Avshalom Haviv

Haviv took part in the Acre Prison break on May 4, 1947, in which Irgun fighters raided Acre Prison to free Jewish underground prisoners. Haviv was the leader of a blocking squad that laid mines to delay British pursuers, allowing the getaway trucks carrying escaped prisoners and retreating raiders to escape. Dov Salomon, a senior commander participating in the operation who was responsible for calling away the blocking squads, forgot to tell Haviv that the operation was over. As a result, his squad was left behind during the withdrawal. During the retreat from Acre Prison, other Irgun members shouted at him that the operation was over, but Haviv felt he had to wait for a formal order from Salomon before withdrawing. Thus, his team did not withdraw from their post. Haviv and four other men; Meir Nakar, Yaakov Weiss, Amnon Michaelov, and Nahman Zitterbaum, were left behind. Haviv and his men were still at their post when the British arrived. Accounts as to what happened next vary. According to some sources, they managed to hold the British at bay until their ammunition ran out, while the prosecutor allegedly stated that Haviv claimed to be a Haganah observer when he was arrested.

The trial began on Wednesday, May 28, 1947, after a delay of two days due to Yaakov Weiss' illness. The judges were Colonel M.E. Fell (the President of the Court), Major D. Lee Hunter, and Captain I. Stewart. The accused sang the Zionist anthem Hatikvah 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, Haviv equated the Irish War of Independence and American Revolution to the Jewish underground struggle:

About a month after his release from the Palmach, he returned to Jerusalem and began to study Hebrew literature, philosophy, and economics 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 British police's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Jerusalem and on the government income tax offices, as well as in mining operations in the Jerusalem-Bethlehem area against British security traffic. On January 19, 1946, Haviv participated in a joint Irgun-Lehi attack on the Central Prison in Jerusalem's Russian Compound in a failed attempt to free Jewish underground prisoners, in which two of the raiders and a British soldier and policeman were killed. On March 1, 1947, Haviv took part in an Irgun attack on a British officer's club in Goldschmidt House, which was in Jerusalem's Russian Compound. The attack took place on Shabbat, and Haviv, who was traditionally religious, left the synagogue during prayer. Haviv provided covering fire with a Bren gun for an Irgun sapper team which tossed explosive charges into the Goldschmidt House, leveling the building. During the operation, Haviv burned his hand on the gun barrel, but stayed at his post until the end of the mission.

On finishing high school, Haviv joined the Palmach, the elite fighting force of the Haganah as a condition for being allowed to study at university, as the Jewish Agency obliged all Jewish high school graduates to spend a year either working on a kibbutz or serving in the Palmach. He underwent military training at Ein Harod. On October 10, 1945, he participated in a Palmach raid on the Atlit detainee camp to free Holocaust survivors being held by the British authorities as illegal immigrants. The raid freed 208 inmates, among them Yaakov Weiss, who would go on to join the Irgun and eventually be hanged alongside Haviv.

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, anniversary of the release of Irgun leader Ze'ev Jabotinsky, 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. David Ben-Gurion, Chaim Weizmann, and the chief 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.

Avshalom Haviv (Hebrew: אבשלום חביב; June 18, 1926–July 29, 1947) was a member of the Irgun underground organization in Mandatory Palestine, and one of the Olei Hagardom executed by the British authorities during the Jewish insurgency in Palestine. His hanging, along with that of two other Irgun members, triggered the Irgun's retaliatory hangings of two British sergeants.

Avshalom Haviv was born on June 18, 1926 (Tammuz 6, 5686, according to the Jewish calendar), in Haifa. His father, Eliezer Haviv, was a well-known leather merchant. His mother was Rivkah Haviv. Haviv grew up and received his education in Jerusalem, residing with his family on Straus Street. In his youth he studied at the Tachkemoni School [he], 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, which then ruled Palestine. In an essay entitled "The Aspirations of an Enslaved Youth" he included the passage: