Alexandroni Brigade
Template:Short description Template:Pp-extended Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox military unit The 3rd "Alexandroni" Brigade (Template:Langx, Hativat Aleksandroni) is an Israel Defense Forces brigade which has fought in many of Israel's wars.<ref>Template:Cite web Archived copy on 17 May 2021.</ref>
Organization
3rd Infantry Brigade "Alexandroni" (Reserve)
- 7012th Infantry Battalion
- 8101st Infantry Battalion
- 9203rd Infantry Battalion
- (6609th) Reconnaissance Battalion "Alexandroni"
- 5280th Combat Engineer Battalion
- 5503rd Logistic Battalion
- 8144th Signal Company
Role in Tantura massacre
During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, around 40–200 Palestinian Arab villagers from Tantura were killed in a massacre perpetrated by the Alexandroni Brigade, which at the time was one of six field forces of the Haganah.<ref name=JPS2001>Template:Cite journal Archived copy on 19 January 2025.</ref> The massacre, which took place on the night of 22–23 May 1948, occurred following the surrender of Tantura, a village of roughly 1,500 people in 1945 located near Haifa. The bodies of the victims were buried in mass graves, one of which was later covered and a carpark constructed above it.<ref name="TG">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1998, an Israeli researcher Teddy Katz interviewed and taped Israeli and Palestinian witnesses to events at Tantura in 1948 and wrote a master's thesis at Haifa University claiming that Israeli units committed a massacre of Palestinians at Tantura. The veterans of the brigade sued Katz for libel. Katz was forced to retract his conclusion and to apologize.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The case provoked a lively reaction from historian Ilan Pappé, who accused his university of ‘moral cowardice’<ref> Pappé, Ilan. The Tantura Case in Israel: The Katz Research and Trial. Journal of Palestine Studies Vol. 30, No. 3 (Spring 2001), pp. 19-39. Taylor & Francis, Ltd. Template:Doi</ref> for not having been able or willing to defend Katz's arguments, despite the fact that his work had been duly supervised and approved by his supervisor (who was, among other things, the director of the department to which Katz belonged).<ref name=RAPOPORT>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2023, an Israeli documentary was published on the Tantura massacre, which interviewed and filmed Katz, as well as several veterans, who agreed to talk about the events.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The movie was harshly criticized by the historian Benny Morris, who characterized the documentary as "basically fraudulent".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Gallery
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Alexandroni Brigade memorial overlooking Latrun police station -
Alexandroni Brigade memorial in Netanya -
Mass grave of 87 Alexandroni soldiers fallen in the "Faluja Pocket" during the War of Independence, buried by the Egyptians and reburied in 1949 in Kiryat Gat -
Memorial in Qaqun with Bible citation from Template:Bibleverse -
Dan Even (Epstein), commander of the Alexandroni Brigade
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