Yehoshua Zettler Yehoshua Zettler ( July 15 , 1917 – May 20 , 2009 ; last name also spelled as Zeitler ) was an Israeli who served as the Jerusalem commander of Jewish paramilitary group Lehi , often also called as " the Stern gang " . He conceived and carried out the September 17 , 1948 , assassination of Swedish Count Folke Bernadotte , 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 community 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 . Haganah , Irgun and Lehi . He joined the Haganah when he was 14 - years old , and became part of Haganah Bet in 1933 , 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 . In June 1940 , when the Irgun decided to suspend its underground military activities against the British during World War II , Zettler followed Avraham Stern and others who created Lehi ( a Hebrew language acronym for " Lohamei Herut Yisrael " , translated into English as " Israel Freedom Fighters " ) , which would follow a combative approach with the British authorities in Palestinian Mandate . Zettler organized the robbery of a Tel Aviv bank in September 1940 and was subsequently arrested for the crime in May 1941 . He then escaped from British detention and was chosen by the Lehi leadership to be its chief of operations . He eluded police for several weeks , until December 2 , 1940 , when he was re - arrested at his Tel Aviv apartment . Zettler was sentenced to a 15 - year term . He was sent to the British prison in Acre after his involvement in a riot at the Jerusalem central jail . In Acre , he immediately began to plan his escape . On May 4 , 1947 , as part of the Acre Prison break , he helped lead 42 members of the Irgun and Lehi out of the prison , as well as nearly 200 Arab prisoners , after a series of explosions set at the walls of the prison were used to blast holes in the prison ' s walls and doors . During the 1948 war , Zettler commanded Lehi forces in Jerusalem . He took part in the April 1948 attack on Deir Yassin , a hilltop village overlooking western areas of Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv - Jerusalem road . The attack by Irgun and Lehi forces ended in a massacre of over 100 Palestinian civilians , spreading a wave of fear through other Palestinian communities . This is considered a major turning point in the 1948 war . Assassination of Folke Bernadotte . Zettler was responsible for conceiving and carrying out the September 17 , 1948 , assassination of Swedish diplomat Count Folke Bernadotte , who represented the United Nations Security Council as a mediator in the aftermath of the 1948 Arab – Israeli War . Bernadotte , in consultation with the United States and United Kingdom , advocated a plan under which major revisions in territorial holdings would be made in accordance with the November 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine , including placing Jerusalem under UN control . Many Israelis opposed these proposals and Lehi leaders decided that Bernadotte ' s assassination would be the most effective means to prevent their implementation . The assassination plan was discussed in a September 10 , 1948 , meeting of Lehi leadership in a Tel Aviv apartment , which included Israel Eldad , Nathan Yellin - Mor and future - Prime Minister of Israel Yitzhak Shamir . Shamir later recounted that " The idea was conceived in Jerusalem by Lehi members . Our opinion was asked , and we offered no opposition . " With no objections raised , Zettler came back to Jerusalem and selected the team that would carry out the attack on Bernadotte , which included Meshulam Makover and Yehoshua Cohen . On September 17 , 1948 , Bernadotte came to Jerusalem in a car with General Åge Lundström on his way to meet Israeli official Dov Yosef , who was then the military governor of the Israeli - controlled portion of Jerusalem ' s New City . Bernadotte ' s car was stopped by an Israeli Army Jeep at a roadblock in the Katamon neighborhood . Cohen ran from the Jeep pointed a gun inside the car and shot at Bernadotte and the others in the back seat of the car at point - blank range , riddling him with bullets . Bernadotte had been hit six times , killing him almost instantaneously . The car was driven at full speed to Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus , but doctors there were unable to do anything for Bernadotte , who was bleeding profusely from his wounds . French Army Colonel André Serot , who had been sitting in the back seat next to Bernadotte , was also killed . 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 . " After the killing , then - Prime Minister of Israel David Ben - Gurion banned Lehi as " a gang of rogues , cowards and low schemers " and had its members arrested , though , they were released immediately . Massacre at Deir Yassin . Zettler has been implicated as a leader in the massacre at the village of Deir Yassin , just outside Jerusalem , in which over 100 unarmed Palestinians were murdered by members of Zettler ’ s Lehi and the Irgun , which was led by Menachem Begin , who later became prime minister of Israel . Personal life . He was married in 1948 to Bella Shechter , a member of Lehi ; Together they had two daughters : Ariella and Ephrat . Zettler remained on Israel ' s political right wing , retaining a long - held opposition to Arabs and foreigners in Israel , and believed that Israel should retain territories occupied during the Six - Day War . Zettler died at age 91 on May 20 , 2009 .