Grattan Guinness and Fall and Rise of the Jews
Grattan Guinness and Fall and Rise of the Jews. Video
Henry Grattan Guinness, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Bust of Hadrian, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Edward the Confessor, enthroned, opening scene of the Bayeux Tapestry. Bayeux Tapestry Museum, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Much of bible prophecy is concerned with God’s chosen people, the Jews. Many people can’t understand why there is so much attention given to the Jewish people and I want to show how their fall and rise is part of God’s plan. Grattan Guinness was acutely aware of this so this video draws on some of what he wrote about their centuries of persecution. Later videos will examine their recovery and return to their land. This is a process that God has ordained. Nations and dynasties rise and fall according to how they treat the Jews. An example of this can be seen in England. There has been no Anglo-Saxon king in England since Edward the Confessor because of his appalling treatment of the Jews. I have done a video on this called England and the Jews which you can find on the website.
Grattan Guinness wrote his book “Light for the Last Days” in 1888. Much of it was concerned with times and dates relating to the restoration of Israel. However he also gives a description of the fall and rise of the Jewish people from the the time of their expulsion from their homeland to the time of his writing. He considers a history that he divides into three parts.
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From the restoration from exile in Babylon to the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus and the close of the Jewish war under Hadrian. It’s worth noting that during this first period all the tribes of Israel were scattered throughout the world.
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From the final dispersion of the Jewish people to the middle of the eighteenth century
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From the French Revolution to the late 19th century when Guinness wrote his book. I will look at this period in a later video.
He does not dwell long on the first period but does give an account of how the sufferings under the Romans increased from 66 A.D as the Romans reacted to various revolts among the Jews and finally destroyed the temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D. About 60 years later the Jews recovered enough to launch another revolt and this time the Roman emperor Hadrian completed the work of the dispersion of the Jews among all the nations of the Earth. The land itself became desolate and was called ”Palestine” meaning “Philistine” as a deliberate insult to the memory of the Jewish homeland.
The sufferings of the Jews grew ever greater as time went by. Particularly from the time of Constantine the Jews became a condemned and persecuted sect and the gloom deepened as the centuries went by. Guinness says that the rise of Norman power and the feudal system in Europe resulted in a period of seven centuries of the most cruel oppression and profound degradation to the Jews in all the nations of Christendom.
Rather than attempt to list all the degradations the Jews underwent in Europe I will simply list some that occurred in England where the condition of the Jews was peculiarly miserable. Up until the Jews were banished from the country in 1290 by Edward I the Jews were incessantly victimised in the most cruel and unjust manner. The laws of Edward the Confessor established that the Jews and all their possessions belonged to the king. When a Jew died all his property returned to the crown. If a Jew converted to Christianity all his estate would be seized to prove the sincerity of the conversion. A Jew was persecuted for being a Jew and if he converted to Christianity he would lose all he owned.
King John ordered that all Jews should be imprisoned until they made a full disclosure of what they owned. They would then be tortured to pay over enormous sums of money. One man in Bristol was ordered to have a tooth a day extracted until he paid 10,000 marks. Henry III demanded 20,000 marks from Jews in 1241 A.D. The story continued all over Europe. Banishment after banishment, extortion after extortion, massacre after massacre.
It was only in the 17th Century that there was a lessening in the oppressions and cruelties. One of the key events was the return of the Jews to England under Oliver Cromwell. I will examine this event in the next video.
Tomb effigy of John, King of England. Worcester Cathedral
Oliver Cromwell And the Restoration of Israel
Oliver Cromwell And the Restoration of Israel Video.
Israel is in the news and always will be. On May 14th 1948 Israel became a nation again. The dry bones of Ezekiel 37 lived again and the old biblical nation, that many had regarded as the stuff of story books, was restored in a day. Many people saw this as the fruit of the Zionist movement among the Jewish people who had gained the support of evangelical Christians. However, in many ways it was the other way round. Protestant Christians, particularly in the 17th century, who had rediscovered the bible, had themselves discovered the verses about the restoration of Israel and had themselves influenced the Jewish people and given them the belief that the restoration of their homeland was a real hope, not just a dream.
