Hebrew‐language clandestine radio broadcasting during the British Palestine mandate

Abstract

This study concerns Jewish clandestine radio broadcasting from the late 1930s through 1948 in Palestine under the British Mandate and briefly after the creation of Israel as a state. Concerned about security during this period, the United Kingdom had a policy of controlling information as much as possible. In 1936, the Mandate Authority created a local radio station modeled after the BBC's domestic service, but neither Jewish nor Arab political organizations had an electronic outlet for their specific points of view. Although it was impossible to stem the circulation of underground printed information, the British tried to stop the illegal radio stations operated by various Jewish organizations. This research reviews both the nature of the Hebrew‐language operation and the efforts of the British forces to stop them.