Avshalom Haviv
Encyclopedia
Avshalom Haviv was a pre-Jewish
state Irgun
underground member and one of the 12 Olei Hagardom
tried by the British
Mandate courts and sentenced to death by hanging at Acre Prison
.
, the son of Rivkah, a well-known merchant, and Eliezer. Haviv grew up and received his education in Jerusalem, residing with his family on Strauss street. In his youth he studied at the Tachkemoni School and as a high school student in Beit Hakerem
he was drawn towards Zionist ideas. His school essays expressed opinions on the achievements of the Zionist party and the policy of the British government. In an essay entitled "The Aspirations of an Enslaved Youth" he included the passage:
At 16, Haviv joined the Irgun Zionist underground movement, and received the nickname "Efraim".
elite fighting force of the Haganah
. During this time he participated in an operation to free detained immigrants from the Atlit detainee camp
. One of the freed captives was Yaakov Weiss, who would eventually be hanged alongside him.
After his year with Palmach, he began to study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
, and at the same time returned to the Irgun. Gradually, he spent more and more time on operations with the Combat Corps of the Irgun (the HaK, hayil kravi), and as a result ended his university studies. In many operations, Haviv took on the job of machine gunner, mainly participating in attacks on the central British secret police in Jerusalem and government income tax offices. He also participated in the Irgun's attempt to free their imprisoned members from the central prison in the Russian Compound as well as the bombing of "Goldschmidt House Officers Club" on March 1, 1947. The attack took place on Shabbat
, and Haviv, who was traditionally religious, left the synagogue
during prayer. During the operation he was ordered to provide the intruders with cover fire from a Bren gun. Although seriously injured in the hand by the searing hot barrel of the machine gun, he continued to fire meticulously throughout the entire operation.
Haviv's final mission was to take up a blocking position during the operation that scattered mines in support of the Acre Prison break
on May 4 1947. He was captured during the engagement along with Irgun fighters Meir Nakar, Yaakov Weiss, Amnon Michaelov, and Nachman Zitterbaum when the group ran out of ammunition.
to the members of the court, whereupon the judges stood up to be later rebuked by the presiding judge for shaming the court. Haviv asked to read a declaration in response to the judge's question, but was told by the President of the Court that he was there to answer questions, not to recite declarations. When Haviv insisted, two policemen were ordered to bring him forward by force. Meanwhile, the accused disrupted the trial by not answering the judge's questions, asking their friends to answer for them, or alternatively got up from their places or pretended to doze off. When witnesses were called to testify, the defendants chatted among themselves and exchanged jokes. In isolated incidents the defendants referred to the events preceding their trial. Avshalom got up and asked one of the witnesses, a British soldier who was present during his detention: "Can you explain to me precisely what you meant when you said to me 'gas chambers are a game compared to what is expected for you in Israel'?". When they weren't answering questions, the defendants continued to talk amongst themselves and to draw caricatures of members of the court.
The trial lasted 14 days and 35 witnesses were called before the time came for the defense to present its case. The defendants, who originally opposed the authority of the court to judge them, also opposed defense proceedings. Despite this each defendant prepared a long affidavit with statements opposing tyrannical British rule, which were delivered on June 10, 1947. In his affidavit Avshalom equated the Irish War of Independence
in Britain to the underground struggle in the land of Israel. He finished his speech with these words:
On June 16 the court convened at 11:10 with the delegation of Colonel Pel, Major Lee Hunter, and Captain Barker. Lieutenant Colonel Norman, vice commander of the British forces in mandate Palestine also attended the proceedings. The jurors entered 15 minutes late and complained to the presiding judge about being subjected to a "precise, extended, and embarrassing" body check. This was part of the enormous ring of protection surrounding the court. The check even extended to cigarette cases, matches, and fountain pens.
