 Whereas many events in the war were more bloody for the Israelis , like the massacre at Kfar Etzion with 150 deaths or the one of the Mount Scopus with 78 , the Battle of Latrun is the event of the war to provoke most rumours , narratives and controversies in Israel . The main reason is that Latrun had still been the mainstay for the road to Jerusalem until the Six @-@ Day War , keeping the Israelis at the margins and having to go round and maintain the town , but struggling to bypass it , which played each day on their minds . According to Anita Shapira , the primary reason was nothing but people 's grievous memories , of David Ben @-@ Gurion and the veterans of the British Armies on one side and former Palmah and Haganah soldiers on the other . In this sphere of influence during the 1970s and in the controversies that continued until the 1980s , the " Strategic Necessity " was said , if it were not done , it would be " Criminal negligence " , with a heavy toll on bring in immigrants to the battle , and forging a new founding myth . 
