Abraham Stavsky

Abraham Stavsky ( ? – 1948) was an activist member of Betar, the youth movement of a Revisionsit Zionist group founded by Vladimir Jabotinsky.

On June 18, 1933, Stavsky was arrested by the British Mandate police as a suspect in the June 16, 1933 murder of Chaim Arlosoroff. He was convicted on June 8, 1934, and sentenced to death. A public campaign to free him was launched, and an outspoken supporter was the Chief Rabbi of Palestine, Rav Kook. His conviction was overturned in 1934, by the highest British Court of Appeals in Palestine. [ [http://www.betar.org.uk/history.php History of Betar - The Stavsky Scandal] ] He went on to work with the Irgun in smuggling Jews out of Europe during the Holocaust and was killed in exchange of gunfire while aboard the Altalena, a munitions ship commissioned by the Irgun that ran aground 50 yards off the shore of Tel Aviv. Ironically, Stavsky died less than 100 yards from the very spot on the beach where Chaim Arlosoroff was murdered 15 years and four days earlier.

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