A-Infos (en) Italy, Sicilia Libertaria #469 - A HISTORICAL FAKE. - The Jewish Partisan Brigade. (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Once again, on April 25, 2026, in Milan, numerous Zionist activists 
supporting the Jewish Brigade, supported by activists from Forza Italia 
and +Europa, took to the streets in a provocative manner, waving 
Israeli, US, Iranian, and Sha Palavi flags, with photographs of Trump 
and Netanyahu. Tensions in the streets have been high in recent years; 
this year, with the ongoing war in Lebanon, the imperialist aggression 
against Iran, the ongoing massacres in Gaza, and the ethnic cleansing of 
the West Bank by the Israeli army and neo-colonialists, they exploded in 
a confrontation between the anti-fascist demonstrators and the Zionists, 
which blocked the march for several hours.

Naturally, accusations of anti-Semitism immediately flew against the 
anti-fascist demonstrators, without taking into account that many Jewish 
anti-fascist militants were present in the march, carrying their banners.
But what exactly was the Jewish Brigade during the partisan resistance 
in Italy between 1943 and April 25, 1945?

Let's proceed in order: the partisan resistance against the Nazi 
occupation and against Republican fascism began after the armistice of 
September 8, 1943, which led to the harsh Nazi occupation of much of 
Italy. The fight against the Nazi occupation began at Porta San Paolo in 
Rome. Due to the lack of a coherent plan for the defense of the capital 
and a coordinated military resistance to the German occupation, as well 
as the simultaneous cowardly flight from Rome to Brindisi of King 
Vittorio Emanuele III of Savoy, along with his court, the head of the 
government, and the military leadership, the city was quickly conquered 
by Nazi German troops, opposed in vain and disorganized by the disbanded 
troops of the Royal Army and armed civilians, leaving approximately 
1,000 dead on the battlefield.

Another striking moment of resistance to the Nazi occupation was the 
popular uprising in Naples. The "Four Days of Naples" were the first 
mass armed response to the Nazi occupation.
The popular uprising, between September 27 and 30, 1943, succeeded in 
liberating the city of Naples, the first city liberated by the people in 
arms.
In Nazi-occupied Italy, subsequently co-governed by the fascist 
republicans of Salò, partisan brigades were formed, initially composed 
of former soldiers from the disbanded royal army and many young people 
who had gone into hiding to escape forced recruitment by the fascist 
republican militias.

The partisan brigades were armed formations composed of volunteer 
anti-fascists of both sexes, who operated from the autumn of 1943 until 
the late spring of 1945.
The CLN (National Liberation Committee, an umbrella organization for the 
anti-fascist parties) was the governing body of the partisan brigades. 
The main partisan groups coordinated by the CNL and the CVL (Volunteer 
Corps for Freedom) were: those organized by the Italian Communist Party 
(the Garibaldi Brigades, GAP, and SAP); those of communists not part of 
the PCI (Bandiera Rossa); those of the Action Party (Giustizia e 
Libertà); those of the Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity (Matteotti); 
the anarchist groups (Lucetti, Bruzzi-Malatesta, and others); the 
autonomous groups promoted by Alpine officers who later joined the 
Christian Democrats (Fiamme Verdi); those autonomous and linked to the 
DC and PdA (Osoppo); those of the Badoglians and Monarchists (Azzurre); 
and the liberal and monarchist groups led by Edgardo Sogno. More than 
700,000 people took part in the partisan brigades. The Jewish Brigade 
was not among the partisan brigades.

