P F Tinmore
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The NEWEST Official Discussion Thread for the creation of Israel, the UN and the British Mandate
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Palestinian preacher at Al Aqsa: "Palestinians Have No Historical Right to Palestine"
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Part 1
___________________________________________________
How Zionists made the land bloom by eradicating malaria
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has come under attack from Israel-haters for saying the truth that Israel “literally made the desert bloom.” The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned her, calling her statement a “racist trope”.
One of the ways the Zionists made the land bloom is by draining swamps and eradicating malaria.
A 1920 British map shows the entire central and northern parts of the land infected with malaria, with the most severely affected areas being valleys and coastal regions with a high concentration of swamps.
In 1921 British authorities reported that widespread malaria “has decimated the population” and is “an effective bar to the development and settlement of large tracts of fertile lands” and that “much well-watered and fertile land is at present lying waste on account of malaria”.
Just 20 years later, the Zionist anti-malaria campaign changed everything.
In 1941 the British Mandate reported that ‘In a number of areas where intense endemic malaria had resulted in no population for generations, recent antimalarial schemes have created large tracts of cultivatable land’ and that ‘very large areas of what is recognised by all as some of the most fertile land in the country have been reclaimed, after centuries of waste’.
Early attempts to drain the swamps relied on the Eucalyptus, a very ‘thirsty’ tree brought from Australia which uses up to 200 litres of water a day.
elderofziyon.blogspot.com
For Once, the EU is Correct - Zionists Did Make the Desert Bloom (Tomer Ilan)
Guest post by Tomer Ilan:___________________________________________________
How Zionists made the land bloom by eradicating malaria
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has come under attack from Israel-haters for saying the truth that Israel “literally made the desert bloom.” The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned her, calling her statement a “racist trope”.
One of the ways the Zionists made the land bloom is by draining swamps and eradicating malaria.
A 1920 British map shows the entire central and northern parts of the land infected with malaria, with the most severely affected areas being valleys and coastal regions with a high concentration of swamps.
In 1921 British authorities reported that widespread malaria “has decimated the population” and is “an effective bar to the development and settlement of large tracts of fertile lands” and that “much well-watered and fertile land is at present lying waste on account of malaria”.
Just 20 years later, the Zionist anti-malaria campaign changed everything.
In 1941 the British Mandate reported that ‘In a number of areas where intense endemic malaria had resulted in no population for generations, recent antimalarial schemes have created large tracts of cultivatable land’ and that ‘very large areas of what is recognised by all as some of the most fertile land in the country have been reclaimed, after centuries of waste’.
Early attempts to drain the swamps relied on the Eucalyptus, a very ‘thirsty’ tree brought from Australia which uses up to 200 litres of water a day.
For Once, the EU is Correct - Zionists Did Make the Desert Bloom (Tomer Ilan)
Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.
elderofziyon.blogspot.com
Sixties Fan
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Part 2
A 1911 report entitled ‘Zionist Work in Palestine’ reported that 400,000 eucalyptus trees had been planted to drain the soil.
Despite the early efforts, pre-WW1 efforts to eradicate malaria generally failed. Many died of malaria and many others left.
In 1922, Dr. Israel Kligler, a Zionist Jew, started the first successful national malaria-elimination campaign in the world. Kligler introduced a methodical and systematic approach which relied on Arab and Jewish cooperation of entire communities to assist in the anti-malaria work.
Kligler focused on education. He pointed out that it was possible to obtain the population’s active cooperation only after the population understood fully the significance and value of the work.
The anti-mosquito campaign was concerned with limiting the breeding in wells, cisterns and other man receptacles by regular inspections and spraying of repellents.
One of the new methods that Kligler initiated was the introduction of Gambusia fish to water sources in the country in 1923. The fish eat mosquito larvae as soon as they hatch from the eggs. The fish turned out to be an effective biological means against mosquito's larvae. The result was the almost total eradication of malaria in the upper Jordan by using where appropriate combinations of anti-larval fish and drainage techniques.
Swamps were dried by building drainage channels and the swamps were sprayed with pesticide.
The draining work in malaria-infected areas was very dangerous and many lost their lives.
After the State of Israel declared its independence, anti-malaria efforts continued, and in 1967 the World Health Organization declared malaria eliminated in Israel.
