page_title: King David Hotel
section_title: British Mandate of Palestine
hierarchical_section_title: King David Hotel / History / British Mandate of Palestine
caption_attribution_description: English: The picture was published in the Jerusalem Post after the destruction of Hotel King David by Irgoun - 1946. Čeština: Část hotelu Krále Davida v Jeruzalémě zničená bombovým útokem Irgunu
context_page_description: The King David Hotel is a 5-star hotel in Jerusalem and a member of The Leading Hotels of the World. Opened in 1931, the hotel was built with locally quarried pink limestone and was founded by Ezra Mosseri, a wealthy Egyptian Jewish banker. It is located on King David Street in the centre of Jerusalem, overlooking the Old City and Mount Zion.
  The hotel, owned and operated by the Dan Hotels group, has traditionally been the chosen venue for hosting heads of state, dignitaries, and other personalities during their visits to Jerusalem. It is also famous for having been targeted by a terrorist bombing in 1946 undertaken by the Zionist paramilitary group Irgun, in which 91 people died.
context_section_description: In 1929, Palestine Hotels Ltd. purchased 4.5 acres (18,000 m²) on Jerusalem's Julian’s Way, today King David Street. Half the construction costs were paid by Ezra Mosseri, an affluent Egyptian Jewish banker and director of the National Bank of Egypt, and another 46% by other wealthy Cairo Jews. The approximately 4% remaining was paid by the National Bank, which purchased 693 shares of the company between 1934 and 1943.
  From its earliest days, the King David Hotel hosted royalty: the dowager empress of Persia, queen mother Nazli of Egypt, and King Abdullah I of Jordan stayed at the hotel, and three heads of state forced to flee their countries took up residence there: King Alfonso XIII of Spain, forced to abdicate in 1931, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, driven out by the Italians in 1936, and King George II of Greece, who set up his government in exile at the hotel after the Nazi occupation of his country in 1942. During the British Mandate, the southern wing of the hotel was turned into a British administrative and military headquarters.
  On July 22, 1946, the southwestern corner of the hotel was bombed during an attack led by the Zionist paramilitary group Irgun. 91 people died and 45 people were injured. An earlier attempt by the Irgun to attack the hotel had been foiled when the Haganah learned of it, and warned the British authorities.
caption: King David Hotel after bomb attack
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