Eliyahu Bet-Zuri
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Eliyahu Bet-Zuri (1922 – 22 March 1945) was a member of Lehi, who was executed in Egypt for assassinating Lord Moyne, the British Minister Resident in the Middle East.
Born in Tel Aviv, Bet Zuri attended the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He also joined the Etzel, but later left that movement to join the Lehi.
On 6 November 1944, Bet Zuri and Eliyahu Hakim assassinated Lord Moyne in Cairo. They were caught immediately and put on trial before a military court. At the trial, Bet-Zuri gave a decidedly nationalist, inspired by the Canaanite movement in Palestine. He condemned his judges as a member of an oppressed people fighting against colonial occupation. While this won him considerable support among the Egyptian public, he and Hakim were both sentenced to death. They were hanged in Cairo on 22 March 1945, singing Hatikvah, the Zionist anthem, from the gallows.
Their remains were brought to Israel in 1975 and interred on Mount Herzl with full military honors.
[edit] External links
- Malkah Ben Tov, "From Accused to Accusers: The Trial of Eliyahu Hakim and Eliyahu Bet-Zuri" on the Lehi website (Hebrew)
- Dr. Yosef Nedava, "Hakim and Bet-Zuri," on the Daat website (Hebrew)
- Eliyahu Bet-Zuri biography on the Etzel website