Ben-Gurion, Zionism and American Jewry

Ben-Gurion, Zionism and American Jewry PDF

Author: Ariel Feldestein

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2007-01-24

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 1134193246

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Based on archival material, this intriguing book examines David Ben-Gurion’s influence on the relationship between the state of Israel, the Zionist Organization and American Jewry between 1948 and 1963 when he served as Prime Minister and Minister of Defence. The author discusses how Ben-Gurion was largely instrumental in forming Israel’s policies throughout the first two decades of the country’s existence and, due to his position, personality and prestige, he was able to influence the fashioning of political structures as well as their content. The book discusses both the political motives of the leaders and the ideological discourse, in order to understand their dependency and to highlight their significance in the terms Diaspora and exile, the centrality of the State of Israel, and the role played by the Jews of America. As such this will be of great interest to scholars of Middle East Studies, Jewish Studies, and ethnicity and nationalism.

Ben-Gurion, Zionism and American Jewry, 1948-1963

Ben-Gurion, Zionism and American Jewry, 1948-1963 PDF

Author: Ariel Lionard Feldestein

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 215

ISBN-13: 9780415372404

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Based on archival material, this book examines David Ben-Gurion's influence on the relationship between the state of Israel, the Zionist Organization and American Jewry between 1948-1963 when he served as Prime Minister and Minister of Defense. This is useful for those interested Middle East Studies, Jewish Studies, and ethnicity and nationalism.

David Ben-Gurion and the American Alignment for a Jewish State

David Ben-Gurion and the American Alignment for a Jewish State PDF

Author: Allon Gal

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 1991

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 9780253325341

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This book traces the evolution of the demand for a Jewish state into a central and specific aim of Zionist policy and the interrelated process by which Ben-Gurion became increasingly oriented toward the United States and American Jewry at the expense of Zionism's historical connection with Great Britain. Based on new documentary evidence, Allon Gal's study charts Ben-Gurion's ascent from the leadership of the Yishuv (the Jewish community in Palestine) to prominence in world Zionist and international diplomacy.

An Ambiguous Partnership

An Ambiguous Partnership PDF

Author: Menahem Kaufman

Publisher: Wayne State University Press

Published: 1991

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 9780814323700

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While the history of Zionism in America is well documented, the history of non-Zionist activities in America is less well known. An Ambiguous Partnership now tells that story. Dr Menahem Kaufman gives a detailed account of how American public figures and Jewish organizations, self-defined as non-Zionists, were influenced by changing attitudes in American society and government towards the Zionist struggle and by the problem of Holocaust survivors in Europe. This study describes the non-Zionists involvement in the political processes in Washington and the United Nations, which eventually brought about the establishment of the State of Israel.

The Downfall of Abba Hillel Silver and the Foundation of Israel

The Downfall of Abba Hillel Silver and the Foundation of Israel PDF

Author: Ofer Shiff

Publisher: Syracuse University Press

Published: 2014-05-27

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 0815652801

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In early February 1949, American Jewry’s most popular and powerful leader, Abba Hillel Silver (1893–1963), had summarily resigned from all his official positions within the Zionist movement and had left New York for Cleveland, returning to his post as a Reform rabbi. During the second half of the 1940s, Silver was the most outspoken proponent of the founding of a sovereign Jewish state. He was the most instrumental American Jewish leader in the political struggle that led to the foundation of the State of Israel. Paradoxically, this historic victory also heralded Silver’s personal defeat. Soon after Israel’s declaration of independence, Silver and many of his American Zionist colleagues were relegated to the sidelines of the Zionist movement. Almost overnight, the influential leader—one who had been admired and feared by supporters and opponents—was stripped of his power within both the Zionist and the American Jewish arenas. Shiff’s book discerns the various aspects of the striking turnabout in Silver’s political fate, describing the personal tragic story of a leader who was defeated by his own victory and the much broader intra-Zionist battle that erupted in full force immediately after the founding of Israel. Drawing extensively on Silver’s own archival material, Shiff presents an enlightening portrait of a critical episode in Jewish history. This book is highly relevant for anyone who attempts to understand the complex homeland–diaspora relations between Israel and American Jewry.

The A to Z of Zionism

The A to Z of Zionism PDF

Author: Rafael Medoff

Publisher: Scarecrow Press

Published: 2009-09-28

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 0810870525

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The Jewish attachment to Zion is many centuries old. While the modern Zionist movement was organized a little more than a century ago, the roots of the Zionist idea reach back close to 4,000 years ago, to the day that the biblical patriarch Abraham left his home in Ur of the Chaldees to settle in the Promised Land, where the Jewish state subsequently arose. From that day to the establishing of the state of Israel in 1948, the Jewish people have been in a constant struggle to either regain or maintain their homeland. Although 60 years have now passed since the establishment of Israel, many of the political and religious factions that made up the Zionist movement in the pre-state era remain active. The A to Z of Zionism_through its chronology, maps, introductory essay, bibliography, and over 200 cross-referenced dictionary entries on crucial persons, organizations, and events_is a valuable contribution to the appreciation for both the diversity and consensus that characterize the Zionist experience.

Nazism, The Jews and American Zionism, 1933-1948

Nazism, The Jews and American Zionism, 1933-1948 PDF

Author: Aaron Berman

Publisher: Wayne State University Press

Published: 2018-02-05

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 0814344038

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Aaron Berman takes a moderate and measured approach to one of the most emotional issues in American Jewish historiography, namely, the response of American Jews to Nazism and the extermination of European Jewry.In remarkably large numbers, American Jews joined the Zionist crusade to create a Jewish state that would finally end the problem of Jewish homelessness, which they believed was the basic cause not only of the Holocaust but of all anti-Semitism. Though American Zionists could justly claim credit for the successful establishment of Israel in 1948, this triumph was not without cost. Their insistence on including a demand for Jewish statehood in any proposal to aid European Jewry politicized the rescue issue and made it impossible to appeal for American aid on purely humanitarian grounds. The American Zionist response to Nazism also shaped he political turmoil in the Middle East which followed Israel’s creation. Concerned primarily with providing a home for Jewish refugees and fearing British betrayal, Zionists could not understand Arab protests in defense of their own national interests. Instead they responded to the Arab revolt with armed force and sought to insure their own claim to Palestine, Zionists came to link he Arabs with the Nazi and British forces that were opposed to the establishment of a Jewish state. In the thinking of American Zionists, the Arabs were steadily transformed from a people with whom an accommodation would have to be made into a mortal enemy to be defeated. Aaron Berman does not apologize for American Jews, but rather tries to understand the constraints within which they operated and what opportunities-if any-they had to respond to Hitler. In surveying the latest scholarship and responding o charges against American Jewry, Berman’s arguments are reasoned and reasonable.