England was in turmoil for most of the 17th Century and at the root of this turmoil was the fact that the bible had become available in English to ordinary people. In particular the 1611 Authorised Version, which is now usually know as the King James Version, became widely available and was revered as the Word of God.
Scan of a Gustave Doré engraving "The Vision of The Valley of The Dry Bones" - 1866. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Miniature showing the expulsion of Jews following the Edict of Expulsion by Edward I of England (18 July 1290). Image shows the white double tabula that Jews in England were mandated to wear by law. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
People no longer took the teachings of the institutional church at face value but studied the scriptures for themselves. As a result a huge number of religious groups sprang up, many concerned with eschatology and the return of Christ. There was an increased interest in the Jewish people and the promises made to them in the bible. The Jews had been expelled from England in 1290 in the reign of King Edward Ist. Many Protestants, including, Oliver Cromwell, believed that the conversion of the Jews to Christianity was essential before Christ would return to reign on earth.
Even before Cromwell, a movement had started in England for the readmission of the Jews. In part this was because many believers had realised that the promises God made to the Jews were eternal. The church had taught that all God’s promises to the Jews had been appropriated by the Church and no longer applied to the Jews. People started to question this argument on the basis that God is not a man that he should lie (Numbers 23:19).
In 1621 Henry Finch published his work The World's Great Restauration, or Calling of the Jews, and with them of all Nations and Kingdoms of the Earth to the Faith of Christ. In this work Finch ascribed the writing of the Hebrew prophets to the Jews themselves rather than to the church in general. He thus started the process of restoring the Jews own bible back to them. Unfortunately for Finch he incurred the wrath of King James I by predicting the restoration of the Jews to worldwide dominion. James saw this as seditious and demanded that Finch recant on some of what he said.
Despite this the door was now open for believers to understand that God would never break his promises to the Jewish people and the admissionist movement was born whereby many Protestants in England called for the readmission of Jews to England.
The Fifth Monarchists were a Protestant sect active during the 1649 to 1660 Commonwealth of England.The group took its name from a prophecy that claimed the Four kingdoms of Daniel would precede the Fifth, which would see the establishment of the Kingship and kingdom of God on earth. They believed that the readmission of the Jews would hasten the kingdom of Christ. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
At the end of 1653 Cromwell became the Lord Protector of what was known officially as The Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland. He was then in a position to act on petitions on behalf of Jewish people who wished to be allowed back into the country. A man called Menasseh ben Israel became instrumental at this point. Head been born in Lisbon in 1604, settled in Amsterdam and became a Rabbi. In 1651 he had petitioned Cromwell to allow Jewish communities to be re-established in England.
He believed this would hasten the coming of the Jewish Messiah. In September 1655 he arrived in London with a delegation and personally petitioned Cromwell for the readmission of the Jews. Cromwell met with him and it was agreed that a conference should be convened to discuss the issues. The petition requested such things as citizenship, freedom of worship, burial grounds, freedom to trade and the withdrawal of all laws against Jews.
Portrait of Menasseh Ben Israel (1604-1657) rabbi, philosopher and printer. Amsterdam. 1642. Salomo d’Italia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
XXXVI. That to the public profession held forth none shall be compelled by penalties or otherwise; but that endeavours be used to win them by sound doctrine and the example of a good conversation.
Article 36 fromThe 1653 Instrument of Government
Cromwell had already been attempting to introduce a greater degree of religious liberty in England. The 1653 Instrument of Government had been The first detailed written constitution adopted by a modern state. Articles 35 to 37 gave greater religious freedom to all Protestant groups at least.
In December 1655 the conference met a number of times. Although there was no formal outcome it became clear that the Jews would again be tolerated in England.
In 1656 Cromwell made a verbal promise, backed by the Council of State, to allow Jews to return to Britain and practise their faith freely. From this time the Jews started returning to England but it wasn’t until 1858 that the Jewish people received formal emancipation.