Yes, Ursula von der Leyen is correct. Zionists did make the land bloom.
elderofziyon.blogspot.com
A 1911 report entitled ‘Zionist Work in Palestine’ reported that 400,000 eucalyptus trees had been planted to drain the soil.
| EUCALYPTUS FOREST NEAR EIN HAROD |
Despite the early efforts, pre-WW1 efforts to eradicate malaria generally failed. Many died of malaria and many others left.
In 1922, Dr. Israel Kligler, a Zionist Jew, started the first successful national malaria-elimination campaign in the world. Kligler introduced a methodical and systematic approach which relied on Arab and Jewish cooperation of entire communities to assist in the anti-malaria work.
Kligler focused on education. He pointed out that it was possible to obtain the population’s active cooperation only after the population understood fully the significance and value of the work.
The anti-mosquito campaign was concerned with limiting the breeding in wells, cisterns and other man receptacles by regular inspections and spraying of repellents.
One of the new methods that Kligler initiated was the introduction of Gambusia fish to water sources in the country in 1923. The fish eat mosquito larvae as soon as they hatch from the eggs. The fish turned out to be an effective biological means against mosquito's larvae. The result was the almost total eradication of malaria in the upper Jordan by using where appropriate combinations of anti-larval fish and drainage techniques.
| Mosquito larvae |
| Male mosquito larvae eating Gambusia affinis |
Swamps were dried by building drainage channels and the swamps were sprayed with pesticide.
The draining work in malaria-infected areas was very dangerous and many lost their lives.
| Swamp draining at Yagur, 1924 |
| A Jewish girl throwing larvicide in Emek Hefer. |
After the State of Israel declared its independence, anti-malaria efforts continued, and in 1967 the World Health Organization declared malaria eliminated in Israel.
Yes, Ursula von der Leyen is correct. Zionists did make the land bloom.
For Once, the EU is Correct - Zionists Did Make the Desert Bloom (Tomer Ilan)
Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.
elderofziyon.blogspot.com
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Part 3
Postscript by Elder:
My response to seeing the "racist trope" accusation on Twitter was to post this snippet of an article in Scientific American, April 1960:
You can also see a collection of how Israel has been a leader in green tech here.
elderofziyon.blogspot.com
Postscript by Elder:
My response to seeing the "racist trope" accusation on Twitter was to post this snippet of an article in Scientific American, April 1960:
You can also see a collection of how Israel has been a leader in green tech here.
For Once, the EU is Correct - Zionists Did Make the Desert Bloom (Tomer Ilan)
Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.
elderofziyon.blogspot.com
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Israeli Independence: How Did the Press React in 1948? | Honest Reporting
A look at the different ways in which the 1948 international media reported on Israeli independence and the invasion of the Jewish state.
honestreporting.com
Abdullah al-Hadlaq, writer, Al-Watan: “Israel is validated by the world community, and the Quran. Countries not recognizing Israel are those of tyranny and oppression. Israel has scientific centers and universities which even the oldest Arab countries lack.”
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From JTA, November 25, 1947:
It was not the first time that Arabs threatened mass murder by telling the West that their own people are violent and uncontrollable .
Of course, attacks on Jews in Arab countries that followed the partition vote were tacitly encouraged by the Arab leaders with lurid and inciting headlines in the state-controlled media.
elderofziyon.blogspot.com
This thinly veiled threat was splashed on the front pages of Egyptian newspapers, causing much fear from Jewish residents:
It was not the first time that Arabs threatened mass murder by telling the West that their own people are violent and uncontrollable .
Of course, attacks on Jews in Arab countries that followed the partition vote were tacitly encouraged by the Arab leaders with lurid and inciting headlines in the state-controlled media.
When an Egyptian delegate warned the UN that Arabs would massacre a million Jews in their lands
Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.
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Last August, I published Theodor Herzl: Zionist Writings, three volumes of Herzl’s books, articles, diaries, and speeches. I wrote an introduction to Herzl’s life and introductions to each of the 11 years Herzl was a Zionist activist. Since then, people keep asking WWHT: “What would Herzl think?”
Sadly, they often snort the question, as doomers-and-gloomers assume he would detest the primitive gang of Neanderthals currently destroying his dream. Although I have criticized this government, as we celebrate Herzl Day, Iyar the 10th, May 1, this year – 163 years after Herzl’s birth – I beg to differ.
