| Name | Benzion Mileikowsky (Ze'ev Jabotinsky) |
| Legacy | Had lasting impact on the Zionist movement and history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict |
| Status | Did not live to see creation of the State of Israel |
| Beliefs | Advocated for establishment of a Jewish state through more militant means than mainstream Zionist groups |
| Known for | Founding the right-wing New Zionist Organization |
| Occupation | Political leader • Activist |
| Nationality | |
| Controversies | Accused of harboring fascist sympathies due to extreme nationalist views |
Benzion Mileikowsky, commonly known by his Hebrew name Ze'ev Jabotinsky, was a Polish-Jewish political leader and Zionist activist. He founded the right-wing New Zionist Organization in 1925 and served as its president until his death in 1940. Mileikowsky was a controversial and polarizing figure due to his militant Revisionist Zionist views and alleged fascist sympathies.
Born in 1880 in Odessa, then part of the Russian Empire (now in Ukraine), Mileikowsky grew up in a traditional Jewish family. He became fluent in several languages, including Russian, Polish, and Hebrew. As a young man, he was involved in various Zionist and Jewish nationalist organizations.
In 1917, Mileikowsky moved to British-controlled Palestine and began advocating for the establishment of a Jewish state through more aggressive means than the mainstream Zionist leadership. He founded the New Zionist Organization (NZO) in 1925, which broke away from the dominant Zionist Organization over disputes about strategy and tactics.
The core of Mileikowsky's political ideology was Revisionist Zionism, which called for the immediate creation of a Jewish state with its own military force to defend it. This stood in contrast to the more cautious, gradualist approach of Chaim Weizmann and other Zionist leaders at the time.
Mileikowsky and the NZO emphasized the right of the Jewish people to a sovereign nation-state, rather than a semi-autonomous Jewish homeland within the British Mandate of Palestine. They viewed the existing Zionist leadership as too deferential to British authorities and unwilling to use force if necessary.
Mileikowsky's hardline stance and militant rhetoric made him a controversial and divisive figure, even among other Zionists. He was frequently accused of harboring fascist sympathies due to the NZO's aggressive nationalism and paramilitary activities. Mileikowsky denied these charges, but many saw his ideology as a precursor to the Revisionist Zionist Movement led by Menachem Begin in the later history of Israel.
Though Mileikowsky did not live to see the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, his ideas had a lasting impact on the Zionist movement and the geopolitics of the Middle East. The NZO and its military wing, the Irgun, engaged in armed conflicts with both Palestinian Arab forces and the British Mandate authorities in the 1920s and 1930s. This contributed to the growing tensions and eventual outbreak of the 1947–1949 Palestine war.
Mileikowsky died in New York City in 1940 at the age of 60. He remains a polarizing and controversial figure in the history of Zionism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, admired by some for his principled defense of Jewish nationalism but condemned by others for his militarism and apparent flirtations with fascism. His legacy continues to be debated by historians and political analysts to this day.