Anyway, the long slow process of the restoration of the Jewish people had begun. The oppressions and cruelties which had been visited upon the Jewish people for many centuries began to diminish. They did not cease but they steadily decreased in number and intensity.
If you are interested in this subject I highly recommend Grattan Guinness’s Light for the Last Days first published in 1886. This book gives an overview of the terrible sufferings undergone by the Jewish people since their exile from their homeland. It also gives details of their gradual restoration from the 17th Century onwards.
Return of the Jews to 17th Century England
Return of the Jews to 17th Century England. Video
The 17th Century saw the rise of a vast number of Protestant movements which separated from the Church from England. These groups, known as Dissenters, were often concerned with the Jewish people and converting them to Christianity because they saw this as a precursor to the return of Christ. However many of these groups held very exotic ideas, outside the mainstream of Christianity. Some were focussed around their particular leader, some were overly concerned with eschatology and the imminent return of Christ, some believed themselves prophets with special knowledge of God’s plans. However many were very sound in their beliefs and formed the basis of nonconformist Christianity in England.
The Church of England, as the established church, wanted complete unity of belief and worship in England and attempted to ostracise the dissenters and restrict their gatherings around the country. If you are interested in this subject I have done a video on Richard Hooker the Anglican theologian.
The Moderate[ was a newspaper published by the Levellers, a group of Dissenters, from July 1648 to September 1649.Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Title page of The Commonwealth of Oceana. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Strangely though the Jewish presence in England continued to grow from the time of Cromwell onwards despite the tumultuous arguments between Catholics and Protestants and between Protestants themselves. Studies of Hebrew had been steadily growing in England since the early 16th Century. One of the main figures in this movement was Immanuel Tremellius (c.1510-1580), a converted Jew, who became the third Regius Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge between 1549 and 1553. In the 17th Century the Jews themselves became an ever present part of English society.
Following the Whitehall Conferences with Oliver Cromwell in 1655, and Cromwell’s verbal promise that Jews could return to England, attitudes towards the Jewish people changed especially among Protestants. For example James Harrington (1611-1677) in 1656 proposed in his book Oceana, that the Jews should be allowed to settle in Ireland, to “plant it with Jews, allowing them their own Rites and Lawes”.
Reconstruction of Solomon's Temple based on Jacob Judah’s description. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Despite all the religious arguments that were going on, the Jews always seemed to find favour with the rulers in England. Firstly with Cromwell and the Protectorate, then with Charles II. When charles was in Bruges, prior to his restoration in 1660, Dutch Jews helped him with funds and practical support to reclaim the throne. After his restoration Charles felt gratitude to the Jewish people for the support they had given him. During his reign, forty-eight Sephardic Jews were naturalised by Charles.
Bizarrely the Jews had found favour with both Cromwell and Charles II. The post restoration period saw increased social acceptance of the Jews. One interesting event was the arrival in 1674 of Jacob Jehudah Leon (1602-1675) and his model of Solomon’s Temple which toured the country. The model caught the attention of Charles II, the general public and major figures such as the Archbishop of Canterbury and Isaac Newton. Christopher Wren, a leading Freemason, arranged for the display of the model in London for the Royal Society.
Sir Solomon de Medina
In 1688 the Glorious Revolution occurred when the daughter of James II, Mary, and her Dutch husband William of Orange deposed James II after fears in England about his Catholic sympathies. Like James II, William had the backing of Jewish financiers. The Jewish banker, Francisco Lopes Suasso, lent him two million guilders. William had seen religious toleration working in the Dutch Republic and was consistently friendly towards the Jewish people.
Capitalism grew alongside the rise in Protestantism in this period and both these forces proved beneficial to the Jews. the increasing social status of the Jews was shown in 1700 when Sir Solomon de Medina, an army contractor for William III, became the first Jew to be knighted in England. An interesting statistic is that in the late 17th Century the Jews contributed contributed towards one-twelfth of England’s overseas trade (Harold Pollins, Economic History of the Jews in England, Oxford: Littman, 1982, p. 14).
