The Influence of International Jewry in the Founding of Israel

1. Thinking as a historian, how would you answer the question, “are the Jews a religious group, a nation, or an ethnic minority?”
When thinking as an historian, one can easily say that the Jews are a religious group, a nation, and an ethnic minority—though the terms and conditions under which all of these categorical associations are valid or legitimate is subject to some debate. First of all, Judaism today is different from what it was in pre-Christian times. Of the three largest sects of Judaism today—Reform, Conservative and Orthodox—there is a great deal of dispute about what kind of group the Jews are. There are atheist Jews and agnostic Jews, but they still identify as Jews. Jewish nationalists are typically referred to as Zionists, but not every Jew wants to live in Israel. Even for much of their own history the Jews have been without a nation of their own. Ethnically speaking, the Jews can be seen as a people—but many of today’s Western Jews are Ashkenazim, i.e., the Khazarian converts who spoke Yiddish and lived for centuries in Eastern part of Europe and had no real racial connection to the Jews of pre-Christian times. Yet, in spite of all these contextual factors, “the Jews” are still widely recognized as a people who have their own culture—as diverse as it may be and as full of sub-groups as it may be.
Yet the Jews were without a nation of their own for thousands of years and it was not until after WWII that the nation-state of Israel was recognized by world powers. Today, Israel is a state, and yet it does not exist without controversy. The Palestinian question continues to loom over the existence of Israel, as more and more land is occupied or annexed by Israel and Palestinians on the West Bank and in Gaza are marginalized. Some Jews protest these actions of Israel, which creates tension with the larger Jewish group. Even in Israel there is disagreement about religion, with many Zionist Jews who originally settled in Palestine prior to Israeli statehood being recognized around the world viewing religion as incidental to Jewish identity.
Thus, it could best be argued that Jewishness is cultural and that the cultural identity of Jewishness is a combination or integration of religion, politics, society, community, history, ethnicity and shared sense of place in the world. Because Jews were essentially outside the main within Christian society for hundreds of years, there is a sense among many Jews of having a shared past even though the story of Jewishness is different for Middle Eastern Jews, Sephardic Jews, Khazarian Jews, and so on.
Since there are so many different Jewish lineages it is also difficult to say that Jewishness is a specific ethnicity, as there are different ethnic groups of Jews. This complicates the matter still further—but one thing that is clear is that Jewishness is an identity that still matters to virtually all Jews, primarily because of the context that being a Jew has for most people, whether they are part of the Jewish group or not. The media has created a picture of Jewishness, as have the history books, which indicates that Jewishness is something separate and distinct from other groups. Whether it is pronounced by individual Jews in all places at all time is something quite different. It is not always the case that Jews want to self-identify first and foremost as Jews before they identify as something else—for example, as American or as white or as an Iraqi or as a Russian or as an atheist.
In conclusion, Judaism is a religion, Zionism is a socio-political doctrine, and Jewishness can be considered an ethnic quality, but not necessarily an indication of what part of the world one hails from. Jewishness in Spain, Eastern Europe, the Middle East—these are all different traditions with different customs.
2. ZIONISM
Sephardi were suspected by the Spanish Crown during the days of Christendom and the Spanish Inquisition was largely established in order to identify crypto-Jews within the Catholic Church—individuals who “converted” to Christianity to avoid expulsion from the country but who retained Jewish loyalties and/or sympathies. Yet, the Holy Roman Emperor by 1700 was much more open to the Jewish people on account of Wertheimer’s assistance in financing the state’s various activities and needs. Middle Eastern Jewry was in a different position than that of the European Jews, who advanced the cause of Zionism. The Middle Eastern Jews had their orthodox beliefs and practices whereas the Zionists who came to Palestine had political beliefs that were distinct from any religious practices. Herzl was not a practicing religious Jew. Hebrew itself was not spoken by any Jew in daily life. Sephardic and Middle Eastern Jewry had embraced Arabic in order to integrate into the local life and customs of the nations in which they lived. Thus, language itself became a problem for Jews once the state of Israel was founded—and even before that time when Jews began to populate the region and the Hebrew language began to be reinvented by the Zionists. The Sephardi had their own culture and language separate from the Ashkenazi and so by being thrown together as one group, contention was bound to arise and the dispute over a Sephardi Congress was proof enough of this.
