Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

282 • IRGUNbomb was due to a malfunction that failed to detonate the activatedbomb at the right time, killing a construction worker who cameacross it the following day. Nonetheless, Iraultza managed to inflictmore bombings against U.S. business interests than any other Europeanterrorist group during the period in which it was active. FromMay 1982 to the end of 1987, there were at least 31 bombings bythis group, including five attacks on the offices of the Rank Xeroxfirm, two attacks on a Coca-Cola bottling plant, six attacks on banks,including branches of Citibank and Bank of America, and also on atheater showing the film Red Dawn. French business firms were alsofavorite targets. All of these attacks were confined to the Basqueinhabitedareas of Spain. From 1987 to 1990 little was heard of thisgroup, which never appeared to have more than 20 members. InMarch and April 1991, Iraultza attempted three bombings, but threeof its members were killed by a premature explosion. Apparently thegroup, which was never very large, disbanded after this calamity.IRGUN. The Irgun Zvai Leumi, or Organization for the Defense of thePeople, was a nonstate Zionist paramilitary organization dedicatedto the expulsion of British forces and the Arab population fromPalestine to establish a Jewish state there. The Irgun was not simplya nonstate organization insofar as it was an illegal group from theviewpoint of the British regime governing the Mandate of Palestinebut was also outside of the infrastructure of the Jewish Agency inPalestine, which already had the Haganah (Defense Organization) asits military wing, which became, respectively, the Israeli governmentand Israeli army upon independence. The Irgun was founded in 1937by David Raziel, who was killed in 1941 helping the British quella German-inspired revolt in Iraq. He was succeeded by MenachemBegin (1913–1990).From 1944, the Irgun and LEHI collaborated in attacking the Britisharmy and civil administration in Palestine. On 22 July 1946 theIrgun bombed the British administrative center in Palestine, locatedin the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, killing over 90 people, manyof whom, ironically, turned out to be Jewish employees of the Mandateof Palestine authority. On 9 April 1948 the Irgun attacked theArab village of Deir Yassin located on the road connecting Jerusalemto Tel Aviv, killing all of its inhabitants except for two old womenand a young girl. The news of this massacre in turn prompted many