At the inception of Israel’s statehood, there were three main Jewish paramilitary groups fighting against the British and the Palestinians.
#1: The Irgun, also known as Etzel or the National Military Organization. The Irgun was led by Menachem Begin. Begin would later go on to become the sixth Prime Minister of Israel, serving from 1977 to 1983.
#2: Hagenah was the largest of the three groups and served as the precursor to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It was initially led by a collective leadership known as the “High Command.” However, during the crucial period leading up to Israel’s statehood, the Hagenah was led by Yisrael Galili as its chief of staff and Eliyahu Golomb as the head of its Jewish Agency’s Security Department.
#3: Stern Gang, led by Avraham “Yair” Stern was the most violent of the three and was denied support by the newly formed government.
These three groups played significant roles in the establishment of the State of Israel, each with its own methods and ideologies.
The groups were often at odds with one another as to how much violence to instill on their perceived enemies.
The one thing they agreed upon was that one Israeli life was worth more than a Palestinian life…much more. In 1945, the population of Jews and Arabs in the region that would later become the State of Israel was approximately 600,000 to 650,000
Arab population in surrounding countries was as follows:
Egypt: 18 million
Syria: 3 million
Lebanon: Around 1.1 million
Transjordan (now Jordan): 400,000 to 500,000
Iraq: 4.5 million
Iran: 13.5 million people
Saudi Arabia: 3 million
Total: 43.6 million
Therefore, the leaders of the Israel freedom fighters decided, Israeli would have to kill 72 Arabs for every Israeli death. This figure was “rounded off” to 100 to 1 during the interim years.
It was again amended after the six-day war in 1967.
6 Day War (1967). The Arab countries’ losses in the conflict were disastrous. Egypt’s casualties numbered more than 11,000, with 6,000 for Jordan and 1,000 for Syria, compared with only 700 for Israel. That comes out to a ratio of one Israeli killed for every 25.7 Arabs.
Now comes the 2024 intifada. 1,400 Israels killed. 32,000 Palestinians killed. For a ratio of 22.8
So, you see, things have been moving in the wrong direction and Israeli, and especially Bibbi Netanyahu (who faces prison when he leaves office) are anxious to instill more pain on the Palestinian people and get those numbers up.