The Jewish Infantry Brigade Group (Jewish Brigade) was established on 
September 20, 1944, after lengthy negotiations between the Jewish 
authorities in Palestine and Winston Churchill's British government, 
which administered those territories under the mandate received from the 
League of Nations. Its members included Jews from the territories that 
would become modern-day Israel (many were soldiers already part of the 
Palestine Regiment formed in 1941 when the seemingly unstoppable German 
advance of Rommel's Afrika Korps in North Africa forced the British to 
mobilize all available forces). The Jews of the Land of Israel were 
joined by Jews from other countries then under British control (Canada, 
the Union of South Africa, and Australia), who would later be joined by 
other Jewish soldiers of Polish and Soviet nationality. Canadian 
Brigadier General Ernest Frank Benjamin was appointed to command the 
brigade.
After a period of training, mostly in Egypt, the soldiers of the Jewish 
Infantry Brigade Group were sent to Italy on October 31, 1944, to 
participate in the war. They landed in Taranto.
The Jewish Brigade was an independent military corps of the British 
Army, meaning it was not incorporated into pre-existing units, but 
rather incorporated into X Corps of the British Eighth Army. It had its 
own flag and emblem and was composed of approximately 5,000 Jewish 
soldiers. The Brigade fought for less than two months, from March 3, 
1945, in the Tuscan-Romagna Apennines: in the province of Ravenna, in 
Rimini, Forlì, and Faenza, also participating in the breakthrough of the 
Gothic Line on the Senio River front. The toll of 54 days of fighting 
was 51 dead. Therefore, the Jewish Brigade was never part of the Italian 
anti-fascist partisan resistance, but was a Zionist armed unit within 
the British Army.

After the war, the Jewish Brigade was tasked with rounding up Jewish 
Holocaust survivors and taking them by sea to the "land of the fathers." 
Returning to Palestine in 1946, the Jewish Infantry Brigade Group was 
disbanded and its soldiers returned to the Haganah.
After the proclamation of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948, and the 
subsequent withdrawal of British troops, the Haganah gave way to a new 
military apparatus: the Israel Defense Forces. Jewish Brigade Brigadier 
Mordechai Markleff was appointed Chief of Staff of the newly formed 
national army. In the 1950s, Aaron Remez, also a veteran of the Jewish 
Brigade, became the second commander in chief of the Israeli Air Force. 
In Israel, thirty-five of the Brigade veterans who fought on Italian 
soil later became generals. The military experience gained by the men of 
the Jewish Brigade proved extremely formative and decisive in the 
outcome of the war that led to the establishment of the State of Israel.

This is not to underestimate the role Jews played in the partisan 
struggle in Italy. More than a thousand Jews fought in various partisan 
formations, and fought as partisans among partisans. One thousand Jewish 
partisan fighters represents a high percentage, considering that in the 
1940s, the number of Italian Jews stood at around 50,000. It is 
important to emphasize that the Jewish Brigade was not a partisan corps, 
but a military corps of the British Army, which also fought in Italy for 
54 days, which after the Second World War helped refugees emigrate to 
Palestine, and that its members adhered to Zionist ideology.

Supporters of the Jewish Brigade have been participating in the April 
25th celebrations for twenty years. Thanks to the Friends of Israel 
Association (ADI), the Jewish Brigade began participating in the April 
25 demonstrations in 2004, protesting the presence of Palestinian flags. 
The presence of the Jewish Brigade insignia, carried in the procession 
by bellicose Zionist groups, is sadly tied to current political events 
and has nothing to do with the memory of the partisan resistance. It is 
clear that this is a political propaganda ploy to accredit Israel and 
the Zionist movement as part of the anti-fascist resistance, with the 
stated intent of excluding the participation of pro-Palestinian 
demonstrators who link the partisan liberation struggle to the 
Palestinian resistance. This framework is seen as a way of branding all 
those who support the Palestinian resistance as anti-Semitic and 
therefore comparable to fascist criminals.

Historical revisionism serves to manipulate current events, with the 
complicity of almost all Italian political parties, which have 
unflinchingly credited the Jewish Brigade among the formations that 
fought in the anti-fascist resistance.

Renato Franzitta ,
Fonti

Beckman, The Jewish Brigade: An Army With Two Masters, 1944-45, Sarpedon 
Publishers, 1999;

Samuele Rocca and Luca Stefano Cristini, The Jewish Brigade and the 
Jewish Units in the British Army during World War II, Soldiershop 
Publishing, 2012;

Sam Rocca, The Jewish Brigade Group and the Jewish Units in the British 
Army in World War II, Soldiershop Publishing, 2013

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