Committee For A Jewish Army. PDF (arch.).
Posted on 04/08/2025 12:08:09 AM PDT by Words Matter
https://justsayingitoutloloud.blogspot.com/2025/04/when-britain-rejected-plan-for-jewish.html
When Britain rejected the plan for a 'Jewish Army' of 200,000 Jews, including of E. Israel/Palestine to fight Hitler (though 1.5 million Jews did serve in the regular Allied militaries during World War II).
The Jewish Army Plan (1941 - 1942) As Hitler’s army was conquering Europe and moved into North Africa, a movement began in the United States to create a Jewish army comprised of Jewish volunteers from Palestine, other Middle East countries, and stateless Jews driven from their homes, to fight the Nazis. Proponents suggested 100,000 Jews would fight because of “their hate for Hitlerism.” The Committee for a Jewish Army of Stateless and Palestinian Jews led by Peter Bergson proposed that the Imperial War Council form the Jewish army under the Supreme Allied Command.
1942 poster:
Vengeance. Give Us A Jewish Army.
Committee For A Jewish Army. PDF (arch.).
COMMITTEE FOR A JEWISH ARMY of Stateless and Palestinian Jews
National Headquarters.
535 FIFTH AVENUE
NEW YORK CITY.
_
MURRAY HILL 2-7237
PIERRE VAN PAASSEN
Chairman.
ALFRED A. STRELSIN
Chairman—Executive Board. and Trustee
—
This is a world-wide war.
Troops must be transported thousands of miles away from home to fight on unfamillar ground: -
*
No one knows where Hitler & Co. will strike next.
Therefore, the Allied torces must be spread thinly over vast areas,
*
There are only a limited number of available troops,
No one place seems to have a sufficient number for adequate detense.
*
Singapore, Hong Kong, the Phillipines, Indo-China, Dutch East Indies, Burma end Libya, all tell the same story -- too few, too late.
*
Experts agree that the most important stronghold left to the Allles is the Suez Canal.
*
If Suez falls, it is almost certain that India and Atrica with untold wealth in off and minerals will be Hitler's booty.
*
These vitel materials of war will strengthen the enemy for an all-out atteck on America,
*
Suez is now defended by English, Australtan and Indian troops, There are not enough of them for satety.
*
Therefore, there are increasing demands for an A.E.F. tn the Middle East,
*
American boys would have to travel 12,000 miles to fight et Suez,
*
Palestine is 75 miles away from Suez.
*
100,000 strong pioneer Jews in Patestine demand the right to fight to protect their homes, the gateway to Suez,
They have not been called,
*
They have their backs to the wall, They can never retreat, No Dunkirk is possible for them.
*
There is no place for them to retreat to. They must fight the Nazi hordes armed or unarmed.
*
Armed, they will be an important and essential pert of Allied strength.
*
Unarmed, they will be massacred.
* * * * *
Then, there ere 100,000 stateless Jews of militery age roaming the countries of the tree world.
*
They lost their homes, families and honor because of Nazt aggression.
*
Thet gives them a primary right to fight back. *
But they belong to no state -- they can enlist no-where -- yet!
*
They were persecuted and left stateless, because they are Jews - - - - -
*
They want to fight back as Jews.
* * * * *
Are the Jews a Nation, a Religion or a Race?
*
This Is no time to indulge in sophisticated debates while all democracy is fighting for its life.
*
Certataly, "the Jews" cannot afford professorial luxury: They must fight.
*
It is not only their "must", it is also their sacred duty toward democracy.
* * * * *
Anti-Semites whisper Hitler's line that the Jews are yellow and will not fights;
*
That Jews start[sic] wars and let others fight them.
*
200,000 JEWS DEMAND THE RIGHT TO FIGHT HITLER, MUSSOLINI AND HIROHITO!
*
Justice and good common sense demand that they be given that elementary rights.
*
Atter the war, the same anti-Semites will say that 'the Jews' were the only people who did not fight.
*
'The Jews' demand the right to take their place and to be counted In this war.
*
Objectors say that a Jewish Army would segregate American Jewish citizens.
*
This ts absurd, since NO AMERICAN CITIZENS ARE WANTED AS SOLDIERS IN THE JEWISH ARMY.
