Yaakov Heruti | |
|---|---|
| יעקב חרותי | |
 Yaakov in 2012 | |
| Born | (1927-01-15)15 January 1927 |
| Died | 28 July 2022(2022-07-28) (aged 95) |
| Occupations | Lawyer, activist, terrorist, and police officer |
| Years active | 1950–2022 |
| Political party | Tehiya,Tsomet andLehi |
| Other political affiliations | Kingdom of Israel |
Yaakov Heruti (Hebrew:יעקב חרותי; 15 January 1927 – 28 July 2022)[1] was an Israeli lawyer, far-right activist and Zionist militant. He was a member of the pre-state militant groupLehi, during which he built bombs for the organization and in particular, assembled the letter bomb which was sent toRoy Farran while stationed in Britain as an undercover agent.[2] He later became the leader of the groupKingdom of Israel, which bombed the Soviet embassy inTel Aviv and carried out other acts of terrorism in the 1950s, for which he served a two-year prison term. He later became involved in politics and settlement activity, participating in the founding of two right-wing political parties and assisting settlers in purchasing land.
Heruti was born in Tel Aviv to Polish Jewish parents. His father was a supporter ofMapai.[2] After graduating from theHerzliya Gymnasium he joined theJewish Settlement Police.[3] As an adolescent, Heruti's political outlook had been shaped by the writings of Lehi founderAvraham Stern and the nationalist poetry ofUri Zvi Greenberg, and he joined Lehi soon after becoming a policeman.[3]
Heruti was part of Lehi's technical department and specialized in making bombs, which were first employed against British personnel during theJewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine.[2] He devised a new form of explosive for use by Lehi and opened a paint factory which produced explosives along with regular paint. Bell states that he was appointed head of the technical department in 1945.[4] In April 1947, one of Heruti's bombs destroyed aPalestine Police Force (PPF) outpost at the Sarona Compound, killing four police officers. In 1947Nathan Yellin-Mor directed him to set up a Lehi cell in the UK.[2] Heruti enrolled atLondon University law school as a cover and recruited a dozen accomplices from the ranks of right-wing Zionist groups likeBetar and theHebrew Legion.[3] Lehi's leadership instructed Heruti to kill British Foreign SecretaryErnest Bevin, who'd broken theLabour Party's promise to rescind theWhite Paper and establish a Jewish state immediately after the war, GeneralEvelyn Barker, the formergeneral officer commanding of thePalestine Command, andRoy Farran, a former PPF policeman who had been tried but acquitted for his role in the alleged murder of a teenage Lehi member. The order to kill Bevin was later rescinded. A letter bomb was sent to Barker's home, but his wife saw it as suspicious and called the police. The bomb sent to Farran's home was opened by his younger brother Rex, who was killed.[2] Heruti left the UK in May 1948, and took a ship from France to Israel.[5] He fought in the1948 Arab-Israeli War, in theJerusalem area.
In the 1950s, Heruti led a small militant group composed primarily of former Lehi members calledKingdom of Israel, also known as the Tzrifin Underground. In February 1953, Kingdom of Israel bombed the Soviet Embassy to protest Soviet antisemitism, injuring three people including the Soviet ambassador's wife and severely damaging the building. TheSoviet Union cut off diplomatic relations with Israel in response. The group also targeted theCzechoslovak Embassy and attempted to assassinateGerman ChancellorKonrad Adenauer, and occasionally shot at Jordanian troops in Jerusalem. Heruti and the other members of the group were apprehended in May 1953, and he was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a special military court. However, he and the other Kingdom of Israel members who were convicted had their sentences commuted two years later.
Following the murder ofRezső Kasztner in 1957, Heruti and several others were arrested on suspicion of membership in a terrorist organization. Heruti was acquitted of this charge, but was convicted of distributing leaflets condemning the judge for acquitting Kastzner. In January 1958, Heruti was sentenced to a year and a half in prison. Due to time served, he was released immediately.[6]
Heruti was one of the founders of the right-wing political partiesTehiya andTsomet. He coined the name ofRehavam Ze'evi's partyMoledet. As a lawyer he helped settler activists purchase land in the occupied territories, and he remained close to the leadership ofGush Emunim. In the 1990s and 2000s he was active at theAriel University Center of Samaria. He supported the expulsion of Arabs from Israel and the eventual establishment of an Israeli empire "from theEuphrates to theNile." Heruti was not religiously observant; his political views were defined by the work of Stern, Greenberg, andIsrael Eldad.[2]
Heruti had been married twice. He has one son from his first wife and six children from his second wife. He lived inTel Aviv.
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