Zionism, Jews, and World War Two
by Rabbi Gedalya Liebermann - Australia
edited by Larry McCart
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Many rabbis have warned of the potential dangers of Zionism, and have openly declared that all Jews loyal to Jehovah should stay away from Zionism. Rabbis made their opinions clear to their congregants and to the general public. Their message was that Zionism is a chauvinistic racist phenomenon that has nothing to do with Judaism. They publicly expressed that Zionism would definitely be detrimental to the well being of Jews and Gentiles, and that its effects on the Jewish religion would be destructive. Further, rabbis said Zionism would taint the reputation of Jewry as a whole, and would cause utter confusion in the Jewish and non-Jewish communities. Judaism is a religion. Judaism is not a race or a nationality, and this was and still remains the consensus amongst the rabbis. I believe Jews were given the Holy Land by Jehovah in order to be able to study and practice the Torah without disturbance and to attain levels of holiness difficult to attain outside of the Holy Land. Jews abused the privilege, and Jews were expelled. That is exactly what all Jews say in their prayers on every Jewish festival, "Umipnay chatoenu golinu mayartsaynu" -- "Because of our sins, we were expelled from our land". We have been forsworn by Jehovah "not to enter the Holy Land as a body before the predestined time", "not to rebel against the nations", to be loyal citizens, not to do anything against the will of any nation or its honor, not to seek vengeance, discord, restitution or compensation; "not to leave exile ahead of time." On the contrary; we have to be humble and accept the yoke of exile. To violate the oaths would result in "your flesh will be made prey as the deer and the antelope in the forest," and the redemption will be delayed. (Talmud Tractate Ksubos p. 111a) To violate the oaths is not only a sin, it is a heresy because it is against the fundamentals of our Belief. Only through complete repentance will the Almighty alone, without any human effort or intervention, redeem us from exile. This will be after Jehovah will send the prophet Elijah and Moshiach who will induce all Jews to complete repentance. At that time there will be universal peace. Leading Jewish religious authorities predicted great hardship to befall humanity generally and the Jewish People particularly, as a result of Zionism. To be a Jew means that either one is born to a Jewish mother or converts to the religion with the condition that he or she make no reservations with regard to Jewish Law. Unfortunately there are many Jews who have no inkling whatsoever as to the duties of a Jew. Many of them are not to blame, for in many cases they lacked a Jewish education and upbringing. But there are those who deliberately distort the teachings of our tradition to suit their personal needs. It is self understood that not just anyone has the right or the ability to make a decision regarding the philosophy or law of a religion, especially when the person is ignorant regarding the philosophy or law of the religion. It follows then that those individuals who "decided" that Judaism is a nationality are to be ignored and even criticized. It is not a secret that the founders of Zionism had never studied Jewish Law nor did they express interest in our holy tradition. They openly defied Rabbinical authority and self-appointed themselves as leaders of the Jewish "nation". In Jewish history, actions like those have always spelled disaster. To be a Jew and show open defiance of authority or to introduce "amendment" or "innovation" without first consulting with those officially appointed as Jewish spiritual leaders is the ideal equation to equal catastrophe. One can not just decide to "modernize" ancient traditions or regulations. The spiritual leaders of contemporary Judaism (better known as Orthodox rabbis) have received ordination to judge and interpret matters pertaining to the Jewish faith. These rabbis have received their rights and responsibilities, and form a link in the unbroken chain of the Jewish tradition dating all the way back to Moses who received the Torah from Jehovah. It was these very rabbis who, at the time of the formation of the Zionist movement, foresaw the pernicious outcome that was without a doubt lined up. It was a man possessing outstanding Judaic genius, and a level of uncontested holiness who enunciated the Jewish stance regarding Zionism. This charismatic individual, the Rebbe of Satmar, Grand Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, did not mince any words. Straight to the point he called Zionism "the work of Satan", "a sacrilege" and "a blasphemy". He forbade any participation with anything even remotely associated with Zionism, and said that Zionism was bound to call the wrath of Jehovah upon His people. He maintained this stance with unwavering bravery when he resided in Hungary and later when he resided in New York where he lead a congregation numbering in the hundreds of thousands. Grand Rabbi Teitelbaum, scion to a legacy of holy mystics and Hassidic Masters, unfortunately had his prediction fulfilled. Many of our Jewish brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters died because of World War Two. This, I believe, was a result of Zionist stupidity. But it doesn't end there. It wasn't enough for the Zionist leaders to have aroused the wrath of Jehovah. They made a point of displaying abysmal contempt for their Jewish brothers and sisters by actively working against them. Just the idea alone of Zionism, that the rabbis had informed them would cause havoc, was not enough for them. They made an effort to pour fuel on an already burning fire. They took the liberty of telling the world that they represented World Jewry. Who appointed these individuals as leaders of the Jewish People? It is not a secret that these so-called "leaders" were ignorant when it came to Judaism, and that they were atheists and racists. These are the "statesmen" who organized the irresponsible boycott against Germany in 1933. This boycott harmed Germany, and caused problems for Jews of Europe. President Roosevelt convened the Evian conference July 6-15, 1938, to deal with the Jewish refugee problem. The Jewish Agency delegation headed by Golda Meir (Meirson) ignored a German offer to allow Jews to emigrate to other countries for $250 a head, and the Zionists did not make an effort to influence the United States and the 32 