Yehoshua Zettler

Yehoshua Zettler (; July 15, 1917 – May 20, 2009; last name also spelled as Zeitler) was an Israeli man who served as the Jerusalem commander of the Jewish terrorist group Lehi, often called the Stern Gang. He conceived and planned the September 17, 1948, assassination of Swedish Count Folke Bernadotte, who was representing the United Nations Security Council as a mediator in the aftermath of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.

Biography Zettler was born on July 15, 1917, in Kfar Saba, a Jewish settlement in what became the British Mandate of Palestine following World War I, and later part of Israel. The community — including Zettler's home — was largely destroyed in Arab riots in 1921, and the house was reconstructed after his family and other residents returned. He attended the Geula school in Tel Aviv.

Jewish underground He joined the Haganah when he was 14 years old. In 1933, he joined the breakaway Haganah-Bet, which became the Irgun in 1937. Zettler was one of the organization's top commanders. He took part in the July 6, 1938 raid in which five Arabs were shot and killed in the village of Biyar 'Adas, the first organized attack in Mandatory Palestine by Jewish forces against an Arab village. The tires of the other vehicles in Bernadotte's convoy had been shot out, and the hit team fled to Shaarei Pina, where they were hidden by haredi supporters of Lehi, before moving on to Tel Aviv in a furniture truck.

Zettler acknowledged his role in directing the assassination in a 1988 interview with Israel Radio. In a 1988 interview with Dan Margalit, Zettler stated that the decision to go ahead with the assassination was made based on Bernadotte's proposals for separate Jewish and Arab states in what had been the Palestinian Mandate. He did not regret his actions, stating that "When we demonstrated in front of [Bernadotte] and told him 'Go away from our Jerusalem, go back to Stockholm', he did not respond. So we had no choice."

Personal life He was married in 1948 to Bella Shechter, a member of Lehi. Their marriage was conducted on a Jerusalem rooftop in the presence of armed guards. Together they had two daughters: Ariella and Ephrat.

Zettler remained on Israel's political right wing, retaining a long-held suspicion of Arabs and foreigners in Israel, and believed that Israel should retain territories occupied during the Six-Day War. In his later years, he lived in Tel Aviv and ran a gas station in Jaffa.

Zettler died at age 91 on May 20, 2009.