Irgun

"Irgun (shorthand for Ha'Irgun Ha'Tsvai Ha'Leumi B'Eretz Yisrael, "National Military Organization in the Land of Israel") was a clandestine Zionist group that operated in Palestine from 1931 to 1948, as a militant offshoot of the earlier and larger Haganah (Hebrew: "The Defense") Jewish paramilitary organization. In Israel, Irgun is commonly referred to as Etzel, an acronym of the Hebrew initials. For secrecy reasons, people often referred to the Irgun, in the time in which it operated, as Haganah Bet (Hebrew: literally "Defense 'B' " or "Second Defense"), Haganah Ha'leumit or Ha'ma'amad.