other countries attending the conference to allow immigration of German and Austrian Jews. [Source] On February 1, 1940, Henry Montor (executive vice-President of the United Jewish Appeal) refused to intervene for a shipload of Jewish refugees stranded on the Danube river, stating that "Palestine cannot be flooded with... old people or with undesirables." [Source] It is an historical fact that in 1941 and again in 1942, the German Gestapo offered all European Jews transit to Spain, if they would relinquish all their property in Germany and occupied France; on condition that: (a) none of the deportees travel from Spain to Palestine; (b) all the deportees be transported from Spain to the USA or British colonies, and there to remain, with entry visas to be arranged by the Jews living there; and (c) $1000.00 for each family to be paid by the Agency, payable upon the arrival of the family at the Spanish border at the rate of 1000 families daily. The Zionist leaders in Switzerland and Turkey received this offer with the clear understanding that the exclusion of Palestine as a destination for the deportees was based on an agreement between the Gestapo and the Palestinian Mufti (an Islamic scholar who is an interpreter of Islamic law). The answer of the Zionist leaders was negative, with the following comments: (a) only Palestine would be considered as a destination for the deportees; (b) European Jews must be made to suffer more than other ethnic groups, in order that the victorious allies will be more likely to agree to a "Jewish State" after the war; and (c) the Gestapo's offer is to be rejected. Zionist leaders betrayed Jews. Zionism was never an option for Jewish salvation. Quite the opposite, it was a formula for human beings (who called themselves Jews) to be used as pawns for the power trip of Zionist leaders. A perfidy! A betrayal beyond description! In 1944, at the time of the Hungarian deportations, a similar offer was made, whereby all Hungarian Jews could be helped. The same Zionist hierarchy again refused this offer. The British government granted visas to 300 rabbis and their families to the Colony of Mauritius, with passage for the evacuees through Turkey. The "Jewish Agency" leaders sabotaged this plan with the observation that the plan was disloyal to Palestine. On December 17, 1942, both houses of the British Parliament declared its readiness to find temporary refuge for endangered persons. The British Parliament proposed to evacuate 500,000 Jews from Europe, and resettle them in British colonies, as a part of diplomatic negotiations with Germany. This motion received within two weeks a total of 277 Parliamentary signatures. On January 27, 1943, when the next steps were being pursued by over 100 M.P.'s and Lords, a spokesman for the Zionists announced that the Jews would oppose the motion because Palestine was omitted. [Source] On February 16, 1943, Romania offered 70,000 Jewish refugees of the Trans-Dniestria the opportunity to leave Romania at the cost of $50 each. This was publicized in the New York papers. Yitzhak Greenbaum, Chairman of the Rescue Committee of the Jewish Agency, addressing the Zionist Executive Council in Tel Aviv February 18, 1943, said, "when they asked me, 'couldn't you give money out of the United Jewish Appeal funds for the rescue of Jews in Europe', I said NO, and I say again, NO." On February 24, 1943, Stephen Wise, President of the American Jewish Congress and leader of the American Zionists issued a public refusal to this offer, and declared that giving money out of the United Jewish Appeal funds for the rescue of Jews in Europe would not be justified. In 1944 the Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People called upon the American government to establish a War Refugee Board. Stephen Wise testifying before a special committee of Congress objected to this proposal. [Source] During the course of the negotiations mentioned above, Chaim Weizman, the first "Jewish statesman" stated: "The most valuable part of the Jewish nation is already in Palestine, and those Jews living outside Palestine are not too important." Weizman's cohort, Greenbaum, amplified this statement with the observation, "One cow in Palestine is worth more than all the Jews in Europe." And then, after the bitterest episode in Jewish history, these Zionist "statesmen" lured the broken refugees in displaced person camps to remain in hunger and deprivation, and to refuse relocation to any place but Palestine; only for the purpose of building their State. In 1947 Congressman William Stratton sponsored a bill (HR2910) to immediately grant entry to the United States of 400,000 displaced persons. The bill was not passed after it was publicly denounced by the Zionist leadership. [Source] These facts are read with consternation and unbearable shame. How can it be explained that at a time during the last phase of World War Two, when National Socialists in Germany asked for money to help Jews, partly because of their desires to establish contact with the Western powers that, they believed, were under Jewish influence, how was it possible that the self-proclaimed "Jewish leaders" did not agree to supply the money needed to help Jews? On February 23, 1956, the Hon. J. W. Pickersgill, Minister for Immigration, was asked in the Canadian House of Commons "would he open the doors of Canada to Jewish refugees". He replied "the government has made no progress in that direction because the government of Israel....does not wish us to do so". [Source] In 1972, the Zionist leadership successfully opposed an effort in the United States Congress to allow 20,000-30,000 Russian refugees to enter the United States. Jewish relief organizations, Joint and HIAS, were being pressured to abandon these refugees in Vienna, Rome and other Europiean cities. [Source] The pattern is clear. Humanitarian rescue efforts are subverted to narrow Zionist interests. There was much more shocking behavior regarding these "Jewish statesmen"; we could list many more examples, but for the time being let anyone produce a valid excuse for the above facts. Zionist responsibility for the Holocaust is threefold. (1) The Holocaust was a punishment for disrespecting The Three Oaths (see Talmud, Tractate Kesubos p. 111a). (2) Zionist leaders openly withheld support (financially and otherwise) to save Jews from great suffering resulting because of World War Two. (3) The leaders of the Zionist movement cooperated with Hitler and his representatives on many occasions and in many ways.
