(IsraelNN.com) Just two months ago, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told NBC that Israel is on the brink of a civil-war disaster. "The tension here, the atmosphere here looks like the eve of the civil war," he said. "All my life I was defending the lives of Jews. Now, for the first time, security steps are taken to protect me from Jews."

Revelations by a former Etzel [nationalist army organization] member show that this is not quite true. Ben-Ami Zamir says that Sharon was involved in violence against nationalist Jews during pre-State days, and was forced to run away to protect himself.

The NBC interview promoted the perception that "Jewish settlers" are the main threat to stability in the Middle East. "Israelis are bracing for a violent summer," the narrator opened, "but it's not the Palestinians they are worried about - it’s the Jewish settlers."

Knesset Members from both left and right said that Sharon's remarks about a "civil war" atmosphere and his need for protection from Jews are incendiary and provocative.

Extreme left-wing MK Zahava Gal'on (Meretz/Yahad) accused Sharon of "making cheap and provocative use of threats of civil war." Former Justice Minister Tommy Lapid of the left-wing Shinui Party said, "Remarks like these by the Prime Minister cause more extremism and tension, instead of calming things down. I don't think that such dangers exist."

MK Tzvi Hendel (National Union), a resident of Gush Katif and one of Sharon's most bitter opponents, said, "Sharon is a liar. He knows that the only one who can lead to a civil war is he himself."

Hendel's words received strong backing this week - from a man who himself suffered from Sharon's ideological-based violence. It occurred during the period known as the Saison of the mid-1940's, when left-wing Haganah activists pursued and beat up nationalist Etzel and Lechi activists, and others even turned them over to the hated ruling British forces.

Speaking with Arutz-7's Shimon Cohen, Ben-Ami Zamir, who is today a member of the Likud Party Bureau, gave the following harrowing account:

"I was given the mission of establishing an Etzel cell in our moshavah [townlet] of Magdiel, and I did so. I gathered some youths in our cafe, and I would often give shelter to Etzel men who needed to hide from the British police. Everyone knew everyone, and it was known that I was an Etzel man, as were all my neighbors; residents of the surrounding moshavim were rival Haganah people."

One of these towns was Kfar Malal, home to young Ariel "Arik" Sharon. "One Motzaei Shabbat [Saturday night], a truck arrived at the cafe, and out of it jumped a group of uniformed Haganah men, led by Ariel Sharon holding a hoe-handle. We knew him in the area as someone who always holds a hoe-handle to catch Etzel and Lechi people. They tried to break into the cafe, which was still closed because of the Sabbath. I came close to him, and he said, 'Give me some soda,' and pointed to a box of drinks on the ground. I bent down to the bottles, and then he picked up his arm and smashed me with all his might with the hoe-handle. My head was covered in blood, which dripped down all over me."

Zamir said that a fight ensued, and "for ten minutes, they destroyed everything they could... The next morning, I went to the Sharon home... His mother came out, saw me all bandaged up and immediately realized what was going on. I asked where Arik was, and she said he wasn't home. I said that if I would see him, I would get him. Later people in Kfar Malal told me that he was afraid to go home. We didn't see him again in Magdiel."

Zamir said that this was not the only violent incident against Etzel people in which Sharon was involved. He noted specifically the case of someone named Hayuma, who died six months ago, whose arm was broken by Sharon's gang.

Zamir's story was publicized 15 years ago by Yediot Acharonot reporter Shlomo Nakdimon. That article also quoted similar testimony by Etzel member Daniel Basamnik. "Sharon threatened to sue [following Nakdimon's article]," Zamir told Arutz-7's Cohen, "but for his own reasons decided not to."

Not long ago, Zamir met Sharon at a Likud gathering at the party's headquarters in Metzudat Ze'ev. "Sharon passed me," Zamir said, "and I told him that he would be remembered in history as a traitor. I said that apparently only when a shell lands in his own farm, will he understand what he's doing."

Cohen said that no response to his inquiries on these accusations had been received from the Prime Minister's Bureau by press time.

Just today, Mr. Sharon issued a call against violence in response to threats received by Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz. "Everything must be done to stop the violence of a small minority of the settlers," he said today. Apparently unaware of the old/new accusations against him, Sharon said that the Land of Israel faithful living in the Maoz HaYam Hotel in Gush Katif are "vocal and dangerous," as well as "law-breaking."