The Way of Herodotus

Starred review from August 3, 2009
British historian Cesarani, who won a National Jewish Book Award for Becoming Eichmann
, investigates a murder, coverup and ensuing scandal in 1947 Palestine that, he says, ultimately cost Britain its mandate over Palestine. Receiving intelligence that radical Jewish resistance forces were planning an assassination on British soil, Whitehall approved a security crackdown involving special squads intended to provoke violence and snatch suspects. In May 1947, one squad, headed by Maj. Roy Farran, came upon 16-year-old Alexander Rubowitz reportedly putting up Jewish underground posters in Jerusalem, and abducted, tortured and killed him during an interrogation. Farran fled to Syria, but returned to face court-martial; his acquittal provoked criticism in the Jewish press and skepticism around the world, but in Britain he received a hero's welcome. In 1948, Farran's brother was killed by a letter bomb apparently intended for Roy; the Jewish underground took responsibility. Utilizing a variety of sources that have only recently become available, Cesarani reveals the surprising existence of Jewish terrorist networks in Europe while offering a masterful and persuasive account of an ugly episode in British colonial history. 8 pages of b&w photos; maps.