Weiss, the last Zionist insurgent to be executed by British authorities in Mandatory Palestine, is memorialized today as one of 12 Olei Hagardom.

In 1943, following his father's death and with World War II underway, Weiss fled to Budapest, hoping to get to Palestine from there.

He would frequently travel to ghettos, especially those in Miskolc, Debrecen, Košice, and Eger, and demand the Nazi authorities release individual Jews he picked out, producing forged documents "proving" they were Christians.

He joined the Irgun, which was then conducting an insurrection against the British authorities in Palestine with the goal of compelling them to leave so a Jewish state could be established.

Weiss was part of a blocking squad that laid mines to cover the retreat of the attackers and escapees by delaying any British pursuers.

The five men were tried on capital charges of discharging a firearm and illegally possessing explosives in a military court, though Michaelov and Zitterbaum were too young to be sentenced to death.

[3] During their trial, the men refused to participate, disrupted the proceedings, and spent their time joking among themselves and drawing caricatures of members of the court.

Yaakov Weiss is remembered in Israel as one of the 12 Olei Hagardom, Palestinian Jewish fighters who were hanged or committed suicide while awaiting execution during the Mandate era.