In 1916, conscription was instituted and with it calls for the creation of a specifically Jewish legion intensified. These were led by two Zionists, Chaim Weizmann and Ze'ev Jabotinsky, who rebelled against the officially neutral position of the World Zionist Congress. Both wanted Jews to have a part in fighting the Ottomans in Palestine with the hope of gaining a stake in the post-war peace there.
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What did immediately affect Jewish lives was the creation of the Jewish Legion, the only specifically Jewish fighting force among all the armies of the first world war. In charge was Lieutenant Colonel J H Patterson, a philosemite of the kind produced by devout protestantism's absorption in the Old Testament as history and instruction. As he wrote in his memoirs:
From the days of my youth I have
always been a keen student of the
Jewish people, their history, laws and
customs. Even as a boy I spent the
greater part of my leisure hours
poring over the Bible, especially that
portion of the Old Testament which
chronicles battles, murders, and
sudden deaths, little thinking that
this Biblical knowledge would ever be
of any practical value in after life.
Patterson led the "Judeans" to battle honours against the Ottomans at Megiddo and Nablus, in the teeth of what he perceived to be antisemitic treatment from the wider British army. For example, the legion was posted far longer than any other unit in the Jordan Valley, resulting in 80% malaria rates. Supplies were always slow to arrive and officers enjoyed throwing antisemitic insults around. This infuriated Patterson, a devoted commander who was proud of the fighting fitness of his troops. Meanwhile, Patterson was surprised to find among the men strong differences of opinion about Zionism. The army had allowed the enlistment of passionately Zionist American Jews who gave up their nationality to do so, but a significant number of the British Jews had little sympathy for the project of settlement. For them, the Jewish Legion meant simply the opportunity to serve among sympathetic people.