In unison, the indicted parties sat bound and sang songs from the Betar
Revisionist Zionist youth movement, which were translated for the many foreign journalists in attendance. The defendants entered the hall under heavy guard with chains on their hands and legs. It was reported that Haviv refused to raise his legs for the manacles to be put on and in a loud voice answered the British jailer "If the British mandate wants to put handcuffs on me, may it submit!". The shackles were only removed shortly before the assembly of the panel of the court. The accused reassured their families "We will yet laugh at them, and if not us, others will laugh." The presiding judge, Colonel Pel, declared the accused had been found guilty of all charges. At the request of the judges, lawyers brought forward documents concerning the ages of Michaelov and Nachman Zitterbaum.
Consultation over the verdict lasted for nearly two hours during which time observers and journalists were transferred by the police to a grated porch under the sun. The resentment of the journalists over this "confinement" didn't help. After two hours, the presiding judge entered the hall wearing a red hat, a sign that the verdict was death. He informed Meir Nakar, Jacov Weiz, and Avshalom Haviv that they were sentenced to "hanging until their spirit departs". Amnon Michaelov and Nachman Zitterbaum were sentenced to imprisonment "until the commissioner choses to free them" due to their youth. When they heard the verdict the accused burst into song with the crowd in the hall joining them in a rendition of "Hatikvah
". Immediately afterwards the entire crowd was put onto the barred porch for three quarters of an hour until the jury left. It was reported that the crowd were told anyone trying to leave would "be shot where they stood". The condemned parties were loaded into an armored vehicle that then made its way to the Acre Prison
. Haviv's mother exercised self-control when the verdict was declared and remained silent throughout.
According to the newspaper Davar
, which carried out investigations in Haviv's household, his family had held on to the hope that he would be saved through a visit by the UN council. Haviv sent a message to his family: "We are ready to sabotage, the question is how ready are you for it?" On the 29th of Tammuz, the day Irgun leader Ze'ev Jabotinsky was released, Haviv and the two other condemned men were promoted from group leader (rosh kvutza) to sergeant (samal). The Irgun approached the UN council and asked them to annul the death sentence. This was in light of the UN calling on all sides to refrain from violence during the investigation, and also based on a similar event that had occurred in Greece
along with the fact that no one from the security forces lost their life in the attack on the Acre Prison – the only victims were underground fighters. During the UN council investigation, support developed for intervention in the affair, but after the matter was brought to the chairman of the council and after stormy deliberations behind closed doors, it was decided on June 23 not to adopt a position contrary to the decision of the British mandate. A hostile government request for a conference concerning the three convicts worsened relations between the parties, and shortened the duration of the UN Council's stay in the land of Israel. David Ben-Gurion
, Chaim Weizmann
, and the head rabbis, all pleaded with the chief commissioner for amnesty. Many other bodies joined in the call for amnesty, including the council of the Sephardic union, the council of Ramat Gan, American students, and even the New York Post
and Czech
newspapers.
The convicted men passed their time in the chamber studying and reciting Psalms
. When the prisoners' rabbi Aryeh Levin
visited them they received him happily and asked him to report that they were in strong condition. On July 8 at 01:00 the army commander confirmed the verdicts. In due course the Irgun would capture two British sergeants
and guarantee that if the death sentence went ahead, they would hang the sergeants as "an eye for an eye
".
, Nissim Ohana, came to see them. He spent fifteen minutes encouraging them, although the Rabbi ended up being heartened by the prisoners. Amnon Michaelov, who was judged with them and was in Acre Prison at the same time testified:
Michaelov says that later that night the doors of the corridor opened and the hangman approached the convicts' cell together with some policemen, a military doctor and the manager of the prison in Nablus
.
Some time afterwards, prisoners once more heard the "Hatikvah" breaking from the area of the oubliette. All Jewish prisoners then joined in the singing, which rang throughout the building. After twenty minutes, at 04:00 on Tuesday, the prisoners heard Haviv singing. His voice then stopped when he was hanged at 4:03. Haviv died on July 29 at the age of 21. Meir followed and like Haviv, sang until his last moments. Twenty minutes later his body was brought out, and at 04:25 Yaakov Weiss ascended the gallows, where he too sang the "Hatikvah" with other prisoners joining in.