Their place is in the armed forces of the United States, along with all races and creeds in America. They are there, bravely fighting, now.
*
They say that the Jewish Army Is not the unanimous demand ot the whole Jewish people.
*
This ts immaterial, just as it ts immatertal whether or not the whole French people are backing de Gaulle.
*
They sey there is no need tor manpower and there is no equipment for a Jewlsh Army It constituted.
*
These objections ore false. Prime Minister Churchill refuted them In these words:
"The crisis of equipment is largely over and an ever broadening tlow Is now assured, The crisis of man-power and womenpower is at hand and will dominate the year 1942."
*
lt ts not the British who have to decide whom to equip.
*
Britain is not the only and not even the main arsenal of democracy.
*
It is the United States.
* There is no reason why the United States will not equip the Jewish Army it constituted, after having equipped all people fighting for democracy.
* * * * *
They say that a jewish Army will cause trouble with the Arabs.
*
The Arabs have already caused trouble in Iraq and Syria.
*
There was no Jewlsh Army on Iraq. Nor in Syria.
* There are stalwart Jews in Palestine.
*
There have been no Arab troubles in Palestine since the war began,
*
The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem is an honorary guest in Berlin.
*
Can we appease him?
* * * * *
They say that the Jewish Army is °♧a Zionist-British affair.
*
lt is not.
*
It is an affair of all "the Jews" because all Jews are threatened.
*
Others say it is a purely Jewish affair and Americans should not be involved.
*
It is not.
*
It is an affair of all the United Nations,
Because all the democratic nations are threatened;
Because a Jewish Army will save Suez. Because it will release the Anzacs from the Middle East for service at home.
Because it will strengthen the American War Effort which embraces the entire world.
Therefore, Secretary of War Stimson and Secretary of the Navy Knox endorse the Jewish Army plan;
So do Rear Admiral Thomas T. Craven, Vice Admiral Harry P. Huse, Rear Admiral H. E. Yarnell and Rear Admiral Yates Stirling, Jr;
And so do Generals Ira A. Haynes and Edward F. McGlachlin;
And so do Senators Edwin C. Johnson and Elbert D. Thomas of the Senate Military Affairs Committee;
And so does a legion of foreign correspondents, columnists, radio commentators, Congressional leaders, military authorities, clergymen of all faiths, educators and business executives, many of them are members of the Committee for a Jewish Army;
And so do most thinking Americans of every race, creed and color.
*
President Roosvelt says we already have several A.E.F.s in action. Palestinian Jews ask no A.E.F. They are anxious to do the fighting.
*
THIS IS A STRUGGLE FOR RIGHT AND JUSTICE. RIGHT AND JUSTICE ARE INDIVISIBLE -- THEY SHOULD BE FOR ALL, EVERYWHERE.
The Pittsburgh Press Jun 24, 1942. Arabs May Aid Nazi Offensive in the Middle East. By William Philip Simms. Scripps-Howard Foreign Editor Washington. June 24— [...]
Jews Worried.
In this country the peril to Seuz is causing special anxiety among Jews. Palestine and the Jewish national home are in the middle of neneral Rommers road to the oil fields. A telegram from Alfred A. Strelsin chairman of the executive hoard of the Committee for a Jewish Army in Palestine says:
"Rommel push spotlights again demand for immediate creation of Jewish army of Palestinian and stateless Jew s. 200,000 strong, for service in the Middle East. An AEF such as England is urging is unfair to America, now very short of transport and convoys, when 200.000 men are waiting a chance to fight. They are there. No ships are needed for their transportation. They need only to he mobilized. Suez is only 7% miles from Palestine and Panzer divisions do not wait for political expediences Suez must not be an-other Singapore. Too little and too late must not be the next head-line."
Senators Mead, Murray Stress Need for Jewish Army in Middle East. JTA. May 4, 1942.
U. S. Senator James M. Mead of New York, speaking last night, before 700 guests, at the testimonial dinner at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, tendered to Pierre van Paassen, foreign correspondent, and national chairman of the Committee for a Jewish Army, declared that “We should recognize that to discriminate against the stateless and Palestinian Jews by refusing them the status and dignity we have granted to the Free Dutch, the Free Poles, the Free Czechs and the Free French, and all other free peoples, is to violate the sacred principles for which we are fighting!”
