Flyer issued by the "Irgun Zevai Leumi" (Etzel) underground, designed to look like an air letter addressed to an anonymous recipient in New York. The flyer was issued as part of a campaign to raise a million dollars in support of the Etzel's activities from the American Jewish community, shortly before the termination of the British Mandate in Palestine. February 1948. English.
In this flyer, colored by the passion so characteristic of its author's style, Menachem Begin campaigns to collect a million dollars in donations in support of the Etzel and its activities in preparation for war, while the impending departure of the British Mandatory authorities from Palestine hovers in the background.
"One hundred days, at most, is all that is left to us […] It will cost us streams of blood – but we can win […] I write these lines not only with deep faith but also with great anxiety […] We could achieve miracles. We are preparing to go out to the firing line in full strength […] We need iron – in the widest sense of the term. We need war material and the means to make war."
The flyer is signed in print with Begin's initials, and his signature in pen – "M. Begin" – appears next to that.
On the very day the flyer was signed (February 22, 1948), members of the Etzel attempted to rob a branch of Barclays Bank on Allenby St. in Tel Aviv.
[1] f., 20 cm., printed on both sides. Good condition. Minor stains. Fold lines.