page_title: Ze'ev Jabotinsky
section_title: Military career
hierarchical_section_title: Ze'ev Jabotinsky / Military career
caption_attribution_description: עברית: תעודת הוקרה שקיבל זאב ז'בוטינסקי במסגרת תפקידו בגדודים העבריים בגדוד 38, כסלו תר"ף דצמבר 1919; מוצגת דרך קבע במכון ז'בוטינסקי בתל אביב English: 1919 testimonial to Jabotinsky by men of 38th battalion, Royal Fusiliers
context_page_description: Ze'ev Jabotinsky, MBE, was a Russian Jewish Revisionist Zionist leader, author, poet, orator, soldier and founder of the Jewish Self-Defense Organization in Odessa. With Joseph Trumpeldor, he co-founded the Jewish Legion of the British army in World War I. Later he established several Jewish organizations in Palestine, including Betar, Hatzohar, and the Irgun.
  His influence on Israeli politics is profound: through his closest protégé Menachem Begin's administration, consolidating the domination of Israeli politics by the right-wing Likud party; and through the administrations of Likud's leader Benjamin Netanyahu, the son of his former personal secretary and historian, Benzion Netanyahu.
context_section_description: During World War I, he had the idea of establishing a Jewish Legion to fight alongside the British against the Ottomans who then controlled Palestine. In 1915, together with Joseph Trumpeldor, a one-armed veteran of the Russo-Japanese War, he created the Zion Mule Corps, which consisted of several hundred Jewish men, mainly Russians who had been exiled from Palestine by the Ottoman Empire and had settled in Egypt. The unit served with distinction in the Battle of Gallipoli. When the Zion Mule Corps was disbanded, Jabotinsky traveled to London, where he continued his efforts to establish Jewish units to fight in Palestine as part of the British Army. Although Jabotinsky did not serve with the Zion Mule Corps, Trumpeldor, Jabotinsky and 120 Zion Mule Corps members did serve in Platoon 16 of the 20th Battalion of the London Regiment. In 1917, the government agreed to establish three Jewish battalions, initiating the Jewish Legion.
  As an honorary lieutenant in the 38th Royal Fusiliers, Jabotinsky saw action in Palestine in 1918. His battalion was one of the first to enter Transjordan.
  He was demobilised in September 1919, soon after he complained to Field Marshal Allenby about the British Army's attitude towards Zionism and the Jewish Legion. His appeals to the British government failed to reverse the decision, but in December 1919 he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his service.
caption: Testimonial to Jabotinsky from the 38th Battalion Royal Fusiliers
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