The end of the 17th Century saw something of a tempering of the extreme religious fervour of earlier in the century. In its place came an increase in the belief in reason and tolerance. This too was helpful to the integration of Jews in society. It was only with the evangelical revival later in the 18th Century that the desire to evangelise the Jews was rekindled.
The Turn of the Tide for the Jews In the Eighteenth Century
The Turn of the Tide for the Jews In the Eighteenth Century. Video
A picture of Moses Mendelssohn displayed in the Jewish Museum, Berlin, based on an oil portrait (1771). After Anton Graff, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
It was in the second quarter of the eighteenth century that things began to improve for the Jewish people in Europe. In 1723 Louis XV of France gave the Jews permission to hold real estate. In the same year the British parliament at last acknowledged Jews as British subjects. In 1753 The Jewish Naturalisation Act allowed Jews resident in Britain to become naturalised by application to Parliament. Unfortunately The public reacted with an enormous outburst of antisemitism, and the Bill was repealed in the next sitting of Parliament, in 1754. Preachers of the day argued that as God had expelled the Jews it wasn’t right to naturalise them.
Although the act was repealed it signifies the start of a movement which has never since been arrested. This was the period of Moses Mendelssohn (1729 - 1786) the German- Jewish writer and philosopher. His writings and ideas on Jews and the Jewish religion and identity were a central element in the development of the Haskalah, or 'Jewish Enlightenment' of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. His works promoted the rights of all people to equal rights and acceptance in society.
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His most important work was Jerusalem (1783). Its basic tenet was that the state has no right to interfere with the religion of its citizens, Jews included. It was important in that at last the Jews had found a voice and a cause.
the general oppression of the Jewish people gradually eased. In 1780 the Emperor Joseph II of Austria was the first to really offer emancipation to his Jewish subjects. He allowed them to take a full part in society and repealed the Body Tax which had imposed severe restrictions on what a Jew was allowed to do. In 1788 Louis XVI of France passed a similar edict.
Strangely the Jews were helped by Voltaire, the French Enlightenment writer and philosopher, who actually hated the Jews. His doctrine of the absolute equality of men without regard to race or creed inevitably lead to greater emancipation for the Jewish people. The United States of America was the first nation to embody this principle in its laws.
Voltaire at the age of twenty-four. Nicolas de Largillière, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
In fact it was the American Revolution and Declaration of Independence in 1776 that provided the greatest guarantee of a hope and a future for the Jews. the famous statement of human rights was itself revolutionary.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
In the long term it was the United States that would become the greatest home and sanctuary for the Jews. In Europe the French Revolution became the ultimate instrument of change for the Jewish people. As throne after throne crumbled the chains of oppression fell off the Jewish people. In the terrible massacres that took place in France the Jews alone commonly escaped harm. The emancipation of the Jews was completed in the French Revolution and one country after another followed the French example.
United States Declaration of Independence, via Wikimedia Commons
In the 19th Century the process continued but it took time. In Britain there were several acts of parliament from 1830 onwards which attempted to ameliorate the plight of the Jews but it took ten attempts until finally in 1858 full equality was conceded.
The stage was set for the return of the Jews to their homeland, the Holy Land.
Lord Shaftesbury and the Proposal to Restore the Jews to the Holy Land
Lord Shaftesbury and the Proposal to Restore the Jews to the Holy Land. Video
In the seventeenth century preachers such as John Wesley, George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards brought about a seismic shift in the English speaking world. The bible and the gospel were brought into people’s households and this in turn brought about a shift in every area of society. People felt impelled to change society and the world for the better. The list is endless: William Wilberforce, Charles Dickens, Hannah More, Florence Nightingale, Elizabeth Fry, William Booth and so on and so on. My personal favourite is George Williams the founder of the YMCA. However, my purpose here is to tell the story of the restoration of the Jewish people and a key person in this story is Lord Shaftesbury.
Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury (1801-1885) was a British Tory politician, philanthropist, and social reformer.
