Major Farran's Hat
The Untold Story of the Struggle to Establish the Jewish State
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
In May 1947 a sixteen-year-old Jewish activist named Alexander Rubowitz was abducted in broad daylight from the streets of Jerusalem. At the abduction scene, a gray hat was found, purportedly belonging to Major Roy Farran, a decorated World War II officer who was in charge of British counterterrorism in Palestine. As evidence mounted against Farran, the Zionist underground swore vengeance. The episode precipitated a series of nail-biting twists and turns that had far-reaching consequences.
An engaging mix of true crime and polemical narrative history, peopled by a cast of luminaries including Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, Menachem Begin, and Golda Meir, Major Farran's Hat investigates shady violence, scandaluos cover-ups, and political expediency. It also explores why Britain lost Palestine, as well as how its counterinsurgency and diplomatic strategies collided so disastrously. By exposing Britain's legacy in the Middle East, this historical thriller echoes today's war on terror and pointedly illustrates the circumstances surrounding the birth of the State of Israel.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
British historian Cesarani, who won a National Jewish Book Award for "Becoming Eichmann", investigates a murder, coverup and ensuing scandal in 1947 Palestine that, he says, ultimately cost Britain its mandate over Palestine. Receiving intelligence that radical Jewish resistance forces were planning an assassination on British soil, Whitehall approved a security crackdown involving special squads intended to provoke violence and snatch suspects. In May 1947, one squad, headed by Maj. Roy Farran, came upon 16-year-old Alexander Rubowitz reportedly putting up Jewish underground posters in Jerusalem, and abducted, tortured and killed him during an interrogation. Farran fled to Syria, but returned to face court-martial; his acquittal provoked criticism in the Jewish press and skepticism around the world, but in Britain he received a hero's welcome. In 1948, Farran's brother was killed by a letter bomb apparently intended for Roy; the Jewish underground took responsibility. Utilizing a variety of sources that have only recently become available, Cesarani reveals the surprising existence of Jewish terrorist networks in Europe while offering a masterful and persuasive account of an ugly episode in British colonial history. 8 pages of b&w photos; maps. "" .
