Betar
The Betar Movement (also spelled Beitar) is a Revisionist Zionist youth movement founded in 1923 in Riga, Latvia, by Ze'ev Jabotinsky. After the 1939-45 war and during the settlement of what became Israel, Betar was traditionally linked to the original Herut and then Likud political parties of Jewish settlers. It was closely affiliated with the pre-Israel Revisionist Zionist paramilitary group Irgun Zevai Leumi. It was one of many right-wing movements and youth groups arising at that time that adopted special salutes and uniforms: '[Jabotinsky] formed youth groups (Betar) whose practices, patterned after the tactics and symbols of fascism, included wearing brown shirts and using special salutes'.[1] Some of the most prominent politicians of Israel were Betarim in their youth, most notably prime ministers Yitzhak Shamir and Menachem Begin, an admirer of Jabotinsky.[2]