He campaigned for better working conditions, reform to lunacy laws, education and the limitation of child labour. He was also an early supporter of the Zionist movement and the YMCA and a leading figure in the evangelical movement in the Church of England - Wikipedia.
Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. John Collier, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Apparently he had a difficult childhood with little love or affection from his parents. However the one shining light in his early childhood was the family housekeeper Maria Millis. In the midst of the stiff formality of upper class British life she showed him practical warm Christian love. She read him bible stories and taught him to pray. In his teenage years he became a committed Christian.
I think it’s amazing how this humble, faithful woman could influence world affairs. More than any other British politician I can think of, apart from Wilberforce, Shaftesbury made the world a better place and everything he did was motivated by his Christian faith.
He became an MP at the age of 25 and quickly took on many reforming causes. He was also a leading evangelical Anglican and, partly through the influence of an Anglican clergyman called Edward Bickersteth, he became a proponent of the Restoration of the Jews to the Holy Land.
Bishop of Exeter, Edward Henry Bickersteth. Arthur Stockdale Cope, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
He became President of the London Jews’ Society from 1848 until his death in 1885.He loved the biblical Book of Chronicles because it was “full of hope for the Restoration of Israel:” all his life he wore a signet ring carved with the prayer, “O pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” Much of the influence he had was through Lord Palmerston who was Prime Minister from 1855 to 1858 and from 1859 to 1865. Palmerston married Shaftesbury’s widowed mother-in- law. Shaftesbury himself was married to Palmerston’s daughter.
In the mid 19th century there was general recognition that the old Ottoman empire was rotten and crumbling. It controlled Palestine and there was much speculation about what would happen to the territories controlled by the Ottomans when their empire finally dissolved.
Lord Palmerston. Francis Cruikshank, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Palestine Exploration Fund Logo.
In July 1853 Shaftesbury wrote to the Prime Minister, Lord Aberdeen, that Greater Syria was,
a country without a nation" in need of "a nation without a country... Is there such a thing? To be sure there is, the ancient and rightful lords of the soil, the Jews!
This proved to be a constant theme of Shaftesbury’s and over twenty years later he was still promoting the same idea. In 1875 he told the Annual General Meeting of the Palestine Exploration Fund (which still exists today) that,
We have there a land teeming with fertility and rich in history, but almost without an inhabitant – a country without a people, and look! scattered over the world, a people without a country…. But let it return to the hands of the Israelites.
Shaftesbury died in 1885. In his lifetime he had helped to create the political climate which led to the Balfour declaration in the next century.
David Lloyd George and the people God put in position to help the Zionist cause.
David Lloyd George Video
In the previous videos we have seen how there was a move among evangelical Christians to restore the Jews to the Holy Land. This was known as Restorationism and later became known as Christian Zionism. At the same time as this movement was developing, political Zionism was also developing. The father of this movement was Theodor Herzl an Austro-Hungarian Jewish political activist. He promoted Jewish immigration to Palestine with the aim of forming a Jewish state. In 1897, Herzl convened the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland which produced the first manifesto of the Zionist movement.
Lord Shaftesbury had laid the foundation for Christian Zionism and Herzl for political Zionism. In the twentieth century God put the right people in place, at the right time, to restore the Holy Land to the Jews.
PORTRAIT OF THEODOR HERZL IN 1898. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
When the first World War broke out there was the usual state of unpreparedness in Britain which would have been familiar to William Pitt at the end of the eighteenth century. Herbert Asquith, as prime minister, was cerebral but eventually he was not perceived as resolute enough to be a war leader. David Lloyd George replaced him as prime minister in December 1916.
Lloyd George was brought up in Wales with Welsh as his first language. He was raised as a devout evangelical, heavily influenced by his uncle who was a lay preacher. He was baptised in a brook at the age of twelve. Although he seems to have lost his fervour as he grew into adulthood these early influences remained with him for all his life. He remained a committed Zionist throughout his premiership and beyond. So much so in fact that he had a kibbutz and airbase, in what was then Palestine, named after him. Lloyd George grew up steeped in the bible.
