The Herut Party (Herut means freedom in Hebrew) is a right-wing Zionist political party in Israel. Herut was founded by Menachem Begin following Israel's independence in 1948. Herut believed that all of British Mandatory Palestine belonged to the Jews. Herut was opposed to Israel accepting money from West Germany as an apology for the Holocaust. Herut believed security was very important. Israel's first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion thought Herut was radical and he compared Menachem Begin and the other members of the Herut party to Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. Herut's leader Menachem Begin was not a Socialist so he formed an alliance with the Liberal Party to create the Liberal-Freedom Bloc known in Hebrew as Gush Herut Liberalim or Gahal.