Zionism sought to address the political problems European Jewry faced, but these problems were not the same as the problems faced by Sephardic and Middle Eastern Jews, though the Zionists did want to establish a home for all Jews. Zionism was directly impacted by the events of Germany in the 1930s, and Kristallnacht was one such example.[footnoteRef:2] Zionists used the situation in Germany to build support for a new nation-state for the Jews in Palestine, and Kristallnacht served a purpose in that regard. As the Third Reich formed a policy that opposed Jewish influence in the state, Zionism had to have its own state if it was to flourish and to create a political identity with influence and control. To rely upon the beneficial dictates of rulers who were not Jewish seemed an impossible situation for Zionists like Herzl. [2: JMW, XII. Jewish Identity Challenged and Redefined: #16]
2. WWII AND THE SHOAH
Themes that stand out in the testimonies to the Nazi genocide include images of cruel treatment and dehumanization. There was a sweeping attitude of anger towards Jewry within Germany that picked up steam during the years of the Third Reich, as revolutions in the East, particularly in Russia spread into Europe. Individuals like Hitler saw Jewry as having a hand to play in the nation’s misfortunes since the end of WWI and there was no indication that these misfortunes were going to stop unless international Jewry itself was confronted. Thus, Jews became persona non grata in Germany.
Fear of being arrested and sent to a labor camp was high as was fear about extermination and stories of gas chambers and cremation ovens. Fear was a dominant theme, and the separation of families as well as the migration of Jews to other parts of the world—some to Russia, some to America, some to Palestine—all made it much harder for people to understand what was going on in the country and what was happening with people.
The Shoah was described as a catastrophe—as a horrible instance in history for the Jews because of what it did to the people.[footnoteRef:3] Even Middle Eastern and Sephardi Jewry were impacted by it because they had to contend with the European Jewry who came into Palestine and began setting up their own state.[footnoteRef:4] This complicated matters for Jews and the memoirs of the Shoah began to be seen as a memorial that had to be honored by all Jews and in fact all nations, so that no one should ever forget the sacrifice that Jews in Europe made. [3: JMW, XI. The Shoah: #21-41] [4: JMW, VIII. Sephardi & Middle Eastern Jewry #32-35]
Ultimately the stories of the Shoah highlighted themes of sacrifice, pain and tragedy and depicted a people who were obliged to suffer at the hands of a government that viewed the Jewish population as the cause of its own afflictions. At the same time there was a sense that all Jews were in this together and that they had to affirm a sense of Jewishness in the face of persecution so that they could stand all the stronger and come out of the nightmare of the Shoah with a firmer sense of who they were and why it was important that they have their own home.
2. FOUNDING THE STATE OF ISRAEL
Considerations that influenced British policy toward Jewish immigration to Mandate Palestine included the efforts of the Zionists themselves, particularly Herzl who pushed for land for the Jewish people. The Balfour Declaration of 1917 announced support for a Jewish state in Palestine, which at the time was controlled by the Ottoman Empire. However, this control was taken away by the British by the end of war. The British were thus in a position to make good on the promise of the Balfour Declaration and the Zionists very much wanted this to happen.
Zionists were not just in Europe but in America too. Jewry was indeed international in character, just as Hitler described. Jews tended to support the idea of a Jewish identity and Jews in powerful positions in finance, industry and government were able to influence the British to support Jewish immigration to Palestine. This matter was one of intense focus for much of the internecine years.
The Nuremberg Laws and other German edicts continued to show to the British that the socio-political situation in Germany was untenable for Jews and Jewish influence around the world, from Russia to America, was used to put pressure on the British government to take action.[footnoteRef:5] [5: JMW, X. Zionism: #42-55; JMW, IX. American Jewry: #52
]
Hitler’s own prophecy of Jewry’s Annihilation was a titillating enough treatise that served as an indication of why the Jews needed a home outside of Europe. The mandate for a Jewish state was thus a product of a combined series of events and influences. From the rise of the Third Reich to the role of the Focus in British government to the role of the Zionists both in Germany and outside it—it all played a role in leading to the creation of Israel. The British were in a position to grant the land to the Jews, and the Jews who had influence both in America and in England, made certain that they received the mandate after the war. That mandate they believed was their socio-political right considering the years of struggle and trial they viewed themselves as having faced.
Bibliography
JMW, XII. Jewish Identity Challenged and Redefined: #16
JMW, XI. The Shoah: #21-41
JMW, VIII. Sephardi & Middle Eastern Jewry #32-35
JMW, X. Zionism: #42-55
JMW, IX. American Jewry: #52