Yehoshua Zettler (July 15, 1917 – May 20, 2009; last name also spelled as Zeitler) was an Israeli who served as the Jerusalem commander of the Jewish paramilitary group Lehi, often called the Stern Gang. He conceived and planned the September 17, 1948, assassination of Swedish Count Folke Bernadotte, who was representing the United Nations Security Council as a mediator in the aftermath of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
Biography
Zettler was born on July 15, 1917, in Kfar Saba, a Jewish settlement in what became the British Mandate of Palestine following World War I, and later part of Israel. The community — including Zettler's home — was largely destroyed in Arab riots in 1921, and the house was reconstructed after his family and other residents returned. He attended the Geula school in Tel Aviv.
Jewish underground
He joined the Haganah when he was 14 years old. In 1933, he joined the breakaway Haganah-Bet, which became the Irgun in 1937. Zettler was one of the organization's top commanders. He took part in the July 6, 1938 raid in which five Arabs were shot and killed in the village of Biyar 'Adas, the first organized attack in Mandatory Palestine by Jewish forces against an Arab village.
In June 1940, when the Irgun decided to suspend its underground military activities against the British during World War II, Zettler followed Avraham Stern and others who created Lehi (a Hebrew acronym for Lohamei Herut Yisrael, translated into English as Israel Freedom Fighters), which would follow a combative approach with the British authorities in Palestinian Mandate.
Zettler organized the robbery of a Tel Aviv bank in September 1940 and was subsequently arrested for the crime in May 1941. He then escaped from British detention and was chosen by the Lehi leadership to be its chief of operations. He eluded police for several weeks, until December 2, 1940, when he was re-arrested at his Tel Aviv apartment. Zettler was sentenced to a 15-year prison term. After being involved in a riot at the Jerusalem Central Prison, he was sent to Acre Prison.
On May 4, 1947, Zettler was freed in the Acre Prison break, a complex operation in which Irgun fighters blasted a hole in the wall of Acre Prison, while Jewish prisoners inside blasted the doors with smuggled explosives and escaped.
During the 1948 war, Zettler commanded Lehi forces in Jerusalem. He took part in the April 1948 attack on Deir Yassin, a hilltop village overlooking western areas of Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem road. The attack by Irgun and Lehi forces resulted in a battle that ended in the deaths of about 100 villagers and 5 Jewish fighters, and spread a wave of fear through other Arab communities in Palestine. This is considered a major turning point in the 1948 war.
Assassination of Folke Bernadotte
Zettler was responsible for conceiving and planning the September 17, 1948, assassination of Swedish diplomat Count Folke Bernadotte, who represented the United Nations Security Council as a mediator in the aftermath of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
Bernadotte, in consultation with the United States and United Kingdom, advocated a plan under which major revisions in territorial holdings would be made in accordance with the November 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, including placing Jerusalem under UN control. Many Israelis opposed these proposals and Lehi leaders decided that Bernadotte's assassination would be the most effective means to prevent their implementation.
The assassination plan was discussed in a September 10, 1948, meeting of Lehi leadership in a Tel Aviv apartment, which included Israel Eldad, Nathan Yellin-Mor and future-Prime Minister of Israel Yitzhak Shamir. Shamir later recounted that "The idea was conceived in Jerusalem by Lehi members. Our opinion was asked, and we offered no opposition." With no objections raised, Zettler came back to Jerusalem and selected the team that would carry out the attack on Bernadotte, which included Meshulam Makover and Yehoshua Cohen.