A story of such magnitude like the tale of Feinstein and Barazani merited an abundance of commentary and writings in numerous web sites. I created this page to assist me while writing the site, as many of the links required me to view multiple times. This page includes several embedded third party videos from YouTube that might be useful to expand the story. (NOTE: If you own the rights of any of these embedded videos and you do object to its inclusion in this site, just let me know and it will be promptly removed).
This page also contains notes that are referred to from other pages of the site. I also listed some of the books (in English) that I recommend reading. The list is, of course, not exhaustive.
In the following video from the 1981 election campaign, Menachem Begin uses the legacy of Moshe and Meir to push against the racial tensions between the Ashkenazi Jews and the Spheradi Jews. This video is in Hebrew, but it has English subtitles (please press the "CC" button to activate).
The following animated video (in Hebrew) was created by Yoni Barak during his studies at the JumpCut School for video Animators and Editors ג'אמפקאט - בית הספר לעורכים ואנימטורים . Yoni Barak is actually the grandson of Moshe Barazani's brother and he selected the story of his great uncle and Meir as his final project in school. The video includes an interview with Eliezer Ben-Ami, the designer of the grenades. Published on Dec 12, 2016. Advisor: Yaron Sheen.
The following video (in Hebrew) provides the testimony of Eliezer Ben-Ami, the maker of the improvised grenades that were used by Meir and Moshe to blow themselves up prior to their execution. It contains related paintings drawn by Ben-Ami himself of scenes he recalled from his time in the Central Prison of Jerusalem, as well as technical diagrams of the grenades. Published on May 3, 2016. Editor and Photographer: Asher Torem, Narrator: Moyshik Timor.
The following video (In Hebrew) was published by Dov Goldstein on September 2, 2013. It is titled: "Operation Samson and the Philistines - the Story of Olei Hagardom Meir Feinstein and Moshe Barazani." It includes a lengthy interview with Eliezer Ben-Ami, the Lehi prisoner who created the grenades hidden within the harmless looking oranges.
This book was first published in 1951 and since then, it has undergone numerous editions and prints, as well as translations into several languages. This book describes Menachem Begin's view from the top command of the Irgun, of the formulation and activity of the Irgun, the main underground organization in the Revolt against the British. It begins with Begin being sentenced to be imprisoned in a Soviet concentration camp in April of 1941, his eventual arrival to Eretz Israel in May of 1942, and his becoming the Irgun's supreme commander. It then tells the inside story of the revolt, until the independence of the state of Israel.
In chapters V - "Logic of the Revolt" and VI - "Army of the Underground," Begin provides the logic for the revolt and explained why the Irgun fighters were not terrorists. I believe that after reading these chapters, one can begin to understand why the Irgun took the huge risk of putting the warning on the suitcases with the explosives inside during the October 1946 attack on the Jerusalem train station, during which Meir was injured and captured. As it happened, when Sima put the warning on the suitcases, it immediately caught the attention of one the Arab policemen in the train station, and caused a hasty and premature retreat.
American born historian and expert in terrorism John Bowyer Bell (1931-2003), was one of the leading researchers on the IRA, as his book The Secret Army: A History of IRA became the standard academic work on its subject.
His book Terror Out of Zion is the first comprehensive English-language account of the revolt of the Irgun and Lehi against the British rule in Eretz Israel. The book is skillfully written in the style of an action novel, and yet, has the scholarly attributes of well-researched sources.
Published by Hutchinson in 1981, this book includes a detailed research into the July 22, 1946 attack on the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. The hotel hosted military and civilian government offices of the British Mandate, and was attacked by the Irgun (with the initial blessing of the Haganah) in response to Operation Agatha ("Black Saturday") of June 30, 1946.
The book describes the operation in great detail, attempting to re-create the day of the attack almost moment by moment. It is based on interviews with surviving participants of this event, from the British and Arab sides, as well as with the Irgun soldiers who participated in the mission. The book is well written in a neutral way, listing the faults of all sides of the conflict. It describes how the British detested the Irgun fighters from their perspective, and it illustrated the effectiveness of the revolt in accelerating the British withdrawal from Eretz Israel.
With his greatly detailed research, Clarke was able to finally establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the Irgun soldiers did call the Kind David Hotel, the Palestine Post newspaper, and the nearby French Consulate with preliminary warnings about the imminent explosion of the building.
The book details the the abduction, torture, and murder of the 16-year-old Jewish Lehi operative Alexander Rubowitz by the British war hero Major Roy Farran. This abduction, murder, and the British government attempts to cover up, caused great resentment world-wide. David Cesarani, a British historian, exposes this shady episode in the final years of British rule in Eretz Israel, and sheds light on Britain's legacy in the Middle East.
Although the Rubowitz affair happened after the death of Meir and Moshe, the book provides important historical context from the point of view of the British government. The teenager Rubowitz was murdered only because he was hanging the Lehi posters. Moshe Barazani and his brothers also hung Lehi posters prior to the murder of Rubowitz. Meir's fiancée, Rachel Kramer, hung posters for the Irgun.