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The "Hagana", was an underground Jewish army, whose officers and men served the national leadership. The full name 'HaHagana Halvrit" means "the Jewish Defence Organisation".
The mission of the "Hagana" was to defend and protect the Jews, and their settlements, as well as being a military force for the fulfilment of the Zionist goal of the establishment of a Jewish state.
The "Hagana" was founded in 1920 and functioned until May 31, 1948 and then, as it is said, in the Order of the Day, of the Israel Defence Forces: "With the establishment of the State of Israel the "Hagana" has emerged from the underground and has become a regular army". All the "Hagana" forces, the General Staff and its branches, the fighting divisions and the professional corps with their thousands of men, from the General Staff to the last of the fighters - from that day forth became members of the Israel Defence Forces.
The "Hagana" withstood Arab attacks in the years 1920, 1921, 1929 and 1936-39. It recruited thousands of its members in the war against the Nazis, manned the Special Police Force, the legal arm of the "Hagana", and set up the "Tower and Stockade" settlements. It ran the so-called illegal immigration which brought about 100,000 refugees to Israel from Europe and the Middle East after World War Two, and led the flight of Jewish refugees from Europe. Before the "Hagana" became the Israel Defence Forces, thousands of its men fought with supreme dedication against Arab attacks during the most difficult first six months, of the War of Independence in 1947-1948.
In the centre of the stamp appears the emblem of the "Hagana": a sword and olive-branch, which were drawn in 1943 by Moshe Bar Tikva, then CO of the Platoon Commanders' Course. Today this emblem is awarded to all the graduates of the IDF officers' courses and is called the "Platoon Commander's Pin". On the lower part of the stamp is the IDF emblem which was designed by Rudolph Sidner. The stamp tab carries the oath and badge of the "Hagana", the latter being presented in 1958 to all members of the "Hagana" organisation.
The house, on the first-day issue envelope, was the house of Eliahu Golomb, "the uncrowned commander" of the "Hagana". This house is located in Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv and is called "Bet Eliahu - Bet HaHagana". The building was later extended and today houses the "Hagana" Museum and Archives.
