The Inside Assyria Discussion Forum #5

=> Re: why didnīt the Turks subject their Jewish subjects to "genocide"?

Re: why didnīt the Turks subject their Jewish subjects to "genocide"?
Posted by Tiglath (Guest) - Friday, September 24 2010, 13:00:38 (UTC)
from 123.2.151.230 - 123-2-151-230.static.dsl.dodo.com.au Australia - Windows NT - Internet Explorer
Website:
Website title:

What role did the Jewish population play in World War I?


The Zionist cause was bolstered by Chaim Weizmann's professional work. As head of the British Admiralty Laboratories from 1917 to 1919, Dr. Weizmann developed a process for the manufacture of synthetic acetone at a time when the British needed it desperately. He isolated certain organisms found in cereals and horse chestnuts and within a month had created synthetic acetone for British explosives. Near the end of the war the British Prime Minister, Lloyd George (a Christian Zionist), offered Weitzman an award for his assistance in the war effort. In a classic statement, Weitzman declared, "I want nothing for myself but rather a homeland for my people." This was the impetus for the Balfour Declaration.

British efforts to defeat the Ottoman Turks in the Near East during World War I were welcomed by many Jews in Palestine and the Diaspora. Zionists saw in the conflict an opportunity to further the movement for a recreated Jewish homeland. The British Govemment was pressed to permit the formation of a Jewish unit that would participate in the liberation of Palestine. Before the war ended five battalions of Jewish volunteers of several nationalities were raised for the British Army, the 38th through 42nd (Service) Battalions of the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment). Together they were known as the "Jewish Legion." The 39th Battalion was made up almost entirely of Jews who were resident in the United States and Canada.

The idea was first raised, on December 1914, by Vladimir Jabotinsky and was supported by Yosef Trumpeldor, a Zionist who had been the first Jewish military officer in the Russian Army, an honor earned by outstanding bravery. By the end of March 1915, 500 Jewish volunteers from among the Jews in Egypt (deported by the Turks) had started training; Jabotinsky served as an officer. The British military command opposed the participation of Jewish volunteers on the Palestinian front and suggested the volunteers serve as a detachment for mule transport on some other sector of the Turkish front. Trumpeldor succeeded in forming the 650-strong Zion Mule Corps, of whom 562 were sent to the Galipoli front where Trumpeldor led his troops with great distinction. Meanwhile, Jabotinsky pursued his project of a Jewish Legion for the Palestinian front. Finally, on August 1917, the formation of a Jewish regiment was officially announced. The unit was designated as the 38th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers and included British volunteers, members of the former Zion Mule Corps and a large number of Russian Jews. On April 1918, it was joined by the 39th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, more than 50 percent of whom were American volunteers.

In June 1918, The 38th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers was sent to Palestine, where the volunteers fought for the liberation of Eretz Yisrael from Turkish rule. The 38th was placed in the lines some 20 miles north of Jerusalem opposite the Turks. Active patrolling and an offensive posture kept the Turks worried where and when their opponents were going to strike. At the same time, the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) led by General Sir Edmund Allenby, later Field Marshal Viscount Allenby, and his chief of staff, Major General Sir Louis J. Bols, made it quite obvious in a number of ways that they were not favorably inclined towards the Jews and Jewish aspirations, and were mostly pro-Arab.

In the fighting in the Jordan Valley sector, more than 20 Legionnaires were killed, wounded, or captured; the rest came down with malaria, and 30 of this group later died. The Legion then came under Major General E.W.C. Chaytor, a New Zealander, who commanded the Jordan Valley offensive. The Legion's mission was to cross the Jordan River against heavy opposition. After the first attempt by the 38th Battalion with two companies from the 39th failed, a second effort was successful. Jabotinsky led the first company to cross the Jordan and was decorated for his exploit. Later, General Chaytor told the Jewish troops:

•By forcing the Jordan fords, you helped in no small measure to win the great victory gained at Damascus.
In Palestine in 1918, there existed a pool of 18,000-20,000 Jewish males who were eager to join a Palestine Jewish Legion, and so petitioned the British authorities which at that time occupied the areas of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Jaffa, and the settlements in Judea. In 1918, approval was granted and more than 1,000 men were enlisted. Ninety-two Turkish Jews who had been captured in the fighting earlier were also permitted to enlist. Many Jewish Palestinian recruits were:

•highly educated, with a thorough knowledge of the country; they spoke Arabic fluently and were expert shots and horsemen.
This group was organized as the 40th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers and sent to Tell-al-Kabir also for training, and were ready for service after the 1918 offensive in Palestine.

Almost all the members of the three Jewish regiments were discharged immediately after the end of World War I in November 1918. Those from Britain and Palestine returned to their respective countries and some of those from North America settled in Palestine to realize their Zionist convictions. In late 1919, reduced to one battalion, the Jewish Legion was given the title, "First Judeans," and awarded a distinctive cap badge, a Menorah with the Hebrew word Kadima, meaning "Forward" as well as "Eastward."

Interestingly, one hundred Jewish volunteers from Iraq, headed by two Jewish officers came to fight under the banners of King Hussain against the Turks. The British and French officers tried to separate these volunteers from other Iraqis and employ them in the Palestine front but did not succeed. They insisted on service under the Arab flag. At the end of the war, Iraqi Jews joined muslim and Christian leaders to ask for an independent national Iraqi government to be formed in accordance with the Allies' Declaration. Among these Iraqi Jews, Sasson Heskel became the first Minister of Finance of independent Iraq under King Faisal I; Ezra Daniel, and before him, his father Menahem Daniel, were senators; Yahuda Zelouf, who for many years was chairman of the Jewish Council, was elected deputy for Baghdad in the Parliament of 1933.

In addition to the regular military support by the Zionists, in Palestine under Ottoman rule, young men who lived in the moshavot around Zikhron Ya'akov formed an organization called the Gideonites. During the war, this organization served as the basis for NILI which engaged in active espionage for Great Britain, under the leadership of the agronomist Aaron Aaronson.



---------------------


The full topic:



Content-length: 7244
Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Accept: image/jpeg, application/x-ms-application, image/gif, application/xaml+xml, image/pjpeg, application/x-ms-xbap, applicati...
Accept-language: en-AU
Connection: Keep-Alive
Cookie: *hidded*
Host: www.insideassyria.com
Pragma: no-cache
Referer: http://www.insideassyria.com/rkvsf5/rkvsf_core.php?Re_why_didn_t_the_Turks_subject_their_Jewish_subjects_to_genocide-QXb...
User-agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 6.1; Trident/4.0; FunWebProducts; SLCC2; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.5....



Powered by RedKernel V.S. Forum 1.2.b9