Part II of III
In part one we were introduced to the Churchill family, the fact that he represented a large Jewish constituency in Manchester and that he forestalled an anti-immigrant government act and meets Chaim Weizmann.
Winston Churchill, in his first public meeting, was the main speaker in Manchester, in support of the Jewish Hospital Fund. He was impressed with the Jewish communal emphasis on social responsibility. He became a subscriber to the Jewish Soup Kitchen, the Jewish Lad’s Club and the Jewish Tennis and Cricket Club. He visited the Jewish Hospital, the Talmud Torah School and the Jewish Working Men’s Club. Afterwards he said: “They have the spirit of their race and their faith.” He counseled them “to guard and keep that spirit as a precious thing, a bond of union, an inspiration and a source of great strength.” In the afternoon, he attended a special service at the Great Synagogue, to raise funds for the Victoria Memorial Jewish Hospital. That night, a mass meeting was held at the Palace Theater, in support of the Hospital, at which Churchill was again the main speaker. His advice was: “…if I might say it, without disrespect: Be good Jews…. a Jew cannot be a good Englishman, unless he is a good Jew.”
The President of the Manchester Zionist Committee, and patron of the hospital, Dr. Charles Dreyfus, said that Churchill’s name would go down to posterity as one who had endeared himself to the Jews in general, especially those who had been hit by the Aliens Act, against which he had fought so splendid a fight.
In 1908 Churchill relocated to Scotland, where he was exposed, for the first time, to a new movement favoring a national home for the Jewish people—Zionism. Churchill was sympathetic to the goal of a home for the Jewish people, writing: “I am in full sympathy with the historical aspirations of the Jews. The restoration to them, of a center of racial and political integrity, would be a tremendous event in the history of the world.”
In 1910 Churchill became Home Secretary, responsible for the preservation of public order. In 1911 Britain had its only pogrom in modern times, in the mining town of Tredegar, where 30 Jewish families lived, with attacks on Jewish shops. The accusation was that Jewish landlords were evicting miners from their homes on a large scale, for non-payment of rent, and were then taking in lodgers, and demanding even higher rent. Actually only one of the 30 Jewish families derived its income from rents. For three days the Jews were terrorized, their shops and homes looted. Churchill took immediate action, first with the use of police, and then requesting the War Office to send in troops, to successfully stop the outbreaks. Despite severe criticism, both from the left and the right, for his use of troops, Churchill once again used troops in the Sirhowy Valley south of Tredegar, when violence against Jews broke out there.
From his position of authority, Churchill had acted without hesitation to stamp out violence in Britain against Jews.
In November 1917, Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour wrote a letter to Baron Rothschild, a letter now known to us as the Balfour Declaration, expressing a favorable view of the government for the establishment, in Palestine, of a national home for the Jewish People. Although Churchill was not directly involved in the issuance of the Declaration, in January 1919 the fate of Palestine did become his direct concern, when he became Minister of War. Churchill was leery of administering Palestine as a mandate, as offered to Britain by the League of Nations. Although broadly sympathetic to Jewish interests, as expressed by the Balfour Declaration, he was concerned about the cost of administering the territory, and the potential conflict between Jews and Arabs. Churchill suggested an alternative to Prime Minister David Lloyd George, that the proposed mandate be postponed, British forces ultimately withdrawn and the Provinces preserved intact under the direct supervision of the League of Nations. This was rejected by the Prime Minister, and the mandate would go into effect in September 1923.
In 1920 Churchill was asked to send a message for a book, listing all the Jews who fought, and those who were killed, in the War. Churchill complied, and ended by saying: “I can truthfully say that this record is a great one, and British Jews can look with pride on the honorable part they played in winning the Great War.”
Meanwhile Churchill was stuck with Palestine, when he became Colonial Secretary in February 1921, responsible for the mandate under a new British High Commissioner, Sir Herbert Samuel, a man proud of his Britishness, and of being a Jew.
Winston was always a man of action, so his first instinct was to see the Palestine situation himself. Off he went from London on March 1, via Cairo to Jerusalem with Sir Herbert, and also accompanied by a shrewd and knowledgeable Army Colonel—T.E. Lawrence, known to us now as Lawrence of Arabia. But even before departing, he brokered a deal with Sharif Hussein of Mecca, who had driven the Turks from the Arabian Peninsula. His sons would be given thrones, Faisal got Iraq and Abdullah got Transjordan. The area to the west of the Jordan River would be Palestine.
Churchill travelled by train from Cairo, and stopped at the first large town within the borders of the new mandate—Gaza City. They were met by a screaming crowd, shouting in Arabic, “Cheers for the Minister and for Britain.” But also an even louder cry, “Down with the Jews, cut their throats.” Churchill and Sir Herbert, not understanding a word of Arabic, were delighted with the enthusiastic reception. Colonel Lawrence thought it best not to translate.
In a speech on Mount Scopus Churchill said: “The hope of your race for so many centuries will be gradually realized here, not only for your own good, but for the good of the whole world.”
Churchill rejected the pleas of the Arabs and encouraged them to recognize the contributions that industrious Jews could bring to the area. He tried to calm their fears, by stating that the British administration would continue for many years, before any self-government could be put in place. He predicted: “All of us here today will have passed from the earth, and also our children and our children’s children, before it is fully achieved.” Churchill’s timeline was way off. Almost to the day, only 27 years later, the State of Israel was declared.
Churchill’s policy was based on continuing support for Zionism, combined with sensitivity to Arab concerns. It was now up to him to obtain British Government approval. The House of Lords voted 60 to 29 against the Government, with a prominent Conservative M.P. asking why the Government had promised the Jewish People a national home in a country that is already the national home of the Arabs.
But it was in the House of Commons where the final determination would be made. Churchill vigorously defended the Government’s policy, noting: “We cannot leave the Jews in Palestine to be mistreated by the Arabs, who have been inflamed against them. There is no doubt whatever that at the present time, the country is greatly underpopulated.” Thereby reflecting what a Christian Zionist of the 19th century had stated of Palestine: “A land without people, a people without land.” Churchill’s speech had the desired effect; the Commons reversed the Lords by a decisive margin, and Britain’s stewardship of Palestine began.
At a later time Churchill would say about the Jews, “Some people like the Jews, and some do not. But no thoughtful man can deny the fact that they are, beyond any question, the most formidable and the most remarkable race which has appeared in the world.”
The year 1922 was not only when the mandate was approved, but also when the Liberal Government, in which Churchill served, was decisively defeated. To add further insult to injury, Churchill lost his own parliamentary seat, and underwent emergency surgery. At the time he famously quipped, “I found myself without an office, without a seat, without a party and without an appendix.”
In Part III, Churchill condemns the Arab riots, warns about Hitler, tries to get Jews and Arabs to the peace table, speaks against the White Paper, tries to help the Jews under Hitler without much success and warns against Jewish extremism, as well as the conclusion.
By Norbert Strauss
Norbert Strauss is a Teaneck resident and has been a volunteer at Englewood Hospital for the past 30 years. He was General Traffic Manager and Group VP at Philipp Brothers Inc., retiring in 1985. Prior to Englewood Hospital he was also a volunteer at the American Committee for Shaare Zedek Hospital for over 30 years, serving as treasurer and director. He frequently speaks to groups to relay his family’s escape from Nazi Germany in 1941. He has eight grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren.