On the following day, July 30, at 10:00, the funeral cortege of the three fighters proceeded towards the graveyard in Safed
in a convoy led by a military vehicle followed by a family car and the "chevra kadisha
". Nakar was first to be buried followed by Weiz and Haviv. The shock in Israel was deep at the time, coming as it did on top of an incident that created a storm in the settlement of the SS Exodus.
Charlton resigned as manager of the Acre Prison on the same day. It is known that he refused to execute the men personally and a replacement had to be brought in.
On July 30, the Irgun carried out their threat to kill the two British sergeants they had kidnapped earlier. The soldiers were hanged and their bodies booby-trapped and left in a grove near Netanya
. This operation shocked Britain, despite the explicit threat beforehand, and brought to an end hanging of Jews in the British Mandate of Palestine. Meir Nakar, Yaakov Weiss and Avshalom Haviv were the last to ascend the British gallows.
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
state Irgun
Irgun
The Irgun , or Irgun Zevai Leumi to give it its full title , was a Zionist paramilitary group that operated in Mandate Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the earlier and larger Jewish paramilitary organization haHaganah...
underground member and one of the 12 Olei Hagardom
Olei Hagardom
Olei Hagardom refers to members of the pre-state Jewish underground who were tried in British Mandate courts and sentenced to death by hanging, most of them in Acre prison...
tried by the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Mandate courts and sentenced to death by hanging at Acre Prison
Acre, Israel
Acre , is a city in the Western Galilee region of northern Israel at the northern extremity of Haifa Bay. Acre is one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in the country....
.
Childhood and adolescence
Avshalom Haviv was born on June 18, 1926 (Tammuz 6 5486 according to the Jewish calendar) in HaifaHaifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
, the son of Rivkah, a well-known merchant, and Eliezer. Haviv grew up and received his education in Jerusalem, residing with his family on Strauss street. In his youth he studied at the Tachkemoni School and as a high school student in Beit Hakerem
Beit HaKerem
Beit HaKerem may refer to:* Beit HaKerem, Jerusalem, a neighborhood in west-central Jerusalem* Beit HaKerem , a biblical fortress in Judea identified by many with the later Herodium site...
he was drawn towards Zionist ideas. His school essays expressed opinions on the achievements of the Zionist party and the policy of the British government. In an essay entitled "The Aspirations of an Enslaved Youth" he included the passage:
My aspiration is: one language will take hold in the land, not GermanGerman languageGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, not YiddishYiddish languageYiddish is a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. It developed as a fusion of German dialects with Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic languages and traces of Romance languages...
will be spoken in the land of IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, but rather the language of the TanakhTanakhThe Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim —hence...
, the ancient language of HebrewHebrew languageHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
. My ambition is the aliyahAliyahAliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...
of all of the nation of Israel into the land of Israel and those that will dwell here on the two sides of the Jordan river, and the land that was promised to us by the English will be only ours. In this hoped-for time there will be here a Hebrew state like all states. Amen, ken yihyeh ratson! ["Amen, may it be your will!", a phrase used in the Jewish liturgy]
At 16, Haviv joined the Irgun Zionist underground movement, and received the nickname "Efraim".
The underground
On finishing school, Haviv served for a year in the PalmachPalmach
The Palmach was the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Yishuv during the period of the British Mandate of Palestine. The Palmach was established on May 15, 1941...
elite fighting force of the Haganah
Haganah
Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
. During this time he participated in an operation to free detained immigrants from the Atlit detainee camp
Atlit detainee camp
The Atlit detainee camp was a detention camp established by the British at the end of the 1930s on what is now Israel's northern coast south of Haifa. The camp was established to prevent Jewish refugees, mainly Holocaust survivors, from entering then-Palestine...
