The next year he became High Commissioner of the British Mandate of Palestine and was blamed for sending at least 768 Jewish refugees aboard MV "Struma" to their deaths. Seven unsuccessful attempts, mainly by Lehi, were undertaken to assassinate him during his sojourn in Palestine. In the last, both he and his wife narrowly escaped death in an ambush Lehi mounted on 8 August 1944 on the eve of his replacement as High Commissioner.