[Sherman Logan]

When three Irgun members were hanged by the British for specific criminal acts they had committed, the Irgun kidnapped and hanged three random British soldiers in retaliation.

I find it difficult to see any criteria for the definition of a terrorist organization that would include the IRA and today's insurgents in Iraq but exclude the Irgun. Except the classic criterion that nobody on "my side" can be a terrorist.

BTW, the Sons of Liberty killed few, if any, people.

[Nachum]

And how many did the Irgun kill?

[Thud]

They're very defensive. God forbid they should ever go to a pro baseball game and listen to the fans heckling the players. Why it would make them break out their submachine guns and spray the crowd while crying.

[investigateworld]

Hanging those British Sergeants in an orange grove was not only murder, but but the worst thing they could have done PR wise.

I suspect every Arab on the block received a free case of ammo, after that.

Really dumb!

[bvw]

An historical anomaly.

The Sons of Liberty and the Committees of Correspondence were violent at times but not deadly -- at least until Lexington and Concord, where they met the British force as an open and organized militia force. That discipline of rebellion seems unmatched in history. Nor does history record -- afaik -- many other instances of the technique of tarring and feathering, which the Sons did use against the British agents.

[montag813]

When three Irgun members were hanged by the British for specific criminal acts they had committed, the Irgun kidnapped and hanged three random British soldiers in retaliation.

Exactly. The British were sadistic monsters to Jews in those days and got what was coming to them.