Born in Vilna district in the Russian Empire, he immigrated with his family at the age of three to the Land of Israel, where his father became a Hebrew teacher at a Tel-Aviv elementary school. When the 1929 Arab riots broke out, he joined the Haganah in Jerusalem, where he was studying philosophy and mathematics at the Hebrew University. When the Irgun was established, he was one of its first members, and displayed outstanding military skills.
In 1937 he was appointed Irgun Commander of Jerusalem District and a year later Commander in Chief of the Irgun. His term as leader was especially marked by violence against Arabs, including a sequence of market-place bombings.
On May 17, 1941 he was sent, with three of his comrades, to Iraq on behalf of the British army. The next day a bomb from a German aircraft killed him.
Raziel was brought to Jerusalem for a meeting with Giles, the head of the CID, the deputy government secretary and Pinhas Ruttenberg, one of the leaders of the Yishuv.
Raziel, on the other hand, asserted that the party was the source of public moral and financial support, and a reservoir for the recruitment of fighters to the underground.
Raziel, on the other hand, the Germans were the arch enemy of the Jewish people, and he argued that no impediments should be placed in the path of the British as long as they were fighting Hitler.
Jabotinsky favored cooperation with the British, while more irredentistically-minded individuals like DavidRaziel, Abba Ahimeir, and Uri Zvi Greenberg focused on independent action in Mandate Palestine, fighting politically against Labor, the British Authorities, and retaliating against Arab attacks.
DavidRaziel was commander of the Irgun, while Abba Ahimeir and Uri Zvi Greenberg acted as visionaries for Lehi.
One of Raziel's greatest disciples was Menachem Begin, Raziel's successor as leader of the Irgun and Betar faction and later prime minister of Israel).
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