Since Nazi Germany was seen as a greater threat, David Ben-Gurion directed the Jews in Palestine to set aside their grievances against the British stemming from the 1939 White Paper restricting Jewish immigration to Palestine, stating "support the British as if there is no White Paper and oppose the White Paper as if there is no war". The Irgun also felt this way and many of its leaders were released from prison. The more radical branch of the Irgun disagreed and, on 17 July 1940, it split under the leadership of Avraham Stern and became known as "The National Military Organization in Israel" as opposed to Irgun's official name, "The National Military Organization in the Land of Israel". It would later change its name to Lehi, referred to by the British as the "Stern Gang", as a completely separated militia.