fearlesshistory

I’m going to (hopefully) get everyone who reads this all fired up and mad because I’m going to make the case for the United States NOT supporting Israel. At least not in the way that it has been thus far. As always, I’ll start off with some history and work my way up to the semi-present.

Up until the mid-20th century, the majority of Jews who immigrated to The Levant (the British name for the area now called “Israel” and “The Palestinian Territories”) were considered dreamers and hippies of their day. The World Zionist Orgamization was formed in the 1890’s by Theodor Hertzl and Max Nordau with the express purpose of finding a homeland for the Jews so they would not live in diaspora. Many Jews resisted stating the very fact that they were a nation of people scattered among other nations made them “special” and gave Judaism and Jewishness a special benefaction in God’s eyes; indeed many ultra-religious Jews saw Zionism as a refutation of the will of God and advised their congregates to stay away from the Holy Land until God calls them back, not politicians.

There was, however, some traction for the idea of an “Eretz Yisrael” among Jews who wanted to recapture their heritage rather than wait for God; many of the early settlers in what would become Israel moved to Palestine (at the time, a very backwater province of the Ottoman Empire), purchased some land and invited relatives to come live in “freedom.”Most of these early Jewish “pioneers” eventually would leave for Europe and the Americas because the land was too backward. Still, the Jews who remained worked the land that once belonged to Turks and had been worked by Arab fellahiin, or peasants. This was the beginning of the problem between Jews and Arabs in Palestine, but not all Arabs felt Jews were invaders. in fact, many welcomed Jews because they brought money to a province no Arab or Turk had a lot to do with and so cut down on a lot of the social problems that were simmering there. Unfortunately, Palestinian Arabs (and Palestinian Jews, for that matter) were unhappy - they had worked the same land for literally hundreds of years as a kind of serf/share cropper and were suddenly unemployed. Many more had their own land sold out from under them by Turkish governors eager to make a quick buck (or Franc, or Pound Sterling, or Deutche Mark, etc.) and so were essentially evicted by a form of eminent domain. Since they rarely, if ever, saw the governor, they leveled their ire toward the new occupants.

Still, the “problem” of Jewish immigration into The Levant was largely an isolated problem throughout the early 20th century; until World War Two, that is. Jews fled Germany (and Europe) at a prodigious rate. Still, in the 1930’s though there was an upswing of Jewish immigration, it was not the virtual flood that would occur later. In fact, Jews felt their best chance lay in finding safe haven in the United States, or at least in the Western hemisphere. In 1939, the St. Louis ocean liner headed for the United States (and later Cuba) with over 1,000 German Jews fleeing the Nazis only to be turned away after a heated battle in the Senate during which Southern Senators threatened to withdraw their support for FDR in the 1940 election if “Jews” were allowed to land in the United States. After World War Two, the surge in immigration was so bad, so vast, and so complicated, that the British decided to ask the United Nations to allow the dissolution of their Mandate over Palestine (a Mandate was essentially a right to govern as if it were a province or tutelary regime) . Part of the reason was because Jewish settlers, many of whom had fought in the various anti-Nazi undergrounds in World War Two were staging - brace for it - terrorist attacks. Groups like the Irgun and the Stern Gang kidnapped, tortured, and killed British military officers, bombed barracks and eateries, and even blew up the King David Hotel in 1946, killing the British Administrator Sir John Shaw. The Irgun called 15 minutes before the bomb went off, completely destroying the south wing of the hotel and killing nearly 1,000 British military, civilian, and administrative personnel. At the time, Menachem Begin was the leader of the Irgun and was the individual who made the call to the hotel. He later would go on to become Prime Minister of Israel.

During the 1940’s, there was a flood of illegal immigration, weapons smuggling, and other criminal activities carried out by the Jews in Palestine. For instance, in January, 1948 (four months before the “state”of Israel would declare itself) 61,000 pounds of TNT was seized in a New Jersey shipping warehouse. The crates were bound for Palestine and were marked “construction equipment.”The TNT was found quite by accident when a crate toppled over ad broke open on the docks as it was being loaded. Six individuals who had raised money for the TNT by asking for “medical aid for Jews in Palestine” had diverted the funds and bought the TNT. A judge later ruled that they had no “evil intent”and that the purchase of TNT was an “impulse” rather than a criminal act in and of itself. Money, arms, and people flowed into Palestine at an alarming rate and soon, Jews were constructing “outposts” and “settlements” in Palestine, much to the dismay of the Palestinians and Arab countries. Despite the public support, money, equipment, donations, medical aid, and political clout many Jews enjoyed in Europe and America (which was based largely upon a collective guilt over the Holocaust), Jewish terrorist groups continued on a campaign of terror in the furtherance of their goals; a Jewish state.