David Lloyd George. Harris & Ewing, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Kibbutz Ramat David in 1936. Named after David Lloyd George. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Speaking at an event given in his honor by the English Zionist Federation in 1931, he conveyed his gratitude to the Jewish community of Palestine for honoring him with the Kibbutz Ramat David. He reaffirmed his commitment to Palestine as the Jewish national homeland and went on to say,
“You will not be offended, he went on, if I tell you that the names of these valleys and hills in Canaan are as sacred to the Gentile as they are even to the Jew. I heard of Jezreel and Esdraelon, of Carmel and Zion before I knew of the existence in my own land of the Valley of Glamorgan or of Plinlimmon.”
When Lloyd George formed his war cabinet at the end of 1916 several of his closer associates had also been brought up under the influence of the bible. However when researching this I found that actually the lead up to the Balfour Declaration was more a sovereign work of God than a result of evangelicals pushing for it.
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It is true that the bible was familiar to most of the members of Lloyd Geoge’s cabinet. Arthur Balfour, who became foreign secretary in Lloyd George's ministry, had a sort of deistic belief in God and was committed to the Zionist cause. It was him who issued the Balfour Declaration of 1917 on behalf of the cabinet, which supported a "home for the Jewish people" in Palestine. One of the main movers behind the Zionist movement was Chaim Weizmann. A Russian born Jewish biochemist whose acetone production method was of great importance in the manufacture of cordite explosive propellants for the British war industry during World War I. He became a British citizen in 1910 and held it until 1948 when he became president of Israel. Weizman was an intellectual who had a great influence on Winston Churchill (who signed his citizenship papers) and Arthur Balfour. He wanted a homeland for the Jews because he saw that as their only long term bulwark against antisemitism.
President Chaim Weizmann. Government Press Office (Israel), via Wikimedia Commons
Field Marshal Viscount Edmund Allenby after Jerusalem conquered. Unknown source, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
One man though, who was a committed Christian and bible believer, who played an important role in the the restoration of the Jews to their land was General Allenby.
As a Christian boy in the UK, it’s said that Allenby’s mother taught her son to end his bedtime prayers with these words, “And, O Lord, we would not forget your ancient people, Israel. Hasten the day when Israel shall again be your people and shall be restored to your favor and to their land.” Later, Allenby said,
“I never knew God would give me the privilege of answering my own childhood prayer.”
In 1917 Allenby and his British Empire troops were getting into position to take Jerusalem from the Ottomans. The night before the invasion, Allenby prayed that he might take the city without destroying the holy places. He had wired London for instructions and had received a scripture verse as a reply;
“As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it” (Isaiah 31:5).
Famous public photo of dismounted General Sir Edmund Allenby entering the Holy City of Jerusalem on foot 1917 to show respect for holy place. Copyright, U. & U. (expired), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
On December 10th Allenby commandeered every available plane to fly over Jerusalem dropping fliers.The fliers said, ‘surrender immediately, you don’t have a prayer.’ They were signed by Allenby.
Allenby didn’t know that the Turks believed in an old prophesy that they would never lose the Holy City until “a man of Allah came to deliver it”. According to reports, the signature of Allenby on the paper dropped from the sky was interpreted by them to mean the word ‘Allah’ in Arabic meaning ‘God’ and ‘beh’ in Arabic that means ‘son’. The Turks were looking at a demand to surrender signed by Allah-beh, the son of God. In response, they hoisted a white flag and surrendered the city without firing a single shot.
Once again God had acted sovereignly in the process of restoring the Holy Land back to the Jews. The Balfour Declaration had been written on November 2nd 1917 before Jerusalem had been taken. After Allenby’s victory the way was clear for the liberation of Palestine.
Lloyd George remained firm in his commitment to Zionism all his life. He was active in forming a Jewish National Home policy that called for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. This gave substance to the Zionist dream. He also appointed Herbert Samuel as the 1st High Commissioner of Palestine in 1920. Samuel was a jew who believed in the return of his people to their land. This gave the Jewish people a standard bearer in their fight for a national home.
