Was Zionism about rescuing Jews from persecution? A 🧵
Zionists believe Zionism was primarily about saving Jews fleeing persecution. Yet key Zionist leaders from the 1880s-1948 rejected this idea, believing the interests of the state-to-be trumped the interests of persecuted Jews. This 🧵 is a history of the #1 Zionist myth today.
From 1880s-1914, the Zionist leadership rejected the overwhelming majority of Jews hoping to settle in Ottoman Palestine. Arthur Ruppin and Menahem Sheinkin, in charge of Zionist immigration policy, told ~61% of Jews who wanted to move to the colonies not to come. Source:
The reason? They were too destitute. Ruppin & Sheinkin preferred wealthy Jews over poor ones. “The smaller the capital at the disposal of the applicant, the greater the likelihood...he would be advised not to go to Palestine." Don't let Jew-saving impede state-building!
Sheinkin told persecuted Jews why they were not welcome. “Until capitalists come to the country, there will be no room for workers.” Those most in need of a safe haven were the first rejected.
In the 1920s, Zionist leaders continued to oppose “mass immigration” and “open borders.” Hundreds of thousands of Jews suffered in pogroms in Ukraine from 1918-1920 but that had little impact on the Zionist approach to immigration.
Ruppin was worried a large influx of “inferior refugees,” to use his words, would pose a danger to the Yishuv, which needed candidates with the right “profession, state of health, and character.” Source: tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.108…
Rupin even sought to withhold absorption benefits to those neediest Jewish refugees who entered Palestine w/out official invitation. He wanted to deny such Jews temporary accommodation, job opportunities, credit, free medical assistance & insurance against work accidents (ibid).
Chaim Weizmann agreed. In 1919, he wrote: "alas, Zionism can’t provide a solution for catastrophes," closing Palestine to thousands of Jews fleeing persecution in Ukraine. Weizmann wanted productive immigrants, not needy refugees. He even tried to persuade the British authorities to limit the Jewish immigration quotas from 1919-1929! Source: amazon.com/Zionism-During…
In 1938, German Jews were subject to Kristallnacht. Thousands of Jewish businesses & homes were ransacked & destroyed throughout Germany. A rescue effort was organized, “Kindertransport." Britain reluctantly agreed to allow 10,000 Jewish children from Germany to Britain.
In response, Ben-Gurion stated on Dec. 9, 1938: “If I knew that it would be possible to save all the children in Germany by bringing them over to England, or only half of them by transporting them to Israel, then I would opt for the second alternative, for we must weigh not only the life of these children, but also the history of the people of Israel.” Source: amazon.com/Ben-Gurion-Bur…
Ben-Gurion understood the Zionist movement was at risk of becoming a back-burner issue among Jewish philanthropists.
“If the Jews are faced with a choice between the refugee problem & rescuing Jews from concentration camps on the one hand, and aid for…Palestine on the other,” Ben Gurion said, “our people's entire strength will be directed at aid for the refugees.”
He insisted that “Zionism will vanish from the agenda of world public opinion…we are risking Zionism's very existence if we allow the refugee problem to be separated from the Palestine problem.”
Source: amazon.com/Zionism-During…
“If the Jews are faced with a choice between the refugee problem & rescuing Jews from concentration camps on the one hand, and aid for…Palestine on the other,” Ben Gurion said, “our people's entire strength will be directed at aid for the refugees.”
He insisted that “Zionism will vanish from the agenda of world public opinion…we are risking Zionism's very existence if we allow the refugee problem to be separated from the Palestine problem.”
Source: amazon.com/Zionism-During…
3 key Zionist leaders during the interwar period, Arthur Rupin, Chaim Weizmann & David Ben-Gurion, expressed a clear preference for state building over Jew saving.
To learn more about the history of Zionism (that Zionists don't want you to know about):
palestinenexus.com/courses
To learn more about the history of Zionism (that Zionists don't want you to know about):
palestinenexus.com/courses
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