Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: the scotsman; caww; BeauBo; All

I’m glad you found most of my post interesting. By all means read the book I refer to. I found it startling how like these conditions the current ISEL/Daesh behavior is.

Regarding British anti-Semitism, I am well aware that plenty of British are not now, nor were then anti-semitic. However, do you know to what extent Jews were allowed in private clubs, important schools, and significant centers of employment including government and political office? I read a lot of this Wiki link, which has over 100 references listed:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_insurgency_in_Palestine

I am going to list some of the pertinent quotes which are the kind of thing that has given me my impressions. Also, I was aware of the various questionable acts of the Stern Gang (Lehi), Irgun and Hagana, including the King David Hotel atrocity.

During the 1945 British election, Labour pledged that if they returned to power, they would revoke the White Paper of 1939, permit free Jewish immigration to Palestine and even the transfer of Arabs, and turn Palestine into a Jewish national home that would gradually evolve into an independent state.[18][19] However, the new Labour Foreign Secretary, Ernest Bevin, decided to maintain heavy restrictions on Jewish immigration. Before the war, Bevin had been the head of Britain’s largest trade-union, the TGWU and in this capacity had led a campaign to prevent German Jews being allowed to migrate to Britain.[20] Bevin favored the White Paper’s policy of turning Palestine into an Arab state with a Jewish minority that would have political and economic rights, and feared that the creation of a Jewish state would inflame Arab opinion and jeopardize Britain’s position as the dominant power in the Middle East. Bevin also believed that displaced Holocaust survivors should be resettled in Europe instead of Palestine.[21][22]

As the British withdrew during the closing months of the mandate, civil war erupted in Palestine between the Jews and Arabs. During this period, the British continued to act in favor the Arabs. As well as restricting Jewish immigration, they handed over strategic military and police positions to the Arabs as they abandoned them, and froze Jewish Agency assets in London banks.[58] However, the British generally stayed out of the fighting and only intervened occasionally.

Within Britain there were deep divisions over Palestine policy. Dozens of British soldiers, Jewish militants and civilians died during the campaigns of insurgency. The conflict led to heightened antisemitism in the UK and, in August 1947, after the hanging of two abducted British sergeants, to widespread anti-Jewish rioting across the UK.[4] The conflict caused tensions in Britain’s relationship with the United States.

The British government put diplomatic pressure on Poland, the source of a large number of the Jewish refugees, to clamp down on Jewish emigration, as Poland freely permitted Jews to leave without visas or exit permits, but their efforts proved futile.[24][25] In 1947, British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) launched Operation Embarrass, a clandestine operation to blow up ships in Italian ports that were preparing to take Jewish refugees to Palestine, by having operatives attach limpet mines to the hulls of vessels. From summer 1947 to early 1948, five such attacks were carried out, destroying one ship and damaging two others. Two other British mines were discovered before they detonated.[26]

My feeling is there is much for all sides to be ashamed of, and I don’t see much chance of resolution of the Israel/Palestine issue in my lifetime.


34 posted on 05/23/2015 1:26:51 AM PDT by gleeaikin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies ]


To: gleeaikin

Thank you for your fair, open minded post. Usually UK-Israel posts are uninformed rubbish.


35 posted on 05/23/2015 10:52:37 AM PDT by the scotsman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson