Eliyahu Bet-Zuri

Who was Eliyahu Bet-Zuri?

Eliyahu Bet-Zuri was a member of Lehi, who was executed in Egypt for assassinating Lord Moyne, the British Minister Resident in the Middle East. He was a Mizrahi Jew of Galilean descent, his father was the Postmaster of Tiberias, a predominantly Jewish city with a significant Arab population., and was fluent in Arabic besides Hebrew.

Born in Tel Aviv, Bet Zuri attended the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He also joined the Etzel, but later left that movement to join the Lehi.

On 6 November 1944, Bet Zuri and Eliyahu Hakim assassinated Lord Moyne in Cairo. They were caught immediately and put on trial before a military court. At the trial, Bet-Zuri gave a decidedly nationalist speech, inspired by the Canaanite movement in Palestine:

"We do not recognize England's right to give us Palestine or take it away from us. Let me make clear to the court: My ideas are not Zionist ideas. We don't fight to uphold the Balfour Declaration. We don't fight for the sake of the National Home. We fight for our freedom. In our country a foreign power rules." and "Millions sank in the sea of blood and tears, but the British skipper did not lift them to the ship.