Zionists also responsible?

[danholo]

I got entangled in a debate about Israel - yet again - on another forum and this disguisting argument came up, a part of an argument made by me is on top. I was claiming that Palestinians had responsibility for Nazi crimes because of their violence that resulted in restrictions in immigration in Palestine:

Thousands of Jews could've been saved before the war and during the war. It's unnecessary to say anything more, and Palestinians are resposible as well.

******
(PsychicCabbage: )
Dan, by blaming only the British and Amin al-Husseini you're telling only half the story. Yes, the British set the quotas. But it was the World Zionist Organisation, through its fourteen Palestine Offices around the world, that actually granted the immigration certificates; the WZO chose who came, and from where.

So let's look at the priority that Zionists placed upon rescuing Jews from Nazi rule by legal immigration before the war. Let's look at the numbers of immigration certificates that the WZO issued to Jews living in Nazi Germany and, later, Nazi-occupied Austria and Czechoslovakia.

Between 1933-35 - the first three years of Hitler's rule in Germany - the WZO granted immigration certificates to only 26,000 German Jews, or 19% of the 134,600 certificates that it granted throughout those three years. The majority of certificates were issued to those living in Poland instead. Maybe that's understandable, because living conditions in Poland were very tough at the time. But two-thirds of all German Jews who applied for certificates in those three years were turned down by the WZO.

In 1936 the WZO dished out 29% of its available certificates to Jews living in Nazi Germany, and 35% in 1937. In 1938, it granted 54% of them to Jews living in Germany and Nazi-occupied Austria. In 1939 - the year of the White Paper - it granted 72% of them to Jews from Germany, Austria and Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia.

So either the takeup of immigration places by Jews living under Nazi rule in 1933-39 was very slow, or a hard question has to be asked. If Zionists were genuinely concerned first and foremost about making Palestine a sanctuary for Jews from the threat of Nazism, why didn't they issue more certificates to Jews living in Nazi-ruled countries? True, the British imposed restrictive quotas. But the WZO, whose job it was to fill them, did not fill them with Jewish refugees! Only 25% of all the immigration certificates granted by the WZO between 1933-39 were allocated to Jews living under Nazi rule.

So Dan, if the Zionists weren't so concerned about the clear and present danger posed to Jews by Nazi rule between 1933-39, why should the British have been?

And for those who claim that the British White Paper of March 1939 cut off all hope for Jewish refugees to Palestine... it's worth noting that Jewish immigration in Palestine from Nazi-ruled lands actually increased in 1939, to 11,900 from 7,400 the previous year. There was room for more... if only the WZO had issued the certificates.

So Dan, I think it is necessary to say something more. I think you ought to amend your remarks to, "Palestinians and Zionists are resposible as well".

GameFAQs Message Board

While I find this utterly disguisting that somebody would actually have the nerve to claim that Zionists somehow let Jews just die in Nazi Germany, I still find this interesting and would like a comprehensive rebuttal from any of you over here.

This seems to have come from a work made by one of Israel's revisionist historians but I am not sure of that.

Please help!

[Mil]

There was a restriction of Jews set up by the Zionist administration into Palestine but the interpretation on the matter is a different thing.

[danholo]

Well I don't know how to interpret it because I have never actually heard of this. What was WZO's real intention behind this?

[Mil]

Well I don't know how to interpret it because I have never actually heard of this. What was WZO's real intention behind this?


The problem was not the WZO but in reality the British Mandate which fascilitated immigration to Palestine and the agreenments reached between the Britts and the Zionists. Plus the Jewish leaders themselves did not want to bring in just anybody but mostly young males/females who could work the land and actually contribute. Investors or rather people with money were allowed in without any restrictions - anyone with over 500 British pounds was called an investor.

The reality was even greamer then the above. Most Jewish immigration in the twenties and thirties did not really target Palestine but Argentina, US, Canada and Australia. It is estimated that between 1910-1939 over a half of those Jewish immigrants in Palestine have left Palestine for other places. In reality there was never enough Jewish immigrants to Palestine and most of those who did come expected much more then what Palestine could offer - especially people with families.

[Mediocrates]

What you are talking about is agreeing to save some lives as opposed to having the door slammed on everyone. They made a "Sophie's Choice" and now they are to be criticized for it?

For shame.

[Mil]

Plus in reality everything has a practical approach. The Jewish community in the 20s and 30s was not as united as it is right now. Most who wanted to immigrate did not think of Palestine as their number one choice rather as a choice number 22. In addition in the 30s who knew that the Holocaust would take place where a decision to immigrate, for anyone who has immigrated anywhere knows, is not an easy choice at all. Many Jews, especially the Polish Jews, most of whom lived in shtetels with a cow and a house had enough and the middle classes were fairly well off to leave.

My gramma's mom during the evacuation with the Germans a 100 kilometers away from the village did not want to go because she did not want to leave the cow - the most prized and the most expensive family possession; in addition she remembered the Germans in the last war and thought they were harmless. WHO KNEW!!! Trust me if the Zionists knew of what was in stock for the Jews they would have forcely immigrated the entire Europe.

It's not the question of guilt but the matter of "who knew?"