Herzl would probably say, “Yes! The con worked – I fooled them.” Herzl the lawyer knew that he and his people were playing a weak hand. But Herzl the playwright, the showman, knew how to wow them – convincing czars and sultans, kings and prime ministers, that he was “King of the Jews” – and that Zionism was as central a movement then, as it actually is now, thanks to him and his fellow dreamers.
Founders are funny phenomena. They can be caricatured into meaninglessness, hijacked left and right, or used as battering rams to say, “you see, how we disappoint them.” And, yes, Theodor Herzl is often better remembered today for his look, not his books. And it’s striking: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls him our “modern Moses,” while Tel Aviv hipsters grow Herzlian beards and some protesters, these days, wield iconic photos of him with a tear streaming down his cheek.
But at this critical moment, Herzl and Zionism’s other founders remind us what most of us felt this Remembrance Day and Independence Day – there’s much more uniting us than dividing us, and it goes way beyond our vicious enemies. Headlines emphasize the few disruptors at the military cemeteries – I was moved by the shared quiet and pain that enveloped the country on Monday night – followed instantly by Wednesday’s joy and barbecuing during Israel’s still-whiplash-inducing double holiday.
Headlines highlight the most mulish ministers and protest-leaders – I keep hearing about progress in the President Herzog-supervised negotiations and the 74% of Israelis craving judicial compromise. Headlines revel in Israel’s flashpoints – I loved watching downtown Jerusalem turn into one, big, blue-and-white flash mob on Tuesday night.
(full article online)
www.jpost.com
Sadly, they often snort the question, as doomers-and-gloomers assume he would detest the primitive gang of Neanderthals currently destroying his dream. Although I have criticized this government, as we celebrate Herzl Day, Iyar the 10th, May 1, this year – 163 years after Herzl’s birth – I beg to differ.
Herzl would probably say, “Yes! The con worked – I fooled them.” Herzl the lawyer knew that he and his people were playing a weak hand. But Herzl the playwright, the showman, knew how to wow them – convincing czars and sultans, kings and prime ministers, that he was “King of the Jews” – and that Zionism was as central a movement then, as it actually is now, thanks to him and his fellow dreamers.
Founders are funny phenomena. They can be caricatured into meaninglessness, hijacked left and right, or used as battering rams to say, “you see, how we disappoint them.” And, yes, Theodor Herzl is often better remembered today for his look, not his books. And it’s striking: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls him our “modern Moses,” while Tel Aviv hipsters grow Herzlian beards and some protesters, these days, wield iconic photos of him with a tear streaming down his cheek.
But at this critical moment, Herzl and Zionism’s other founders remind us what most of us felt this Remembrance Day and Independence Day – there’s much more uniting us than dividing us, and it goes way beyond our vicious enemies. Headlines emphasize the few disruptors at the military cemeteries – I was moved by the shared quiet and pain that enveloped the country on Monday night – followed instantly by Wednesday’s joy and barbecuing during Israel’s still-whiplash-inducing double holiday.
Headlines highlight the most mulish ministers and protest-leaders – I keep hearing about progress in the President Herzog-supervised negotiations and the 74% of Israelis craving judicial compromise. Headlines revel in Israel’s flashpoints – I loved watching downtown Jerusalem turn into one, big, blue-and-white flash mob on Tuesday night.
SO, LET’S look at it all from a Herzlian historical perspective.
In 1897, this 37-year-old, Budapest-born, Viennese-trained, lawyer, playwright and journalist convened a Zionist Congress in Basel to “solve the Jewish Question in a humane and modern way.” Europeans wondered why so many people hated the Jews – while Jews wondered why they were so hated. The Enlightenment promised to mainstream Jews into Europe, but it misfired. Reeling from this increased ancient hostility, some Jews immigrated, fleeing their tormentors; others assimilated, fleeing their Jewishness.(full article online)
'If you will it, is no dream!': What would Herzl think of Israel today?
On its 75th birthday, would Herzl be proud or disappointed at how Israel developed, perhaps both?
www.jpost.com
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The Turkish leader who banned Jews from the Kotel in 1915
The American Jewish Yearbook for 1916described several events about the Kotel that year, all of which were ascribed to Djemal Pasha, themilitary governor of Syria (which included Palestine) at that time.
Pasha was a monster, killing Arab leaders right and left, and possibly involved in the Armenian genocide. But I hadn't heard abut restrictions at the Kotel in the 1910s, and notice that he gave different reasons to bar Jews - both because they always pray for Jerusalem to be rebuilt and then the bogus "sanitary reasons," before deciding to shake down the Jews to pay for the privilege of praying there.
I confirmed a couple of these incidents:
This December 1915 article adds that Pasha considered all Jews in Palestine to be spies, and his Turkish authorities stole charity funds intended for impoverished Jews:
Also December 1915:
March 1916 news articles in Jewish newspapers confirmed the desire to charge an exorbitant fee to visit the Kotel in Jerusalem:
100,000 French francs in 1916 was worth about $17,000 US dollars at the time - which is equivalent today to $470,000, a truly exorbitant amount.
I don't see any indication that this was paid. I see photos of Jews at the Kotel in 1917 before the British took over. Either that particular story was a rumor, Djemal Pasha didn't enforce it or somehow an amount was paid quietly.
The Turkish leader who banned Jews from the Kotel in 1915
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The outcome of Israeli victory and the Arabs getting butt whopped is the only fact that matters.
That fact governs everything since then.
That fact governs everything since then.
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The time between May 1 and May 15, 1948, was a strange time in British Mandate Palestine.
Many British bureaucrats had already packed up and left ahead of their official departure on May 15. But the Jewish state couldn't be declared yet.
Normal governmental functions still needed to be done. And who did them?
The Jews, of course.
Palestine Post, May 3, 1948:
May 4:
Someone has to keep the lights on, collect the garbage, deliver the mail, approve permits. It takes mature people to step in and do the work needed for the good of all.
This is leadership.
And what about in the Arab sector? They were busy doing a run on their banks (May 2):
The wealthy Arabs ran away in December, but their political leaders in Jaffa and Haifa were the first to leave, not the last, when those cities were taken over by the Haganah. (May 4)
This is the difference between leadership and the abdication of leadership.
elderofziyon.blogspot.com
Many British bureaucrats had already packed up and left ahead of their official departure on May 15. But the Jewish state couldn't be declared yet.
Normal governmental functions still needed to be done. And who did them?
The Jews, of course.
Palestine Post, May 3, 1948:
May 4:
Someone has to keep the lights on, collect the garbage, deliver the mail, approve permits. It takes mature people to step in and do the work needed for the good of all.
This is leadership.
And what about in the Arab sector? They were busy doing a run on their banks (May 2):
The wealthy Arabs ran away in December, but their political leaders in Jaffa and Haifa were the first to leave, not the last, when those cities were taken over by the Haganah. (May 4)
This is the difference between leadership and the abdication of leadership.
Jews acting like adults while Arabs act like babies - in 1948
Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.
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Part 1
There is an interesting thread by Yair Wallach, from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, where he minimizes any threats made by Arabs towards Jews in 1948, and says that Jews exaggerate those threats in order to pursue their goal of Jewish supremacism:
It is true that in 1948, Zionist analysts felt that the war would go their way. It is probably true that some sober Arab leaders did not plan genocide against the Jews and "merely" wanted them to remain despised second class citizens as they had been forever under Muslim rule. But there is a huge leap in logic there to claim that there was no fear of another genocide, and an even larger leap to say that Jewish racism is keeping that myth alive in order to subjugate Palestinians.
First of all, there were threats - real threats - by Arab leaders promising a massacre of Jews that were recorded in major media, and not difficult to find at all. And they included at least one explicit call to throw Jews into the sea.
Here's one genocidal threat from November 1947:
Another one was from Abdul Azzam Pasha, secretary general of the Arab League. Right before the UN partition vote on November 29, 1947, he publicly threatened not only the Jews of Palestine but all Jews in the Middle East.
elderofziyon.blogspot.com
There is an interesting thread by Yair Wallach, from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, where he minimizes any threats made by Arabs towards Jews in 1948, and says that Jews exaggerate those threats in order to pursue their goal of Jewish supremacism:
It is true that in 1948, Zionist analysts felt that the war would go their way. It is probably true that some sober Arab leaders did not plan genocide against the Jews and "merely" wanted them to remain despised second class citizens as they had been forever under Muslim rule. But there is a huge leap in logic there to claim that there was no fear of another genocide, and an even larger leap to say that Jewish racism is keeping that myth alive in order to subjugate Palestinians.
First of all, there were threats - real threats - by Arab leaders promising a massacre of Jews that were recorded in major media, and not difficult to find at all. And they included at least one explicit call to throw Jews into the sea.
Here's one genocidal threat from November 1947:
Another one was from Abdul Azzam Pasha, secretary general of the Arab League. Right before the UN partition vote on November 29, 1947, he publicly threatened not only the Jews of Palestine but all Jews in the Middle East.
The Jews had every reason to fear genocide in 1948
Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.
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Part 2
Azzam Pasha is saying here that it is a point of pride for Arabs not to accept Jews as equals or victors. He proudly calls Arabs racists against Jews. So even if they wouldn't have literally thrown all the Jews into the sea, all the Arab proposals of what to do with the Jews ensured that Jews would be forever subjugated.
Now, let's look at what happened in the immediate aftermath of Azzam Pasha's threat. As soon as the UN partition vote ended - -within hours - Arabs in Palestine started attacking every Jew they could find.
Not Haganah members. Jews.
And for months, until the Haganah started going on the offensive, Jews were murdered every day just because they were Jewish.
In the Palestine Post of December 31, 1947, we read about:
- 39 Jews massacred at a Haifa oil refinery when 2000 Arab employees ran amok after an apparent Irgun bomb killed six Arabs.
- A funeral procession to the Mount of Olives (for Jews previously murdered by Arabs) was raked by gunfire, killing one of the mourners and a British policeman.
- Two Jews were killed in separate events near Safed.
- One Jew was killed and several injured in sniping from Jaffa to Tel Aviv.
And these are only the stories about fatal attacks. There were many others that were either repulsed or "only" resulted in injuries.
This is what the paper was like every day. Jewish doctors killed in hospitals. Jews killed trying to help Arabs in trouble.Arab neighbors who had been friends with Jews turned around and started ululating in support of Iraqi troops in their villages. It was open season on Jews.
And Jewish civilians in the Arab world were also targets at that time - in Tehran and Yemen, in Bahrain and Syria, in Morocco and Egypt.
These are not myths. Azzam Pasha's threats were coming true.
There was also at least one threat to throw Jews into the sea. In August, 1948, Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan Banna told the New York Times, "If the Jewish state be-comes a fact, and this is realized by the Arab peoples, they will drive the Jews who live in their midst into the sea." This is referring to the Jews of Arab countries, and the NYT added that "the Sheikh granted that this was a figure of speech," but later in the article he explicitly said that if it wasn't for politics, the Arab world would have "destroyed the Jews" in Palestine.
Wallach, whose Twitter feed has a number of statements disparaging those who are arguing with him because they are not real historians like he is, apparently found these explicitly genocidal statements against all Jews in the Middle East by Arab leaders too difficult to find. These are not "dubious" quotes - they are explicit calls to wipe out the Jews.
Coming only three years after the Holocaust, why wouldn't Jews take these threats seriously? More importantly, how can anyone consider these public statements from Arab leaders, backed up by Arab actions on the ground, not genocidal? The only thing protecting the Jews in Palestine was the Haganah - without them they would have been defenseless. They weren't defending themselves only from armies but from their neighbors. The Hadassah Hospital convoy massacre was not exactly an invitation by Arabs to work out their differences with the Jews.
Wallach's evidence that some Arabs discussed how to not eradicate the Jews and only subjugate them may very well be true, but there was also counter-evidence - the leader of the Arab Higher Committee being a Nazi collaborator, the organized attacks against Jews the previous decade during the Arab Revolt, the 1929 pogroms against Jews throughout the land - these were all fresh memories. Maybe Arab leaders really were against genocide, and maybe they just felt it was not a practical solution, but the Arab leaders throughout the Middle East were inciting their people to murder Jews, whether in the media or speeches to mobs.
No one says that every Arab wanted to kill every Jew. But given the events that followed the partition vote, and the recent history of Arab attacks on Jews, it would have been stupid indeed for Jews to rely on the goodwill of Arabs to keep them safe.
It is true that things aren't black and white. One can look at the relative strength of the armies and conclude that the Zionists probably wouldn't be destroyed. But at the time, as political winds swirled around - the US changed its position about partition before Truman recognized Israel, the UN meetings on Palestine brought different news every day, the British stumbled between pretending to defend Jews to abandoning them -- there was no room for the Jews to be confident. Thousands of Jews were killed during the war, and everyone knew friends and family who fell. The Jews had no less fear than the Arabs who fled - but the Jews had nowhere else to go. No matter how much Arab leaders insisted they weren't antisemitic, it isn't like the Jews of Palestine could expect safe passage or asylum in the neighboring states.