In the 1920’s, Palestinian Arabs had rioted over illegal and legal Jewish immigration  to Palestine but were put down by the British in a bloody military campaign that killed thousands of Palestinians. In the 1940’s, however, despite the “insurgency” and terrorist activities of Jewish militants, the British were disinclined to crack down by using machine guns and armed troops on the Jewish militants - especially in light of the Holocaust. In May, 1948, the British Mandate officially ended and David Ben Gurion declared Israel a sovereign state. Then the war started; Arab countries which had been filled with Palestinian refugees were pushed by the so-called “Arab street” to destroy Israel. Palestinians who initially remained in Palestine would later call this “The Disaster.” With no army of their own, nor any organized government, the Palestinians who stayed were really not a part of the debacle, but suffered the most. Displaced Palestinians told tales of Jewish military units forcing them from their homes, burning, raping, and pillaging. Israelis claimed (and were later refuted with evidence to the contrary) that the Palestinians left of their own accord following Arab governments’ directive to “clear the way” for the armies. No such radio call was ever made by Egypt, Jordan, Syria, or any other Arab nation. It would not be the first time such an excuse was used to explained displaced Palestinians leaving their homes; 1956, 1967, and 1973 all had their own versions of the mysterious “get out of the way” message, all of which were false.

Ariel Sharon, another future Prime Minister of Israel, was an officer in the Haganah - the pre-Israel state “Jewish Defense Force” that would later become the Israeli military - and saw action in 1948. He was wounded, but survived, the 1948 war and was promoted to “intelligence officer.” As a leader of Batallion 101, his command was charged with “reprisals” against Palestinians and continued to conduct covert operations against Palestinian Arabs even after a cease-fire with Arab armies was reached. In 1953, he oversaw the troops who committed the Qibya Massacre of 69 Palestinian men, women, and children (all civilians) in their West Bank homes…in the dead of night.

Shimon Perez was part of the negotiating team that conspired in 1956, along with Britain and France, to take the Suez Canal away from Egypt and effect a coup d’etat in Egypt. Britain and France were humiliated and forced to withdraw, but Israel was allowed to take months to remove itself from Egyptian territory. Perez would later become a Prime Minister of Israel as well.

The United States did not always align with Israel, and in fact, Israel was considered what we would call a “rogue state” in the early years of it’s existence. The United States maintained an arms embargo against Israel throughout the 1940’s and into the 1950’s because pre-State Israelis, such as David Ben Gurion, had been meeting with high-ranking Soviet ministers, including Vyacheslav Molotov (Stalin’s foreign minister). In 1948, Israel purchased weapons from the Soviet Union via Czechoslovakia. Additionally, the Soviet Union funneled millions of dollars, military advisers, and technical help into Israel in its early years. But in the 1950’s, with the death of Stalin, the Soviet Union changed course and supported the Arab regimes against Israel. The United States was more than willing to step into that void. From 1954 to today, the United States has been an uncritical ally of Israel - at least politically, financially, and militarily - despite it’s continued belligerence against Palestinians.

In fact, there are currently nearly 250 “Settlements” and “outposts” of highly-armed Jews living in Gaza and the West Bank. From 2000 to the present, about 1062 Israelis (of that, about 123 were children) have been killed by Palestinian suicide bombers, rocket attacks, etc. By comparison, 4876 Palestinians (of that, 1050 were children) have been killed by Israeli forces. As a result of Israeli military and political actions, the United Nations has passed 62 resolutions condemning Israel and even went so far as to call Zionism a “racist” policy akin to Apartheid. Palestinians have not had one resolution passed against them.

In essence, the United States’ unswerving support of Israel has allowed Palestinian people to be displaced, massacred, and used as propaganda by extremist militants in addition to becoming militants themselves. U.S. backing gives Israel the confidence to continue to set up, support, and expand illegal enclaves in Palestinian territory and prevents open and fruitful negotiations with Lebanon and Syria (the only two nations left that are “at war” with Israel). The 2002 Arab Plan, proposed by Saudi Arabian crown prince Abdullah, stated that all Arab nations would cease supporting militants, would recognize Israel and its right to exist, and would begin peace treaty negotiations if Israel would promise to evacuate the settlements and abide by international law (thus allowing a Palestinian state to come into existence). With US backing, Israel rejected that plan, perhaps hoping to be able to realize Eretz Yisrael, or “Greater Israel,” that would encompass all of the disputed territories, parts of Lebanon, and a section of Syria.

