thumb|The hotel after the bombing

The '''King David Hotel bombing''' was an attack by the  British Mandatory authorities of Palestine, which was carried out in Jerusalem on the 22nd of July, 1946. It was the deadliest attack against the British during the time of the Mandate (1920-1948).

Operating in disguise, British military headquarters and a branch of the British citizens, 41 Arabs, 17 Jews, and 5 others. Around 45 people were injured. Some of the deaths and injuries occurred in the road outside the hotel and in adjacent buildings. 

==The attack==
Moshe Sneh, chief of the Haganah General Headquarters, sent a letter to the then leader of the Irgun, Menachem Begin, which instructed: <ref>Text in ''(bracketed italics)'' has been inserted to clarify some of the references. The original letter can be found in the Jabotinsky Institute Archives (k-4 1/11/5).</ref>

*At the earliest possible opportunity, you are to carry out the operation at the "chick" ''(code for the King David Hotel)'' and at the house of "your servant and messiah" ''(code for the David Brothers building)''. Inform me of the date. Preferably at the same time. Do not reveal the identity of the implementing body - either by announcing it explicitly or by hinting. 
*We too are preparing something - will inform you of details in good time.
*Exclude TA ''(Tel Aviv)'' from any plan of action. We are all interested in preserving TA - as the center of Yishuv life and the center of our own activities. If, as the result of any action, TA is immobilized ''(i.e., curfew, arrests)'', this will paralyze us and our plans as well. And the important objects of the other side are not focused here. Hence, TA is 'out of bounds' for the forces of Israel. 1.7.46. M. ''(Moshe Sneh)''."

Despite an initial approval for the project, repeated delays in executing the operation were requested by the Haganah, in response to  changes unfolding in the political situation. The plan was finalised between Amichai Feglin (Gidi), chief of operations from the Irgun, and Itzhak Sadeh, commander of the Palmach. The plan foresaw Irgun men, disguised as Arabs, except for the leader, who was dressed as one of the hotel's distinctive Sudanese waiters, entering the building through a basement service entrance, carrying the explosives concealed in milk cans, which were to be placed by the main structural supports of the wing where the majority of the offices used by the British authorities were located. The Secretariat occupied most of the southern wing of the hotel, with the military headquarters occupying the top floor of the south wing and the top, second and third floors of the middle of the hotel.<ref name="times23Jul46">''The Times'' newspaper, London, 23rd of July, 1946.</ref> In the final review of the plan, it was decided that the attack would take place on July 22 at 11:00, a time when there would be no people in the coffee shop in the basement in the area where the bomb was to be planted<ref name="jeffers2004">H. Paul Jeffers, ''The Complete Idiot's Guide to Jerusalem'', Alpha Books, Jerusalem, 2004. p. 151 [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ZMABf2jrk6cC&pg=PA151&lpg=PA151&dq=%22slave+and+redeemer%22&source=web&ots=43Pq6nJ1_-&sig=Hf50nNCDxDxitIUXrceCLrLxQVg&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result]</ref> and when it would be possible to enter the hotel more easily<ref name="bethell">Nicholas Bethell, ''The Palestine Triangle'', Andre Deutsch 1979, Futura 1970</ref>. Originally, the attack was supposed to coincide with another, carried out by the Lehi, on government offices at the David Brothers Building, but, that one, codenamed "Operation Your Slave and Redeemer", was cancelled. The Irgun said that the time chosen and other details of the plan were aimed at minimizing civilian casualties. Irgun reports included explicit precautions so that the whole area would be evacuated.<ref name="katz1966">Katz, Shmuel. ''Days of Fire''. Karni Press , 1966, p.196-197.</ref> This led to recriminations between the Haganah and Irgun later. The Haganah said that they had specified that the attack should take place later in the day, when the offices would have been emptier of people<ref name="bethell"/>. The attack used approximately 350 kg of explosives spread over six charges. Due to a delay, caused, according to Begin, by "consultations" about the cancellation of the David Brothers Building attack<ref name="jeffers2004"/>, the operation started at about 12:00. In the Irgun account, a minor gunfight ensued with two British soldiers who had become suspicious and tried to intervene. The Irgun squad suffered two casualties as a result of this gunfight.<ref name="katz1966"/> After placing the bombs, the Irgun men quickly slipped out and detonated a small explosive in the street outside the hotel to keep passers-by away from the area. The Arab workers in the kitchen fled after being told to do so.<ref name="katz1966"/>

Shortly after noon, Palestine time, the London bureau of English, to a telephone operator at the King David Hotel at the hotel's own switchboard (the Secretariat and the military each had their own, separate, telephone exchanges). In the summer of 1946, there had been many false bomb warnings. This one seemed no different, and there was no immediate response. At 12:27 Adina Hay made a second warning call, this time to the French Consulate. This second call was taken seriously, and the staff rushed through the building opening windows and closing curtains to lessen the impact of the blast. At 12:31, Adina made a third and final warning call to the Palestine Post newspaper. The telephone operator at the newspaper was tired of bomb threats that turned out to be hoaxes. But she called the Palestine Police CID to report the message. She then called the King David switchboard. The operator at the King David reported the threat to one of the managers. This warning resulted in the discovery of the milk churns in the  basement. But by then it was too late. (Thurston Clarke, "By Blood and Fire," Putnam, NY, 1981, pp.160-214.) The explosion occurred at 12:37. Several reporters were already in the area because of leaks regarding the warnings.<ref name="katz1966"/>

Since the bombing, much controversy has ensued over the issues of whether and when warnings were sent and how the British authorities responded. Irgun representatives have always claimed that the warning was given well in advance, so that adequate time was available to evacuate the hotel. Menachem Begin writes  that the telephone message was delivered 25 - 27 minutes before the explosion.<ref>Menachem Begin, ''The Revolt'', 1951 p.221</ref>. It is often stated that the British authorities have always denied that a warning was sent. However, what the British Government said at the time was not that no warning had been sent, but that no such warning had been received by anyone at the Secretariat "''in an official position with any power to take action''."<ref name="koest49">Arthur Koestler, ''Promise and Fulfilment, Palestine 1917-1949'', Macmillan, London, 1949</ref> Various government papers relating to the bombing were released under the 30 year rule in 1978, including the results of the military and police investigations. The police report says, "The telephone operator of the King David Hotel was interrogated and states that he received the warning two minutes before the main explosion and that this warning was communicated immediately to Mr Hamburger, the manager
of the King David Hotel. This was corroborated by Mr Hamburger, who states that as he was informed, the explosion took place." According to Begin, the British had been warned of the bombing but refused to evacuate the building because it was a matter of: 'We don't take orders from the Jews' <ref> James Taranto, [http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110004645 "Best of the Web Today"], ''Wall Street Journal'', February 4 2004</ref>. However, according to the Irgun's then propaganda chief, Shmuel Katz, in his book ''Days of Fire'', "The Haganah radio later broadcast a report that on receiving the warning Sir John Shaw, the Chief Secretary of the British administration, had said: 'I give orders here. I don't take orders from Jews'," and that he had insisted that nobody leave the building. Katz writes that this version may be dismissed because it probably developed from the fact that, while some of Shaw's close colleagues and subordinates had been killed, he himself emerged unscathed; it gained some credence when Shaw was transferred from Palestine a month later. He said that the greater likelihood was that the British did not take the warning seriously because they did not believe the Irgun could infiltrate their heavily-guarded HQ. In fact, there was a simple explanation for Shaw's survival. At the time of the explosion, he was in his office, which was in the south-east corner of the south wing, rather than the south-west corner, the one which was destroyed.<ref name="bethell"/><ref name="palpost23Jul46">''The Palestine Post'' newspaper , Jerusalem, 23rd of July, 1946.</ref>

==Responses to the attack==
House of Commons:

<blockquote>
Hon. Members will have learned with horror of the brutal and murderous crime committed yesterday in Jerusalem. Of all the outrages which have occurred in Palestine, and they have been many and horrible in the last few months, this is the worst. By this insane act of terrorism 93 innocent people have been killed or are missing in the ruins. The latest figures of casualties are 41 dead, 52 missing and 53 injured. I have no further information at present beyond what is contained in the following official report received from Jerusalem:
<br /><br />
"It appears that after exploding a small bomb in the street, presumably as a diversionary measure — this did virtually no damage — a lorry drove up to the tradesmen's entrance of the King David Hotel and the occupants, after holding up the staff at pistol point, entered the kitchen premises carrying a number of milk cans. At some stage of the proceedings, they shot and seriously wounded a British soldier who attempted to interfere with them. All available information so far is to the effect that they were Jews. Somewhere in the basement of the hotel they planted bombs which went off shortly afterwards. They appear to have made good their escape."
<br /><br />
Every effort is being made to identify and arrest the perpetrators of this outrage. The work of rescue in the debris, which was immediately organised, still continues. The next-of-kin of casualties are being notified by telegram as soon as accurate information is available. The House will wish to express their profound sympathy with the relatives of the killed and with those injured in this dastardly outrage.
</blockquote>
(House of Commons Debates, Hansard 425:1877-78 (23 July, 1946)).

The Chief Secretary for the Government of Palestine, Sir John Shaw, declared in a broadcast:
*"As head of the Secretariat, the majority of the dead and wounded were my own staff, many of whom I have known personally for eleven years. They are more than official colleagues. British, Arabs, Jews, Greeks, Armenians; senior officers, police, my orderly, my chauffeur, messengers, guards, men and women - young and old - they were my friends."

The Jewish political leadership publicly condemned these attacks. The Jewish Agency expressed "their feelings of horror at the base and unparalleled act perpetrated today by a gang of criminals". In fact, the Irgun was acting in response to instructions from the Jewish Resistance Movement, as described in the letter from Moshe Sneh cited above. Richard Crossman, a British Member of Parliament, reported later that in a private meeting with Chaim Weizmann, shortly after the attack, he expressed a different response than the ones he made publicly over the attack. Weizmann was reported as crying and saying that he can't help but be very proud for "our boys", and if it had been a German HQ they would have received the Victoria Cross (Richard Crossman - A Nation Reborn, The Israel of Weizmann Bevin and Ben-Gurion).

The Irgun issued an initial statement accepting responsibility for the attack, blaming the British for the deaths due to failure to respond to the warning and mourning the Jewish victims. A year later, on July 22 1947, they issued a new statement saying that they were acting on instructions from "a letter from the headquarters of the United Resistance, demanding that we carry out an attack on the center of government at the King David Hotel as soon as possible."

O '''Bombardeamento ao Hotel King David''' foi um ataque sionista denominada britânico na Palestina. O ataque foi organizado por Menachem Begin que  mais tarde ocupou o cargo de primeiro-ministro de Israel por duas vezes, o ataque terrorista resultou na morte de 91 pessoas (28 britânicos, 41 árabes, 17 judeus e 5 outros mortos) e ferimentos graves em outras 45 pessoas.

== O local ==
O Hotel King David, um hotel de luxo de sete andares, situado a oeste da zona da Cidade Antiga de Jerusalém, era o local onde se encontrava sediada quase toda a administração do mandato da Palestina, atribuído pela Sociedade das Nações ao Reino Unido. 

== O ataque ==
A ideia do bombardeamento partiu de Menachem Begin que depois atribui a responsabilidade de organização do ataque a Yisrael Levi, comandante de operações do Irgun em Jerusalém, e a Yosef Avni.

Na manhã de 22 de Julho de 1946 oito militantes do Irgun, vestidos com trajes árabes, viajaram com destino ao hotel numa carrinha carregada com sete vasilhas de leite, nas quais se escondiam explosivos e detonadores e às 12h37 minutos uma explosão destruiu a ala sul do hotel causando inumeras mortes. 

Segundo as versões dos terroristas, eles entraram com as vasilhas na área de serviço do hotel situada na rés-do-chão, prenderam o pessoal do hotel e arrastaram os explosivos para o ''La Régence'', um bar do hotel situado na cave onde finalmente colocaram os explosivos junto a dois pilares que sustinham o hotel. No entanto segundo a versão do cumplice Menachem Begin, o grupo realizou três telefonemas para três entidades alertando-os sobre os ataques, de modo a minimizar as mortes humanas, além do aviso por telefone ao hotel, outro teria sido enviado ao Consulado Francês e o último ao jornal ''Palestine Post''. De acordo com chefe dos terroristas, um funcionário civil britânico do hotel teria afirmado que não não recebiam ordens de judeus. Contudo, os Britânicos negam até hoje ter recebido qualquer tipo de aviso.