. One of the freed captives was Yaakov Weiss, who would eventually be hanged alongside him.
After his year with Palmach, he began to study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...
, and at the same time returned to the Irgun. Gradually, he spent more and more time on operations with the Combat Corps of the Irgun (the HaK, hayil kravi), and as a result ended his university studies. In many operations, Haviv took on the job of machine gunner, mainly participating in attacks on the central British secret police in Jerusalem and government income tax offices. He also participated in the Irgun's attempt to free their imprisoned members from the central prison in the Russian Compound as well as the bombing of "Goldschmidt House Officers Club" on March 1, 1947. The attack took place on Shabbat
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
, and Haviv, who was traditionally religious, left the synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
during prayer. During the operation he was ordered to provide the intruders with cover fire from a Bren gun. Although seriously injured in the hand by the searing hot barrel of the machine gun, he continued to fire meticulously throughout the entire operation.
Haviv's final mission was to take up a blocking position during the operation that scattered mines in support of the Acre Prison break
Acre Prison break
The Acre Prison break was a operation undertaken by the Irgun on May 4, 1947 in the British Mandate of Palestine, in which its men broke through the walls of Acre prison and freed 28 incarcerated Irgun and Lehi members.-Background:...
on May 4 1947. He was captured during the engagement along with Irgun fighters Meir Nakar, Yaakov Weiss, Amnon Michaelov, and Nachman Zitterbaum when the group ran out of ammunition.
Trial and verdict
The trial began on Wednesday, May 28, 1947, after a delay of two days due to Jacov Weiz's illness. The accused sang the pro-Israeli song HatikvahHatikvah
"Hatikvah" is the national anthem of Israel. The anthem was written by Naphtali Herz Imber, a secular Galician Jew from Zolochiv , who moved to the Land of Israel in the early 1880s....
to the members of the court, whereupon the judges stood up to be later rebuked by the presiding judge for shaming the court. Haviv asked to read a declaration in response to the judge's question, but was told by the President of the Court that he was there to answer questions, not to recite declarations. When Haviv insisted, two policemen were ordered to bring him forward by force. Meanwhile, the accused disrupted the trial by not answering the judge's questions, asking their friends to answer for them, or alternatively got up from their places or pretended to doze off. When witnesses were called to testify, the defendants chatted among themselves and exchanged jokes. In isolated incidents the defendants referred to the events preceding their trial. Avshalom got up and asked one of the witnesses, a British soldier who was present during his detention: "Can you explain to me precisely what you meant when you said to me 'gas chambers are a game compared to what is expected for you in Israel'?". When they weren't answering questions, the defendants continued to talk amongst themselves and to draw caricatures of members of the court.
The trial lasted 14 days and 35 witnesses were called before the time came for the defense to present its case. The defendants, who originally opposed the authority of the court to judge them, also opposed defense proceedings. Despite this each defendant prepared a long affidavit with statements opposing tyrannical British rule, which were delivered on June 10, 1947. In his affidavit Avshalom equated the Irish War of Independence
Irish War of Independence
The Irish War of Independence , Anglo-Irish War, Black and Tan War, or Tan War was a guerrilla war mounted by the Irish Republican Army against the British government and its forces in Ireland. It began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic's declaration of independence. Both sides agreed...
in Britain to the underground struggle in the land of Israel. He finished his speech with these words:
On June 16 the court convened at 11:10 with the delegation of Colonel Pel, Major Lee Hunter, and Captain Barker. Lieutenant Colonel Norman, vice commander of the British forces in mandate Palestine also attended the proceedings. The jurors entered 15 minutes late and complained to the presiding judge about being subjected to a "precise, extended, and embarrassing" body check. This was part of the enormous ring of protection surrounding the court. The check even extended to cigarette cases, matches, and fountain pens.