Americans are not even sure why they support Israel. Many do it for quasi-religious reasons (hoping that the “Rapture” will be helped along by the presence of Jews in Jerusalem, for example) and others because the Israelis are “not Arabs.” This article is not to say that Arab extremists are innocent of all wrongdoing, nor that Arabs should get everything they want.  But, our hypocritical dogma of “not negotiating with terrorists” and “isolating rogue regimes” is belied by our continued, unwavering, unquestioning, uncritical, blind support for Israel; Irgun and the Stern Gang certainly were terrorist in every sense of the word and Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon were both terrorist “masterminds” by our current “War on Terror” standards.  It is time for a change. It is time for the United States to admit that it was wrong and to urge Israel toward a path of peace and security; there is no weakness in making mistakes nor admitting they exist, there is only the sin of pride in not admitting that we’re human and our government (and foreign policy) is fallable.

QED

—————–Sources——————

Acheson, Dean Present at the Creation: My Years in the State Department (New York; W.W. Norton & Co., 1969)

Benson, Michael T. Harry S. Truman and the Foundation of Israel (Westport, CT; Praeger, 1997)

Benson, Michael T. “Harry S. Truman as the Modern Cyrus” Brigham Young University Studies 1994 34(1)

Brown, Philip M. “Malevolent Neutrality” The American Journal of International Law 30(1)

Clifford, Clark, with Richard Holbrooke Counsel to the President: A Memoir (New York; Random House, 1991)

Cohen, Michael J. “Truman and the State Department: The Palestine Trusteeship Proposal, March 1948” Jewish Social Studies 1981 43(2)

Druks, Herbert The Uncertain Friendship: The US and Israel from Roosevelt to Kennedy (Westport, Connecticut; Greenwood Press, 2001)

Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS), 1947, Volume V The Near East and Africa (Washington DC; United States Government Printing Office, 1971)

Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS), 1948, Volume V, Part 1 The Near East, South Asia, and Africa (Washington DC; United States Government Printing Office, 1975)

Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS), 1948,  Volume V, Part 2 The Near East, South Asia, and Africa (Washington DC; United States Government Printing Office, 1976)

Hamby, Alonzo “The Accidental President” The Wilson Quarterly Spring 1988 12: 64

Snetsinger, John Truman, The Jewish Vote, and the Creation of Israel (Stanford; Hoover Institute Press, 1974)

Truman, Harry S. Memoirs by Harry S. Truman, Vol. 1: Year of Decisions (Garden City NY; Doubleday, 1955)

Truman, Harry S. Memoirs by Harry S. Truman, Vol. 2: Years of Trial and Hope (Garden City NY; Doubleday, 1956)

Wilson, Evan M. “The American Interest in the Palestine Question and the Establishment of Israel” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 1972 (401)

Newspapers

“$61,000 raised for Tel Aviv and Jerusalem” New York Times 2 Jan 1948

“Medical Help Drive for Palestine” 5 Jan 1948, 3

“Need to assist the DPs is cited by service head” 10 Jan 1948, 9

“US Palestine aim held economic tie” 14 Mar 1948, 16

“Palestine called good US market” 7 Apr 1948, 35

“the United Palestine Appeal requires 283,156,000 to carry on their work “ New York Times 4 Jan 1948, 3

“Asks aid for Palestine; head of Hadassah urges US, UN to provide arms” 6 Jan 1948, 6

“Jews seek defensive aid” 9 Jan 1948, 14

“Lehman asks end of arms embargo; Mrs. Roosevelt also would lift the ban on shipments to Jews in Palestine” 19 Feb 1948, 12

“6 freed by court in Palestine-TNT case; judge satisfied impulse, not a criminal motive, prompted defendants” 18 Feb 1948, 6

“Big TNT cargo for Tel Aviv is found on Freighter here; 65,000-pound shipment revealed as case of ‘machinery’ is dropped — stencil traced to warehouse in Bronx” The New York Times 4 January 1948, 1

Op-Ed The New York Times 2 Jan 1948, 7

“‘Red 5^th Column’ in Palestine” New York Times 1 Jan 1948, 1

“Foreign Report: Middle East Morass” The Economist April 1948

Microfilm, Govt. Sources

Marshall/Lovett Memorandums to President Truman, 1947-1948 [microform], 3 reels

Online sources

Harry S. Truman Presidential Museum and Library (online) http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/israel/

If Americans Knew: http://www.ifamericansknew.org/

True Torah: Jews Against Zionism http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/antisemitism/holocaust/gedalyaliebermann.cfm

Voyage of the Damned http://christianactionforisrael.org/antiholo/voyage.html

Arab Peace Initiative, 2002 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1844214.stm

UN Resolution Index (resolutions # 106, 111, 127, 162, 171, 228, 237, 248, 250, 251, 252, 256, 259, 262, 265, 267, 270, 271, 279, 280, 285, 298, 313, 316, 317, 332, 337, 347, 425, 427, 444, 446, 450, 452, 465, 467, 468, 469, 471, 476, 478, 484, 487, 497, 498, 501, 509, 515, 517, 518, 520, 573, 587, 592, 605, 607, 608, 636, 641, 672, 673, 681, 694, 726, and 799)  http://www.un.org/documents/scres.htm

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