The Sergeants affair (Hebrew: פרשת הסרג'נטים) was an incident that took place in Mandate Palestine in July 1947 in which the Jewish underground group the Irgun kidnapped two British army Intelligence Corps NCOs, Sergeant Clifford Martin and Sergeant Mervyn Paice, and threatened to kill them if the death sentences passed on Irgun militants arrested by the British authorities on charges of illegal possession of arms, and with 'intent to kill or cause other harm to a large number of people', were carried out. When the executions were carried out, the Irgun killed its hostages and hung their booby-trapped bodies in a eucalyptus grove near Netanya. This act was widely condemned in both Palestine and the United Kingdom. Soon after hearing of the deaths some British troops and policemen attacked Jews in Tel Aviv, killing five and injuring others. The killings also sparked off antisemitic rioting in some British cities.
Read more about The Sergeants Affair: Background, Kidnapping, The Search For Paice and Martin, Reactions in Palestine, Aftermath
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“An affair wants to spill, to share its glory with the world. No act is so private it does not seek applause.”
—John Updike (b. 1932)