salsberg , who

8360-472: Was rejected by the Government representatives, who interpreted the request as a demand to reinforce an "army within an army." The Altalena reached Kfar Vitkin in the late afternoon of Sunday, 20 June. Among the Irgun members waiting on the shore was Menachem Begin, who greeted the arrivals with great emotion. After the passengers had disembarked, members of the fishing village of Mikhmoret helped unload

8455-456: Was spared. Begin, anxious to prevent a civil war, ordered his men not to retaliate or resist being taken captive, convinced that the Irgun could ride out the Season, and that the Jewish Agency would eventually side with the Irgun when it became apparent the British government had no intention of making concessions. Gradually, shamed at participating in what was viewed as a collaborationist campaign,

8550-476: Was systematically delegitimized by the ruling party, and was often personally derided by Ben-Gurion who refused to either speak to or refer to him by name. Ben-Gurion famously coined the phrase 'without Herut and Maki ' (Maki was the communist party ), referring to his refusal to consider them for coalition, effectively pushing both parties and their voters beyond the margins of political consensus. The personal animosity between Ben-Gurion and Begin, going back to

8645-631: Was the capital of the Republic of Lithuania. Wilno was a predominately Polish and Jewish town; an estimated 40 percent of the population was Jewish, with the YIVO institute located there. As a prominent pre-war Zionist and reserve status officer-cadet, on 20 September 1940, Begin was arrested by the NKVD and detained in the Lukiškės Prison . In later years he wrote about his experience of being tortured. He

8740-409: Was the smoking gun Britain would need to urge the UN to end the partition action. Intense negotiations between representatives of the provisional government (headed by Ben-Gurion) and the Irgun (headed by Begin) followed the departure of Altalena from France. Among the issues discussed were logistics of the ship's landing and distribution of the cargo between the military organizations. Whilst there

8835-508: Was then Brest-Litovsk in the Russian Empire (today Brest , Belarus ). He was the youngest of three children. On his mother's side he was descended from distinguished rabbis. His father, a timber merchant, was a community leader, a passionate Zionist , and an admirer of Theodor Herzl . The midwife who attended his birth was the grandmother of Ariel Sharon . After a year of a traditional cheder education Begin started studying at

8930-566: Was then the Canadian Jewish Congress . Nurenburger soon regretted his decision, discouraged by the new version of the paper's reticence to challenge the community's establishment, and started the Jewish Times in 1974, which was decidedly more right wing than CJN under its new management, and continued publication into the early 1990s. In 1979, the CJN adopted editorial guidelines that prevent articles from criticizing

9025-420: Was too strong to challenge directly and concentrated on winning control over the party organization. They won overwhelming victories in all votes for the composition of party institutions. Begin responded to these challenges by announcing his retirement as party chairman and suggesting he would also resign seat in the Knesset. Begin's move mobilized delegates in support of him, but the party convention ended without

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