Avraham Tehomi - Haganah and Irgun Commander

Haganah and Irgun Commander

In 1925 T'homi was appointed deputy commander of the Jerusalem District Haganah, and in 1929-1931 served as District Commander.

The 1929 Arab riots caused unrest in the Haganah ranks because the organization was not ready and did not respond appropriately to the Arab attacks. The disputes on this issue led to T'homi's departure from the Haganah, and the establishment, in 1931, of the Haganah Bet, a parallel Zionist organisation more prepared to violence, which T'homi headed. He later tried to reunite the two organizations and in 1937 returned to the Haganah in order to take up a senior position. However, approximately only half of the 3000 fighters of the Irgun followed T'homi back into the Haganah. The remaining Haganah Bet fighters became a clandestine organization called the Irgun, engaging in conflict with both British and Arabs in Palestine. When the Haganah failed to fulfill its obligations under the amalgamation agreement, T'homi resigned, and from then on allegedly engaged in independent illegal immigration activities and intelligence work. Several years later he retired from all activity. In the last years of his life, he lived in the United States and in Hong Kong. He died in 1991 in Los Angeles.