Lehi (group)
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Fighters for the Freedom of Israel – Lehi
לח"י – לוחמי חרות ישראל Lohamei Herut Israel – Lehi |
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| Leaders |
Avraham Stern Nathan Yellin-Mor Yitzhak Shamir Israel Eldad |
| Founded | August 1940 |
| Dissolved | Late 1948 |
| Split from | Irgun |
| Succeeded by |
Fighters' List Kingdom of Israel (group) Semitic Action |
| Ideology |
Revisionist Zionism Sternism Fascism (until 1942) National Bolshevism (after 1944) Anti-imperialism (after 1945) |
| Political position | Syncretic |
| Colors | Blue |
| Party flag | |
.svg) |
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Lehi (Hebrew pronunciation: [ˈleχi]; Hebrew: לח"י – לוחמי חרות ישראל Lohamei Herut Israel – Lehi, "Fighters for the Freedom of Israel – Lehi"), often known pejoratively as the Stern Gang, was a Zionist paramilitary organization founded by Avraham ("Yair") Stern in Mandatory Palestine. Its avowed aim was to evict the British authorities from Palestine by resort to force, allowing unrestricted immigration of Jews and the formation of a Jewish state, a "new totalitarian Hebrew republic". It was initially called the National Military Organization in Israel, upon being founded in August 1940, but was renamed Lehi one month later. It defined itself as a terrorist group.
Lehi split from the Irgun militant group in 1940 in order to continue fighting the British during World War II. Lehi initially sought an alliance with Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, offering to fight alongside them against the British in return for the transfer of all Jews from Nazi-occupied Europe to Palestine. Believing that Nazi Germany was a lesser enemy of the Jews than Britain, Lehi twice attempted to form an alliance with the Nazis. During World War II, it declared that it would establish a Jewish state based upon "nationalist and totalitarian principles". After Stern's death in 1942, the new leadership of Lehi began to move it towards support for Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union. In 1944, Lehi officially declared its support for National Bolshevism. It said that its National Bolshevism involved an amalgamation of left-wing and right-wing political elements – Stern said Lehi incorporated elements of both the left and the right – however this change was unpopular and Lehi began to lose support as a result.
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