In November 1946 the Palestine police produced alarming experiences that he could be vacationing incognito to Britain. Then, in early 1947, the alarm reached fever pitch whilst SIS despatched a report back to MI5 caution that commence used to be idea to have gone through cosmetic surgery to change his visual appeal, even though because the document dryly concluded, ‘we haven't any description of the hot face’. the tale quickly leaked to the click, with the inside track Chronicle operating the headline ‘Palestine searching a brand new Face’, and satirically noting that even though commence may have replaced his visual appeal, it was once ‘likely that the flat ft and undesirable tooth have remained’. because it became out, the stories of Begin’s cosmetic surgery have been erroneous: they have been attributable to confusion in the Palestine CID while evaluating images of him. commence had no longer really left Palestine, yet had grown a beard and disguised himself as a rabbi, evading the neighborhood police through concealing himself in a mystery compartment in a friend’s condominium in Jerusalem. while he agreed to provide a mystery interview to Arthur Koestler, he did so in a darkened room: Koestler vainly tried to counter this by means of drawing seriously on his cigarettes, hoping to generate sufficient of a glow to trap a glimpse of Begin’s visual appeal. 33 the placement used to be made all of the extra alarming for MI5 by means of the truth that participants of the Irgun and the strict Gang have been identified to have served in British forces in the course of the warfare. With sour irony, a few of them have been knowledgeable by way of SOE and SIS whereas serving within the elite Palmach commando unit of the Jewish paramilitary corporation the Haganah. like the former individuals of a few different guerrilla teams the British armed in the course of the warfare, resembling communist forces in Malaya, the Irgun and the strict Gang used their education in explosives and different paramilitary struggle opposed to their former masters. experiences touchdown on MI5’s desks through the summer time of 1946 warned that Irgun and Stern Gang warring parties have been prone to be nonetheless serving inside of British army ranks, and have been making plans to exploit that as a canopy to trip to Britain. MI5 was once therefore confronted with the genuine hazard that terrorists may possibly arrive in Britain donning British army uniforms. 34 MI5’S COUNTER-TERRORIST MEASURES With those startling stories entering its London headquarters, MI5 devised quite a number measures to avoid the extension of Zionist terrorism from Palestine to Britain. those have left few lines inside files formerly within the public area, yet as we will now see from MI5’s personal documents, they have been usually tremendous difficult. front line of its counter-terrorist defence was once what was once termed ‘personnel security’, which concerned making heritage assessments and scrutinising visa functions for access into Britain. On MI5’s suggestion, all visa functions made through Jewish participants from the center East have been instantly telephoned via to MI5 for checking opposed to its documents prior to the candidates have been approved access. MI5 additionally carried out a sequence of heritage vetting exams opposed to its documents on nearly 7,000 Jewish servicemen identified to be within the British defense force.