Lloyd George was not a perfect person but like General Allenby and Lord Shaftesbury, God had prepared him from childhood to bring about His purposes in restoring the Jews to their land
Winston Churchill and the Establishment of the State of Israel
Winston Churchill Video
Sir Winston Churchill. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Winston Churchill was an old fashion imperialist which is why a lot of people don’t like him. By the end of the First World war the British Empire had run its course and there was a general recognition that people would rather live in their own countries than live in colonies. Churchill wanted to keep the empire going and in this sense he was more of a nineteenth century man than a twentieth century man. However, there was another side to him which was more humane. He was never really a hater. Even at the height of the Second World War, during Britain’s darkest hour, he did not encourage hatred to our enemies but compassion.
“We shall show mercy, but we shall not ask for it.”
Sir Winston Churchill, speech in the House of Commons, July 14, 1940.
This is relevant because Churchill hated tyrants. For the first half of the twentieth century Winston Churchill was interested and sympathetic to Zionism.
He hated tyranny in all its forms and had reacted strongly against the Tsarist pogroms in the first years of the century and always understood the desperate need of a haven for Jews. He was colonial secretary in 1921 and 1922 and pushed for a Jewish national home in Palestine.
In 1936 The Peel Commission, formally known as the Palestine Royal Commission, headed by Lord Peel, was created to investigate the causes of conflict in Palestine, which was administered by the United Kingdom. Churchill told the commission that he had always believed that the intention of the Balfour Declaration was that Palestine might in the course of time become “an overwhelmingly Jewish State.”
Churchill never wavered in this respect, even through the Second World War, and opposed the Foreign Office and cabinet members who wanted to find a solution to the Palestine question which favoured the Arabs
William Peel, 1st Earl Peel. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Glubb Pasha in Amman in 1940. Matson (G. Eric and Edith) Photograph Collection, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Foreign office diplomats have always been pro-Arab. This may hark back to the days of empire when there was close cooperation between the British government and various Arab leaders. Also there had been a close relationship with Arab nationalists in the First World War when they fought with the British against the Ottomans. Churchill had to fight against this pro-Arab culture.
The pro-Arab sentiment among the British establishment led to a dark chapter in British history during the 1930s and 40s. Promises that had been made to the Jews were broken and promises were made to the Arabs that could not be kept. The Arab legion was a British trained police force in Transjordan that became an Arab armed force. In 1939, John Bagot Glubb, better known as "Glubb Pasha", became the Legion's commander. It became the best trained Arab army. It was used against the new state of Israel in 1948 during the Arab Israeli war that followed independence when it still employed British officers.
Ernie Bevin. Howard Coster. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Churchill’s electoral defeat at the end of the war meant that he could not carry out the policies he had in mind for the Jews and Palestine. He had to watch powerless as Labour’s ghastly anti semitic policies were put into effect in Palestine. Ernie Bevin was Foreign Secretary during the period when the Mandate for Palestine ended, and the State of Israel was created. He was a man who believed communism was a Jewish plot and he was an ideological anti-Zionist. He thought the Balfour Declaration had been a mistake.
Britain made such a mess of things that they had to hand over the whole mandate to the United Nations in 1947 after three decades of protests, riots and revolts. I believe that Britain’s anti-Jewish stance after the end of the Second World War contributed to a period of seventy years decline on the international stage. For more on Britain’s decline you can see my Video on “HMS Hood” which is on the YouTube channel and on the website.
Despite the appalling mistakes of the British government after the war Churchill's pro-Jewish stance was never forgotten in Israel. On November 4th 2012 a bronze bust of Churchill was unveiled in Jerusalem. The initiative for erecting the statue came from Anthony Rosenfelder, a trustee of the Jerusalem Foundation, who felt that Israel lacked an appropriate commemoration of Churchill's role in creating the Jewish state.
Despite his human failings Churchill stands among the greatest British friends that the Jews in Israel ever had.
Jerusalem, Mishkenot Sha’ananim, Yael Garden, Winston Churchill statue. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons