Zionism, Holocaust and Modern Israel

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Zionism, HolocaustandModern Israel
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Jewish Emancipation

• Jews subject to wide range of restrictions
  throughout most of European history.
• Made to wear special clothing and yellow
• star to distinguish them from gentiles. Could
  not vote were formally barred from some
  countries such as Spain.

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Emancipation
Jewish involvement with Gentiles began with
the Age of Enlightenment.
Legal Equality France 1791 Britain 1856 U-S
1791 Germany 1871 Netherlands 1796 Russia 1917
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Theodor Herzl
Jewish Journalist in Paris Covered Dreyfus
Trial (French Jewish Army Captain, accused of
spying for Germany)
Mobs gathered in streets, shouting Death to the
Jews!
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Herzls Awakening
Above all, I recognized the emptiness and
futility of trying to 'combat' anti-Semitism."
Came to believe that Jews must leave Europe and
settle in a land of their own.
Thus, Herzl became the father of Zionism
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Herzl and Zionism

• Herzl came to believe anti-seminism could not be
  defeated, only avoided.
• That meant creation of a Jewish state
• Herzl became the leading spokesman for a Jewish
  state.
• At first Zionist Congress (1897) Herzl became
  President held post until 1904

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A Jewish state but where?

• Palestine? Turkey says no
• The Roman Catholic Church refuses help
• As long as Jews refuse to acknowledge the
  divinity of Christ, the answer is no.
• Britain offers part of East Africa the Uganda
  Project.
• 1903 World Zionist Congress agrees to
• investigate British offer, but then says only
  Palestine will be acceptable

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Zionism in Palestine

• Zionists began to buy land in Palestine
• It was clear from the beginning that this was
  part of a plan.
• Land was contiguous. A sine qua non toward the
  realization of their dream.
• Arabs realized as early as 1891 what the Jews
  were up to, and began to oppose Zionism.

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Origins of Conflict

• Jewish National Funds aim to redeem to land of
  Palestine as the inalienable possession of the
  Jewish people.
• Land could not be sold back to Arabs
• No Arabs could work the land
• 1905 Zionist Congress A Jewish delegate said
  can it be that the dispossesed will keep silent
  and not protest what is being done to them?

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Origins of Conflict (2)

• Herzl we shall try to spirit the penniless
  population across the border by creating jobs in
  nearby countries.
• Arabs formed cooperatives to try to buy land
  offered to Jews.
• Arab newspapers warned of what was happening.

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The Balfour Declaration
Arthur James Balfour British Foreign Secretary
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The British Mandate

• Britain had been given the mandate to rule
  Palestine at the end of World War 1.
• The Balfour Declaration
• views with favour the establishment of a
  national home for the Jewish people
• The British government will use their best
  endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this
  object
• Nothing was to be done that would prejudice the
  civil and religious rights of the existing
  non-Jewish communities in Palestine.

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The Balfour Declaration

• did not ask the opinion of the 93 of
  Palestinian citizens who were not Jewish.
• created a home for one group of people in the
  land of another group of people.
• expressed no concern for the political rights of
  the other non-Jewish people there.
• Does not specify exact borders of Palestine.

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The Road to Hell

• is paved with good intentions.
• Britain whipsawed by Arabs and Jews
• Internationally, supported Zionism
• Locally, favored Arabs
• Supporting Zionism?
• Restricted Jewish immigration to Palestines
  absorptive capacity.
• Britain needed Arab support in WW II
• Arabs How long before they became minority?

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The U-S Role

• Rise of Hitler
• Zionists looked to U-S for support
• Germany had previously been one of safest
  countries for Jews
• Now, Jews saw dangers of antisemitism
• Maybe Jewish state would be good.
• U-S limited Jewish immigration

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The U-S Role

• U-S had not recovered from Depression.
• Antisemitism in U-S.
• Many Zionists did not want a U-S increase in
  Jewish immigration.
• Why?
• Could have undermined pressure for a Jewish
  state.

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The role of the Holocaust
Buchenwald, April 1945
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Edward R. Murrow
Permit me to tell you what you would have seen
and heard had you been with me on Thursday. It
will not be pleasant listening
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The Liberation of Buchenwald
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British Mandate Collapses

• As WW II winds down, violence in Israel
  increases.
• Zionist terrorist groups blow up buildings,
  attack British installations.
• U-S increases pressure for statehood.
• Britains mandate collapses.
• Admits to U-N it cannot continue ruling.

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United Nations Plan

• U-N suggests partitioning Palestine into seven
  regions.
• Jews accepted Arabs reject plan. Neither liked
  it.
• Both sides commit terrorist attacks on civilians.
• Irgun massacres 254 men, women and children.
• Arabs ambush bus, killing 75 doctors, nurses and
  professors.

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Last Chance for Peace

• U-S suggests ten-year delay in partition
• Zionists pressure U-S.
• Truman relents reaffirms support for statehood,
  over objections from Secretary of State,
  Secretary of Defense
• Israel declares independence May 14, 1948