Abraham Stavsky ( he, אברהם סטבסקי; January 5, 1906 – June 22, 1948) was an activist member of

Betar The Betar Movement ( he, תנועת בית"ר), also spelled Beitar (), is a Revisionist Zionist youth movement founded in 1923 in Riga, Latvia, by Vladimir (Ze'ev) Jabotinsky. Chapters sprang up across Europe, even during World War II. After t ...

, the youth movement of a

Revisionist Zionist Revisionist Zionism is an ideology developed by Ze'ev Jabotinsky, who advocated a "revision" of the "practical Zionism" of David Ben-Gurion and Chaim Weizmann which was focused on the settling of ''Eretz Yisrael'' ( Land of Israel) by independent ...

group founded by

Vladimir Jabotinsky Ze'ev Jabotinsky ( he, זְאֵב זַ׳בּוֹטִינְסְקִי, ''Ze'ev Zhabotinski'';, ''Wolf Zhabotinski'' 17 October 1880 – 3 August 1940), born Vladimir Yevgenyevich Zhabotinsky, was a Russian Jewish Revisionist Zionist leade ...

. On June 18, 1933, Stavsky was arrested by the British Mandate police as a suspect in the June 16, 1933, murder of

Chaim Arlosoroff Haim Arlosoroff (February 23, 1899 – June 16, 1933; also known as Chaim Arlozorov; he, חיים ארלוזורוב) was a Socialist Zionist leader of the Yishuv during the British Mandate for Palestine, prior to the establishment of Isr ...

. He was convicted on June 8, 1934, and sentenced to death. There was quite a bit of controversy regarding the accuracy of the charge and righteousness of the conviction among the Jewish public; an outspoken supporter of Stavsky was the

Chief Rabbi Chief Rabbi ( he, רב ראשי ''Rav Rashi'') is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities. Since 1911, through a ...

of Palestine,

Rav Kook Abraham Isaac Kook (; 7 September 1865 – 1 September 1935), known as Rav Kook, and also known by the acronym HaRaAYaH (), was an Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox rabbi, and the first Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbinate of Israel, Chief Rabbi of ...

. His conviction was overturned in 1934, by the highest British Court of Appeals in Palestine.History of Betar - The Stavsky Scandal
/ref> He went on to work with the Irgun in smuggling thousands of Jews out of Europe during the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

. Stavsky died on the beached

Altalena The ''Altalena'' Affair was a violent confrontation that took place in June 1948 by the newly created Israel Defense Forces against the Irgun (also known as IZL), one of the Jewish paramilitary groups that were in the process of merging to form ...

in the midst of exploding onboard munitions during heavy machine gun exchange with

Haganah Haganah ( he, הַהֲגָנָה, lit. ''The Defence'') was the main Zionist paramilitary organization of the Jewish population ("Yishuv") in Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and its disestablishment in 1948, when it became the core of the ...

forces. Ironically, Stavsky died 50 yards from the very spot where Chaim Arlosoroff was murdered 15 years and 5 days earlier.

References

1906 births 1948 deaths 1933 crimes in Asia Aliyah Bet activists People from Brest, Belarus People from Brestsky Uyezd Belarusian Jews Jews from the Russian Empire Betar members {{criminal-stub

See also

References