Wallach the historian also plays fast and loose in order to make his non-historic, purely political conclusion. What do these supposed "myths" of 1948 have to do with the "occupation" that began in 1967? If the "founding myths" were what animates Israel's actions today, then shouldn't they be treating Israeli Arabs the exact same as Palestinians?
He knows that Israeli Arabs having equal rights destroy his assertions, so he switches contexts to Palestinians who are not citizens, and jumps from 1948 to 1967.
Similarly, if Israel regards all Arabs as genocidal and violent, as Wallach asserts as a fundamental belief, then why did Israel make peace with Arab countries?
It is so sad when that reality gets in the way of a juicy, anti-Zionist theory.
Modern historians have the benefit of hindsight, and too often exhibit the proclivity to cherry pick the historic evidence that support their positions and ignore the inconvenient facts that say otherwise. But as we see here, being a historian does not mean being free of bias - on the contrary, it often gives the historian the hubris to discount or ignore the messy facts that don't fit their theories.
elderofziyon.blogspot.com
Azzam Pasha is saying here that it is a point of pride for Arabs not to accept Jews as equals or victors. He proudly calls Arabs racists against Jews. So even if they wouldn't have literally thrown all the Jews into the sea, all the Arab proposals of what to do with the Jews ensured that Jews would be forever subjugated.
Now, let's look at what happened in the immediate aftermath of Azzam Pasha's threat. As soon as the UN partition vote ended - -within hours - Arabs in Palestine started attacking every Jew they could find.
Not Haganah members. Jews.
And for months, until the Haganah started going on the offensive, Jews were murdered every day just because they were Jewish.
In the Palestine Post of December 31, 1947, we read about:
- 39 Jews massacred at a Haifa oil refinery when 2000 Arab employees ran amok after an apparent Irgun bomb killed six Arabs.
- A funeral procession to the Mount of Olives (for Jews previously murdered by Arabs) was raked by gunfire, killing one of the mourners and a British policeman.
- Two Jews were killed in separate events near Safed.
- One Jew was killed and several injured in sniping from Jaffa to Tel Aviv.
And these are only the stories about fatal attacks. There were many others that were either repulsed or "only" resulted in injuries.
This is what the paper was like every day. Jewish doctors killed in hospitals. Jews killed trying to help Arabs in trouble.Arab neighbors who had been friends with Jews turned around and started ululating in support of Iraqi troops in their villages. It was open season on Jews.
And Jewish civilians in the Arab world were also targets at that time - in Tehran and Yemen, in Bahrain and Syria, in Morocco and Egypt.
These are not myths. Azzam Pasha's threats were coming true.
There was also at least one threat to throw Jews into the sea. In August, 1948, Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan Banna told the New York Times, "If the Jewish state be-comes a fact, and this is realized by the Arab peoples, they will drive the Jews who live in their midst into the sea." This is referring to the Jews of Arab countries, and the NYT added that "the Sheikh granted that this was a figure of speech," but later in the article he explicitly said that if it wasn't for politics, the Arab world would have "destroyed the Jews" in Palestine.
Wallach, whose Twitter feed has a number of statements disparaging those who are arguing with him because they are not real historians like he is, apparently found these explicitly genocidal statements against all Jews in the Middle East by Arab leaders too difficult to find. These are not "dubious" quotes - they are explicit calls to wipe out the Jews.
Coming only three years after the Holocaust, why wouldn't Jews take these threats seriously? More importantly, how can anyone consider these public statements from Arab leaders, backed up by Arab actions on the ground, not genocidal? The only thing protecting the Jews in Palestine was the Haganah - without them they would have been defenseless. They weren't defending themselves only from armies but from their neighbors. The Hadassah Hospital convoy massacre was not exactly an invitation by Arabs to work out their differences with the Jews.
Wallach's evidence that some Arabs discussed how to not eradicate the Jews and only subjugate them may very well be true, but there was also counter-evidence - the leader of the Arab Higher Committee being a Nazi collaborator, the organized attacks against Jews the previous decade during the Arab Revolt, the 1929 pogroms against Jews throughout the land - these were all fresh memories. Maybe Arab leaders really were against genocide, and maybe they just felt it was not a practical solution, but the Arab leaders throughout the Middle East were inciting their people to murder Jews, whether in the media or speeches to mobs.
