The Hunting Season

The Hunting Season or The Saison (Hebrew: הסזון‎‎, short for French: la saison de chasse) was the name given to the Haganah's suppression of the Irgun's insurgency against the government of the British Mandate in Palestine, from November 1944 to February 1945.

At the break of World War II the Yishuv was torn between its fight against the British for free Aliyah and a Hebrew state, and the desire to join them against Nazi Germany. The Jewish Agency Chairman David Ben-Gurion called to "fight the war as if there was no White Paper and fight the White Paper as if there was no war". Indeed, by 1940 Irgun ceased its activities against the Mandate and sent its men to assist the British in several missions, one of which resulted in the death of its commander, David Raziel, in Iraq.

In 1943, as the tide was shifting in favor of the Allies, the Agency decided to assist the British in any possible way, hoping to gain political benefits after the war. The Irgun and Lehi opposed the decision, which resulted in a heated confrontation.

In February 1944, the Irgun and Lehi began an insurrection against the British, and Irgun commander Menachem Begin declared a "Revolt" against the British Mandate, stating that the British had betrayed the Yishuv's trust and that denial of Jewish immigration was a crime. Therefore, Irgun announced its intention to fight the British in order to drive them out of the Land of Israel. Ben Gurion and the Agency objected and started a public struggle to force the Irgun and Lehi to cease such activities.

Between February and November 1944 the parties negotiated but to no avail. In addition to the British issue, there was also a question of the Agency's authority to rule unelected. The Agency's leadership regarded the issue as an important power struggle and the Haganah forces started preparing for a possible armed conflict.

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