Stressing the fact that the Axis forces are making one gigantic effort to converge in the Middle East, Senator Mead stated, “The need for, the very existence of your Committee for an army of Stateless and Palestinian Jews is now eloquent proof of our failure to understand the meaning of total war. If we did, there would today be in the Middle East, in Palestine, around the Suez, a Jewish Army fighting proudly and equally with all other peoples in the cause of liberty and freedom, and defending it only as a people who have real reason to hate would.”
Senator James E. Murray of Montana, another principal speaker, declared: “How can we ignore a proposal to strengthen the democratic forces physically and morally with a couple of hundred thousand men, who ever since Hitler’s ascension to power, have been his most uncompromising foes? I say, I know that no true Christian could withhold from these victims of Nazidom the privilege of fighting back at Hitler, and fighting back as Jews.”
Among the other speakers at the dinner were Brigadier General Lewis B. Hershey, Selective Service director, Alfred A Streslin, chairman of the executive board of the Committee for a Jewish Army, Louis Nizer, Peter H. Bergson of Palestine and Mr. Van Paassen. The dinner climaxed an all-day conference which delegates from all parts of the country attended.
(Added note:
Approximately 1.5 million Jews served in the regular Allied militaries during World War II, including significant numbers in the US, Red Army, Polish Army, British Armed Forces, and Canadian Armed Forces, as well as Jewish partisans and resistance fighters in occupied Europe.
While E. Israel/Palestine Jews hurried to be receuuted in the British Army, and Jews that Arabs should be recruited, only 9,000 signed up - about a third of the Jews, many not from Palestine and most did desert to help Hitler).
Pierre van Paassen, always a hero!
Ping.
5.56mm
Perfidious Albion.
I'm sure Britain welcomed Jews into the British army to fight Hitler.
A former constituent of mine is Jewish, served in the US Army in WWII, helped liberate Dachau. He has spoken at a zillion schools, Rotary, Lions clubs and the like, etc.
First, it would tend to validate Nazi propaganda that Germany was under attack by scheming Jews and their American and British allies.
Second, Britain did not want to create a large body of combat trained Jews ready to return after the war to organize and fight for a Jewish state and contest British rule.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/news/3749068/posts
https://freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/4210614/posts?page=2#2
Thanks
True. For both. Plus, the fear of Arabs by cowardice Britain.
My pleasure.
The British had reason to worry. During WW II, they came close to losing Egypt, the Suez Canal, and the Mediterranean to Rommel. The Muslim Brotherhood was aligned with the Nazis and were prepared to go into rebellion once Rommel reached Cairo.
A guy who owned a local bar was a Jewish vet of WWII. Served in Pattons 3rd Army. He became a good friend and was one of the toughest SOBs I ever met.
Thanks for the info. Inspiring
Thanks.
Nov/1942: Anti-Zionist Arthur Sulzberger / New York Tines against Jewish army
In November 1942, New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger publicly declared that Zionist efforts and the calls for a Jewish army created enmity among Moslems and added to the difficulties of the Allies: “it serves no useful purpose to continue, at this time, a campaign which not only embarrasses the United Nations, but can be distorted by the Axis in the Arab world.”
Breitman, R., Lichtman, A. J. (2013). FDR and the Jews. Germany: Harvard University Press, https://books.google.com/books?id=IgT55bAvrjcC&pg=PA242
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jewish-legion
...When Turkey entered the war on the side of the Central Powers (October 30, 1914), two different concepts of the Jewish role in the world conflict emerged among Zionists. In November, David Ben-Gurion and Yiẓḥak Ben-Zvi submitted to the Turkish commander in Jerusalem a proposal to raise a Jewish Legion attached to the Turkish army...
...Vladimir Jabotinsky advanced a diametrically opposite concept. In December 1914, while a roving correspondent of a Moscow daily, he arrived in Alexandria and expounded to the Palestine deportees the idea of raising a Jewish Legion to fight with the Allies in order to liberate Palestine from the Turks. Joseph Trumpeldor, one of the deportees, fully embraced Jabotinsky’s idea...
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