The Hagannah was the military arm of the Zionist movement in Palestine. In 1936, it requested a chemist to help produce an effective high explosive for use in the underground war against the Arabs and the British. [[Ernst David Bergmann]] was assigned this mission and subsequently joined the Hagannah's technical committee.[^1] ### Footnotes [^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 2.