King David Hotel bombing in the context of Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine

The Irgun (Hebrew: ארגון), officially the National Military Organization in the Land of Israel, often abbreviated as Etzel or IZL (אצ״ל), was a Zionist paramilitary organization that operated in Mandatory Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the older and larger Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah.

The Irgun policy was based on what was then called Revisionist Zionism founded by Ze'ev Jabotinsky. Two of the most infamous operations for which the Irgun were known; the bombing of the British administrative headquarters for Mandatory Palestine in Jerusalem on 22 July 1946 and the Deir Yassin massacre that killed at least 107 Palestinian Arab villagers, including women and children, carried out with Lehi on 9 April 1948.

Menachem Begin (16 August 1913 – 9 March 1992) was an Israeli politician who founded Herut and Likud and served as prime minister of Israel from 1977 to 1983.

Before the creation of the state of Israel, he was the leader of the Zionist militant group Irgun, the Revisionist breakaway from the larger Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah. He proclaimed a revolt, on 1 February 1944, against the British mandatory government, which was opposed by the Jewish Agency. As head of the Irgun, he targeted the British in Palestine, with a notable attack being the King David Hotel bombing. Later, the Irgun fought the Arabs during the 1947–48 civil war in Mandatory Palestine and, as its chief, Begin was described by the British government as the "leader of the notorious terrorist organisation". It declined him an entry visa to the United Kingdom between 1953 and 1955. However, Begin's overtures of friendship eventually paid off and he was granted a visa in 1972, five years prior to becoming prime minister.

Zionist political violence refers to acts of political violence committed by Zionists in support of establishing and maintaining a Jewish state in Palestine. These actions have been carried out by individuals, paramilitary groups, and the State of Israel and its military forces since the early 20th century as part of the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

In the pre-state period (1920s–1940s), Zionist paramilitaries such as the Irgun, Lehi, Haganah and Palmach engaged in violent campaigns against British authorities, Palestinian Arabs, and more moderate Jews to advance their political goals. Targets included security personnel, government figures, civilians, and infrastructure. After Israel's establishment in 1948, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and other state security forces continued to employ violence against Palestinian and neighboring Arab populations during the 1948 war (known by Palestinians as the Nakba, catastrophe), subsequent Arab-Israeli wars, and the military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.