In unison, the indicted parties sat bound and sang songs from the Betar
Betar
The Betar Movement is a Revisionist Zionist youth movement founded in 1923 in Riga, Latvia, by Vladimir Jabotinsky. It has been traditionally linked to the original Herut and then Likud political parties of Israel, and was closely affiliated with the pre-Israel Revisionist Zionist splinter group...
Revisionist Zionist youth movement, which were translated for the many foreign journalists in attendance. The defendants entered the hall under heavy guard with chains on their hands and legs. It was reported that Haviv refused to raise his legs for the manacles to be put on and in a loud voice answered the British jailer "If the British mandate wants to put handcuffs on me, may it submit!". The shackles were only removed shortly before the assembly of the panel of the court. The accused reassured their families "We will yet laugh at them, and if not us, others will laugh." The presiding judge, Colonel Pel, declared the accused had been found guilty of all charges. At the request of the judges, lawyers brought forward documents concerning the ages of Michaelov and Nachman Zitterbaum.
Consultation over the verdict lasted for nearly two hours during which time observers and journalists were transferred by the police to a grated porch under the sun. The resentment of the journalists over this "confinement" didn't help. After two hours, the presiding judge entered the hall wearing a red hat, a sign that the verdict was death. He informed Meir Nakar, Jacov Weiz, and Avshalom Haviv that they were sentenced to "hanging until their spirit departs". Amnon Michaelov and Nachman Zitterbaum were sentenced to imprisonment "until the commissioner choses to free them" due to their youth. When they heard the verdict the accused burst into song with the crowd in the hall joining them in a rendition of "Hatikvah
Hatikvah
"Hatikvah" is the national anthem of Israel. The anthem was written by Naphtali Herz Imber, a secular Galician Jew from Zolochiv , who moved to the Land of Israel in the early 1880s....
". Immediately afterwards the entire crowd was put onto the barred porch for three quarters of an hour until the jury left. It was reported that the crowd were told anyone trying to leave would "be shot where they stood". The condemned parties were loaded into an armored vehicle that then made its way to the Acre Prison
Acre Prison
In the time of the British Mandate the citadel in the old city of Acre was used as a prison in which many Arabs were imprisoned as criminals or for participating in the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine...
. Haviv's mother exercised self-control when the verdict was declared and remained silent throughout.
According to the newspaper Davar
Davar
Davar was a Hebrew-language daily newspaper published in the Mandate Palestine and Israel between 1925 and May 1996.-History:Davar was established by Moshe Beilinson and Berl Katznelson, with Katznelson as its first editor. The first edition was published on 1 June 1925 under the name Davar - Iton...
, which carried out investigations in Haviv's household, his family had held on to the hope that he would be saved through a visit by the UN council. Haviv sent a message to his family: "We are ready to sabotage, the question is how ready are you for it?" On the 29th of Tammuz, the day Irgun leader Ze'ev Jabotinsky was released, Haviv and the two other condemned men were promoted from group leader (rosh kvutza) to sergeant (samal). The Irgun approached the UN council and asked them to annul the death sentence. This was in light of the UN calling on all sides to refrain from violence during the investigation, and also based on a similar event that had occurred in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
along with the fact that no one from the security forces lost their life in the attack on the Acre Prison – the only victims were underground fighters. During the UN council investigation, support developed for intervention in the affair, but after the matter was brought to the chairman of the council and after stormy deliberations behind closed doors, it was decided on June 23 not to adopt a position contrary to the decision of the British mandate. A hostile government request for a conference concerning the three convicts worsened relations between the parties, and shortened the duration of the UN Council's stay in the land of Israel. David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion
' was the first Prime Minister of Israel.Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader and Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946...
, Chaim Weizmann
Chaim Weizmann
Chaim Azriel Weizmann, , was a Zionist leader, President of the Zionist Organization, and the first President of the State of Israel. He was elected on 1 February 1949, and served until his death in 1952....
, and the head rabbis, all pleaded with the chief commissioner for amnesty. Many other bodies joined in the call for amnesty, including the council of the Sephardic union, the council of Ramat Gan, American students, and even the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
and Czech
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
newspapers.
