‘Ze’ev Jabotinsky Fortress’ & The Tel-Hai Fund

Founded by the visionary Ze’ev Jabotinsky in 1929, the Tel Hai Foundation quickly became a cornerstone of the Revisionist Zionist movement. Its mission was: to educate Zionist youth with the skills and spirit of self-defense, with the ultimate goal of eventually building a Hebrew state.

One of the Foundation’s most significant undertakings was the creation of the “Ze’ev Jabotinsky Fortress\ Metzudat Ze’ev” in Tel Aviv. What began as the ‘Trumpeldor Club’—home to the Beitar Movement (Revisionist Youth) in 1928 and a clandestine meeting place for Etzel underground fighters—grew into the formidable Jabotinsky House, a 14-story symbol of the movement. It was within these walls that Menachem Begin celebrated his historic 1977 electoral victory.

When the construction of the ‘Fortress’ began in 1935, the site lay on the fringe of the first Hebrew city. By the time of its completion and expansion in 1965, it had become an enduring central icon of Tel Aviv’s political and cultural landscape—the heart of the Revisionist and later the Herut movements. Today, the building serves as the headquarters of the Likud movement and houses three museums: the Jabotinsky Museum, the Etzel Museum, and the Museum of Fighters and Partisans.