No one says that every Arab wanted to kill every Jew. But given the events that followed the partition vote, and the recent history of Arab attacks on Jews, it would have been stupid indeed for Jews to rely on the goodwill of Arabs to keep them safe.
It is true that things aren't black and white. One can look at the relative strength of the armies and conclude that the Zionists probably wouldn't be destroyed. But at the time, as political winds swirled around - the US changed its position about partition before Truman recognized Israel, the UN meetings on Palestine brought different news every day, the British stumbled between pretending to defend Jews to abandoning them -- there was no room for the Jews to be confident. Thousands of Jews were killed during the war, and everyone knew friends and family who fell. The Jews had no less fear than the Arabs who fled - but the Jews had nowhere else to go. No matter how much Arab leaders insisted they weren't antisemitic, it isn't like the Jews of Palestine could expect safe passage or asylum in the neighboring states.
Wallach the historian also plays fast and loose in order to make his non-historic, purely political conclusion. What do these supposed "myths" of 1948 have to do with the "occupation" that began in 1967? If the "founding myths" were what animates Israel's actions today, then shouldn't they be treating Israeli Arabs the exact same as Palestinians?
He knows that Israeli Arabs having equal rights destroy his assertions, so he switches contexts to Palestinians who are not citizens, and jumps from 1948 to 1967.
Similarly, if Israel regards all Arabs as genocidal and violent, as Wallach asserts as a fundamental belief, then why did Israel make peace with Arab countries?
It is so sad when that reality gets in the way of a juicy, anti-Zionist theory.
Modern historians have the benefit of hindsight, and too often exhibit the proclivity to cherry pick the historic evidence that support their positions and ignore the inconvenient facts that say otherwise. But as we see here, being a historian does not mean being free of bias - on the contrary, it often gives the historian the hubris to discount or ignore the messy facts that don't fit their theories.
The Jews had every reason to fear genocide in 1948
Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.
elderofziyon.blogspot.com
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Sixties Fan
Diamond Member
- Mar 6, 2017
- 67,308
- 12,050
- 2,290
- Thread starter
- #118
Sixties Fan
Diamond Member
- Mar 6, 2017
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- 12,050
- 2,290
- Thread starter
- #119
In the middle of an excellent Sapir article by Jeffrey Herf - highly recommended - he notes that "Jamal Husseini, the representative of the Arab Higher Committee to the United Nations, reject[ed] a Jewish state in Palestine, because, he said, it would undermine the 'racial homogeneity' of the Arab world. "
I found the full quote here:
This was a theme with Arab debaters at the UN in 1947.
The highly articulate Fadel Jamali of Iraq - who would later become prime minister of that country - spoke eloquently at the UN at the July 23, 1947 Special Committee for Palestine meeting held in Lebanon. But his words were still suffused with racism and antisemitism:
That last part was a recurring theme, that is heard even today - if Jews get what they want, it will cause Arabs to be upset and they will launch a never ending war. That threat of violence, with the implication that the Arab leaders cannot do anything to stop their own wild mobs of people, has been a constant theme from the Arab world to bully the West into concessions and pressuring Israel.
elderofziyon.blogspot.com
I found the full quote here:
While the Arab speakers at the UN made sure that they appealed to the most liberal Western thinkers in their speeches, they often betrayed their racism and antisemitism anyway. Here is one example - Husseini is saying that Arabs are racists, who cannot countenance non-Arabs in their midst.
This was a theme with Arab debaters at the UN in 1947.
The highly articulate Fadel Jamali of Iraq - who would later become prime minister of that country - spoke eloquently at the UN at the July 23, 1947 Special Committee for Palestine meeting held in Lebanon. But his words were still suffused with racism and antisemitism:
That last part was a recurring theme, that is heard even today - if Jews get what they want, it will cause Arabs to be upset and they will launch a never ending war. That threat of violence, with the implication that the Arab leaders cannot do anything to stop their own wild mobs of people, has been a constant theme from the Arab world to bully the West into concessions and pressuring Israel.
Some 1947 Arab antisemitism at the UN
Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.
elderofziyon.blogspot.com
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