Jacob Israël de Haan

Jacob Israël de Haan was a Dutch Jewish writer, poet, journalist, and political activist. First known for Pijpelijntjes (1904), the earliest Dutch novel to portray a homosexual relationship, he later became noted for his journalism, his studies of Russian prisons, and his poetry. After embracing Zionism, he moved to Jerusalem in 1919, where he gradually became the leading political spokesman of the Haredi community and a vocal opponent of the Zionist leadership. De Haan’s attempts to negotiate with Arab leaders and the British authorities made him a controversial figure, and he was assassinated by the Zionist paramilitary organisation Haganah in 1924, the first political killing within the Jewish community in Mandatory Palestine. His literary work and political legacy remain the subject of ongoing debate.