The leaders of the Zionist movement worked to help Adolf Hitler and the German government. Early in 1935, a passenger ship bound for Haifa in Palestine left the German port of Bremerhaven. Its stern bore the Hebrew letter for its name, "Tel Aviv", while a swastika banner fluttered from the mast. Although the ship was Zionist owned, its captain was a National Socialist Party member. Many years later a traveler aboard the ship recalled this symbolic combination as a "metaphysical absurdity". Absurd or not, this is but one vignette from a little-known chapter of history: The wide ranging collaboration between Zionism and Hitler's Third Reich. In early January 1941 a small but important Zionist organization submitted a formal proposal to German diplomats in Beirut for a military-political alliance with wartime Germany. The offer was made by the radical underground "Fighters for the Freedom of Israel", better known as the Israel Freedom Movement (Lehi) or Stern Gang. Its leader, Avraham Stern, had recently broken with the radical nationalist "National Military Organization" (Irgun Zvai Leumi - Etzel) over the group's attitude toward Britain, that had effectively banned further Jewish settlement of Palestine. Stern regarded Britain as the main enemy of Zionism. This remarkable proposal "for the solution of the Jewish question in Europe and the active participation in World War Two by the Israel Freedom Movement (Lehi) (the Stern Gang) on the side of Germany" is worth quoting at some length: "The Israel Freedom Movement (Lehi) is familiar with the goodwill of the German Reich government and its officials towards Zionist activities within Germany and the Zionist emigration program, and takes the view that: (1) Common interests can exist between a European New Order based on the German concept and the true national aspirations of the Jewish people as embodied by the Israel Freedom Movement (Lehi); (2) Cooperation is possible between the New Germany and a renewed, folkish-national Jewry; (3) The establishment of the Jewish state on a national and totalitarian basis, and bound by treaty, with the German Reich, would be in the interest of maintaining and strengthening the future German position of power in the Near East. "On the basis of these considerations, and upon the condition that the German Reich government recognize the national aspirations of the Israel Freedom Movement (Lehi) mentioned above, the Israel Freedom Movement (Lehi) in Palestine offers to actively take part in the war on the side of Germany. "This offer by the Israel Freedom Movement (Lehi) could include military, political and informational activity within Palestine and, after certain organizational measures, outside as well. Along with this the "Jewish" men of Europe would be militarily trained and organized in military units under the leadership and command of the Israel Freedom Movement (Lehi). They would take part in combat operations for the purpose of conquering Palestine, should such a front be formed. "The indirect participation of the Israel Freedom Movement in the New Order of Europe, already in the preparatory stage, combined with a positive-radical solution of the European-Jewish problem on the basis of the national aspirations of the Jewish people mentioned above, would greatly strengthen the moral foundation of the New Order in the eyes of all humanity. "The cooperation of the Israel Freedom Movement would also be consistent with a recent speech by Adolf Hitler; during this speech Hitler said that he would utilize any combination and coalition in order to isolate and defeat England." (Original document in German Auswertiges Amt Archiv, Bestand 47-59, E224152 and E234155-58. Complete original text published in: David Yisraeli, The Palestinian Problem in German Politics 1889-1945 (Israel: 1947) pp. 315-317). On the basis of their similar ideologies about ethnicity and nationhood, National Socialists and Zionists worked together for what each group believed was in its own national interests. This is just one example of Zionist collaboration with Adolf Hitler for the purpose of receiving jurisdiction over Palestine.
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