---
tags:
  - Organization
  - Paramilitary
  - Israel
  - Terrorism
category: "Paramilitary"
summary: "LEHI (Lohamei Herut Israel), also known as the Stern Gang, was a Jewish paramilitary organization founded by Avraham Stern and later led by Yitzhak Shamir that conducted assassinations and bombings against British Mandate authorities and Arab targets in Palestine."
start: 1940
end: 1948
location: "Palestine"
---
[[LEHI]] (Lohamei Herut Israel, Hebrew for Fighters for the Liberation of [[Israel]]), also known as the [[Stern Gang]], was a Jewish terrorist group. It was founded by [[David Stern]] and later led by [[Yitzhak Shamir]].[^1]

[[Gourdji]], the father of [[Ari Ben-Menashe]], was involved with [[LEHI]] in [[Palestine]] during 1940. Although the organization had a reputation as right-wing, many of its members were formerly part of the communist movement. [[LEHI]] was virulently anti-British, and [[Yitzhak Shamir]] was even willing to negotiate with the [[Nazi Germany|Nazis]] for Jewish lives, offering to fight alongside German troops against the British if the Germans would allow interned Jews to emigrate to [[Palestine]].[^1]

[[LEHI]] members were persecuted and hunted down, even by other Jews in [[Palestine]], due to opposition from the British, [[United States|U.S.]] governments, and the Jewish labor movement. Most individuals affiliated with the [[Stern Gang]] were not welcomed in the State of [[Israel]] after its establishment. [[Yitzhak Shamir]] was an exception, becoming a prominent figure in [[Mossad]].[^1]

### Footnotes
[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992.