The Assassination of the Mediator

Abstract

On 17 September 1948 a few minutes after 5 o’clock in the afternoon, Bernadotte was murdered in his car in the Jewish sector of Jerusalem by a LHI assassin who shot him at point-blank range, also hitting a UN officer sitting next to Bernadotte, the French Colonel André Sérot who died too. The assassin and his accomplices then escaped without a trace and, as early as 31 January 1951, the Israeli Police Criminal File 148/48 concerning the murder was closed, the reason given being that ‘the culprit was not found’.¹ Years elapsed; Israel’s Law of Limitation means that as from 1971 no person could any longer be brought to justice on that charge.² Neither can the reward offered to anyone helping to apprehend the assassins be valued.³ To date, despite a series of confessions made since 1971 by various LHI members who probably participated in the act, the identity of the four men directly involved is still not known for sure. It is clear that the few involved were compelled not to speak, and as to the identity of those who made the decision to kill Bernadotte, only one has so far publicly admitted LHI responsibility. Even he, handicapped by the attitude of the others, for a long time spoke in vague terms; and he still does.