Havlagah

Havlagah (ההבלגה, , "The Restraint") was a strategic policy used by the Haganah members with regard to retribution taken against Arab groups who were attacking the Jewish settlements during the British Mandate of Palestine. Its core principles were fortification and abstention from taking revenge on Arabs by attacking innocent civilians. The political leadership and many leftwing Zionist groups supported the Havlagah policy. Many of the Zionist leadership saw Havlagah as a moral policy and a source of pride for the Jews. The Jewish National Council posted an announcement with their opinion of Havlagah: Not with pouring innocent blood our holies' blood would be forgiven, but with new methods to promote our project and a never ending aiming at new actions for our freedom. For our deep sorrow Jerusalem had seen revenge actions at Arabs, which had stained the honor of the Jewish settlement and put in danger the peace of Jerusalem. The national council gathering... horrified about these crimes, subverting the moral basics of Judaism and Zionism, spreading hatred in this region's nations and can bring a tragedy for the Jewish settlement and the whole land. Berl Katznelson, one of Mapai's (the pre-Israeli Labor Party) leaders, said Havlagah is a form of self defense meaning "righteousness of weapon" and not hurting innocent life: Havlagah means, our weapon will be pure. We learn weapon, we carry weapon, we resist those who come to attack us, but we do not want our weapon to be stained with blood of innocents... Havlagah is both a political and a moral system, caused by our history and reality, our behavior and the conditions of our fight. If we were not loyal to ourselves and adopted a different strategy, we would have lost the fight a long time ago. David Ben-Gurion, another leader of Mapai, supported the Havlagah for more practical reasons. He noted that the restraint will bring good relations with Britain and a positive sentiment to the Zionist ideology in the world, which will help the efforts for Jewish settlement: For political reasons we should not act like the Arabs.