The convicted men passed their time in the chamber studying and reciting Psalms
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
. When the prisoners' rabbi Aryeh Levin
Aryeh Levin
Rabbi Aryeh Levin, , known as Reb Aryeh, was an Orthodox rabbi dubbed the "Father of Prisoners" for his visits to members of the Jewish underground imprisoned in the Central Prison of Jerusalem in the Russian Compound during the British Mandate...
visited them they received him happily and asked him to report that they were in strong condition. On July 8 at 01:00 the army commander confirmed the verdicts. In due course the Irgun would capture two British sergeants
The Sergeants affair
The Sergeants affair was an incident that took place in Mandate Palestine in July 1947 in which the Jewish underground group the Irgun kidnapped two British army Intelligence Corps NCOs, Sergeant Clifford Martin and Sergeant Mervyn Paice, and threatened to kill them if the death sentences passed...
and guarantee that if the death sentence went ahead, they would hang the sergeants as "an eye for an eye
An eye for an eye
The meaning of the principle, an eye for an eye, is that a person who has injured another person receives the same injury in compensation. The exact Latin to English translation of this phrase is actually "The law of retaliation." At the root of this principle is that one of the purposes of the...
".
Ascending the gallows
On the night of Monday, July 28, the prisoners heard the sound of the Hatikvah coming from the condemned men's cells. Suddenly the rumor spread that they would be hanged that night. Throughout the whole night the three condemned men sang songs of the underground and the rebellion. At 02:00, the chief Sephardic Rabbi of HaifaHaifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
, Nissim Ohana, came to see them. He spent fifteen minutes encouraging them, although the Rabbi ended up being heartened by the prisoners. Amnon Michaelov, who was judged with them and was in Acre Prison at the same time testified:
Michaelov says that later that night the doors of the corridor opened and the hangman approached the convicts' cell together with some policemen, a military doctor and the manager of the prison in Nablus
Nablus
Nablus is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 126,132. Located in a strategic position between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a Palestinian commercial and cultural center.Founded by the...
.
Some time afterwards, prisoners once more heard the "Hatikvah" breaking from the area of the oubliette. All Jewish prisoners then joined in the singing, which rang throughout the building. After twenty minutes, at 04:00 on Tuesday, the prisoners heard Haviv singing. His voice then stopped when he was hanged at 4:03. Haviv died on July 29 at the age of 21. Meir followed and like Haviv, sang until his last moments. Twenty minutes later his body was brought out, and at 04:25 Yaakov Weiss ascended the gallows, where he too sang the "Hatikvah" with other prisoners joining in.
Aftermath
Safed
Safed , is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and of Israel. Due to its high elevation, Safed experiences warm summers and cold, often snowy, winters...
in a convoy led by a military vehicle followed by a family car and the "chevra kadisha
Chevra Kadisha
A chevra kadisha is a loosely structured but generally closed organization of Jewish men and women who see to it that the bodies of Jews are prepared for burial according to Halacha and are protected from desecration, willful or not, until burial...
". Nakar was first to be buried followed by Weiz and Haviv. The shock in Israel was deep at the time, coming as it did on top of an incident that created a storm in the settlement of the SS Exodus.
Charlton resigned as manager of the Acre Prison on the same day. It is known that he refused to execute the men personally and a replacement had to be brought in.
On July 30, the Irgun carried out their threat to kill the two British sergeants they had kidnapped earlier. The soldiers were hanged and their bodies booby-trapped and left in a grove near Netanya
Netanya
Netanya is a city in the Northern Centre District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is located north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa between the 'Poleg' stream and Wingate Institute in the south and the 'Avichail' stream in the north.Its of beaches have made the...
. This operation shocked Britain, despite the explicit threat beforehand, and brought to an end hanging of Jews in the British Mandate of Palestine. Meir Nakar, Yaakov Weiss and Avshalom Haviv were the last to ascend the British gallows.