Havlagah

It was adopted by Haganah, the main Zionist paramilitary in Mandate Palestine, as an official operational strategy.

On the other hand, Irgun, Lehi, and other like-minded Zionist paramilitaries rejected the policy and engaged in indiscriminate violence against the Arab community.

[1] The Havlagah policy was seen by many Jews, including the Zionist leadership, as a source of pride; it was a framework by which they morally differentiated themselves from their Arab rivals.

The National Council gathering... horrified about these crimes, subverting the moral basics of Judaism and Zionism, spreading hatred in this region's nations and can bring a tragedy for the Jewish settlement and the whole land.Berl Katznelson, a leader of Mapai, stated that the Havlagah policy is a form of self-defense meaning "righteousness of weapon" and not hurting innocent life: Havlagah means our weapon will be pure.

If we were not loyal to ourselves and adopted a different strategy, we would have lost the fight a long time ago.David Ben-Gurion, who later became the first Israeli prime minister, supported the Havlagah policy for more practical reasons.

He noted that the restraint would bring about a good relationship with Britain and a generally positive sentiment to the Zionist ideology in the world, thereby helping the Jewish effort: For political reasons, we should not act like the Arabs...

I said to one man who came to argue with me: If I will be shot and become a moribund, I would command all of Israel and the Yishuv to be careful and to abstain [from] any revenge actions.

A great achievement, Kiddush HaShem, and here in the Land of Israel, the Yishuv showed for two years a pure spirit, gave an expression for this Jewish institute, yes, this is a great achievement...Irgun, reacting to the Arab attacks with more violence and rejecting the general consensus of the Yishuv, referred to themselves as the "Havlagah breakers".

In the Land of Israel there are young political activists from the left and the right who are not afraid to clash with British soldiers, who are forcing them to act like cowards.