Yisrael Levy; Israeli Underground Fighter

Yisrael Levy, 64, an underground fighter in Israel’s struggle for independence who carried out the 1946 bombing of a Jerusalem hotel that killed 91 people. Levy belonged to Irgun Zvai Leumi, the militant Jewish underground that fought the British for independence in the 1940s. Irgun carried out dozens of attacks on British army, government and police targets. Its deadliest operation was the bombing of the King David, a hotel that housed the British Government Secretariat and army headquarters. The Jerusalem-born Levy was entrusted with the mission, having already participated in a bombing of British police headquarters in Jerusalem in 1945. On July 22, 1946, Levy and his accomplices entered the hotel basement dressed as Arabs and planted milk cans packed with explosives. The 200 casualties included 91 dead, among them senior British officers. Levy stayed with the Irgun until it was disbanded in 1948, the year in which Israel won statehood. On Friday in Jerusalem of undisclosed causes.