Haavara FAQs: Nazism, The Jews and American Zionism, 1933-1948 by Aaron Berman (Book Review)

As we were researching the Haavara Agreement, we increasingly kept reading about Zionist leaders' fomentation of antisemitism during the 1930s and40s. Initially, we thought their blatant antisemitism was an aberration or more like a slip of the tongue, and we didn't think it was endemic amongst the Zionist leaders and activists at the time. It never occurred to us that Zionists' strategy included the creation of a Jewish refugee crisis in Europe; we knew they were evil, but it never crossed our mind that part of their strategy was to intentionally endanger Europe's Jews. As our research progressed, it became evident that Zionists' strategy was to weaponize antisemitism to the point that it could act as the lever (using David Ben-Gurion's sinister terminology) that would create the Jewish state. In other words, it became clear that their plan is simple: foment antisemitism to a point that would cause a refugee crisis for Europe's Jews, which would help them to become a majority in Palestine, where Jews made up 17% of the population as of the early 1930s (who were under 7-8% of citizens).

This is when Aaron Berman's book came to our attention. We were looking for evidence that could indict or vindicate Zionists, and we were shocked to read the details in this book (especially Chapters IV & V are available for free online). Although Mr. Berman did his best to water down any direct criticism of Zionist leaders and to present events in a favorable fashion for Zionists (see p. 98-102 and 181-184), Mr. Berman's presentation proves how Zionists' main goal was to exploit & amplify the refugee crisis in Europe (even after the WWII ended), and how American Zionists were instrumental in implementing this policy (pay attention to the first four to five chapters; and search for "refugee problem" or "refugee crisis" if you have the online version). In this regard, we highly recommend this book; it gives you access to the Zionists' mindset with an emphasis on Zionist Americans. That said, the book missed significant events:

• How American Zionists reacted to the Evian Conference. Aaron covered their reaction to the Haavara agreement, but Evian wasn't even mentioned, although Wikipedia editors (who are hard-core Zionists) exposed how much they valued Jews' lives!
• The same goes for the Kristallnacht Pogrom in late 1938. Even Ben-Gurion's official biographers (Teveth and Korzman) covered his infamous antisemitic hate speech a month after the pogrom. We were hoping that Aaron would tell us how American Jews reacted to Ben-Gurion's apparent antisemitism. Not covering at least these two critical events and how Zionists responded to them is a major flaw in the book! We hope that Aaron will address these two in the 2nd version.
• Were the British so STUPID as to promise COMPLETE INDEPENDENCE to Palestinians in 1939 (who, of course, "didn't exists") while the Indians had been DREAMING of such a thing for 400 years?
  Aaron knew that Ben-Gurion's slogan after the 1939 White Paper: "We must fight Hitler as if the white paper isn't there, and we should fight the white paper as if Hitler isn't there, was a complete hogwash. In early 1943, most American Zionist leaders knew well that these were conflicting priorities; simply, there was no bandwidth to do both; either they focused on rescue or building the state, but not both at once. We suspect it to be the case much earlier because the Jewish Agency office in Berlin closed its doors in May 1941, therefore Zionists' talk of fighting Hitler was full of hot air, see Zionism and Anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany, p. 276. It is an open secret that Rabbi Stephen Wise and Nahum Goldman (whom Aaron reported extensively) knew that. That is why rescuing Jews took a back seat at its best, if any. What is tragically criminal is that some of the Zionist leaders were against bombing the death camps and the railroads leading to them (i.e., Abba Hillel Silver) as early the Fall of 1943, but until now we have no idea how such sinister ideas were widespread amongst the Zionist leadership (p. 116-117, see also how Wikipedia editors said that Ben-Gurion was against bombing the death camps as late as June 1944, but quickly changed his mind once the Auschwitz Protocols came out and the news of the gas chambers became known; of course, Silver's statement destroys that lie since it was almost a year earlier. If Silver had known in the Fall of 1943, the Jewish Agency must have known that to be the case as early 1943). In our opinion, Aaron knows the truth, and that was evident in Chapters IV & V.  Aaron knows well that Europe was an inferno to its Jews, and Zionist leaders lobbied to close all exists except for Palestine! Aaron knew well that Zionist leaders' decisions cost millions of lives, but he withheld judgment. Although Aaron made FDR & Churchill accomplices in Hitler's genocide (see p. 181-184), he didn't even lay a single criticism or judgment against any Zionist leader, and that speaks loudly! Was Aaron afraid that he would be chewed (by Zionists' dogs) the same way Hannah Arendt was chewed in the early 1960s when she exposed the Kapos phenomenon? Who knows!
• Fake Valor: Jewish-Brigade, Italy April - 1945: The Impostering Hero, see me while I bomb Nazis. We wonder: were any similar selfies taken at the al-Alamein meat grinder?
  On multiple occasions, Aaron kept reminding the readers of thousands of the so-called Yishuves who enlisted in the British Army to fight Hitler. That said, he failed to tell the readers that ONLY a few of them saw action as WWII was ending! Could that be based on Ben-Gurion's orders, as Tom Segev reported in The Seventh Million, and he wanted to save the yishuv to be prepared to fight the Arabs a few years later? (The Seventh Million, p. 83-4, 86-89)
• Aaron completely ignored an essential question that American Jews investigated in the early 1980s, and they were nixed: When Zionist leaders focused on Palestine as the only destination for persecuted European Jews, how did that not make the problem much worse? How many millions were murdered? Aaron must have known that Rabbi Wise lobbied against rescuing Jews (at the height of the calamity) unless the destination was Palestine. This is an open secret. That said, Aaron didn't hesitate to place judgment on FDR and Churchill as being accomplices in that mass murder of Europe's Jews but withheld judgment against all Zionist leaders (p. 181-184). That was truly mind-boggling, especially when it was Aaron who proved on multiple occasions how Zionists lobbied against rescuing Jews (they even lobbied against the entry of Jews to Palestine as refugees, see p. 120-21, 144-45)! Even bombing the death camps and railroads they were against as early as mid-1943 (see p. 116-117). We must ask: Why did Mr. Berman & many other Jewish historians withhold judgment when the evidence is clear? Are they worried about being chewed as Zionist dogs have done to Ms. Arendt in the early 1960s? Of course, using others as patsies to deflect is much easier!
• Hitler's Message To The West: If Jews are such noble citizens and you care about them, how come you're not letting them in?
  Aaron often repeats the lie (like many other Jewish historians) that there were no countries ready to receive Jewish refugees except for Palestine. Not only found the EXACT opposite (many countries offered to take in Jewish refugees, especially in Latin & South America, who received over 100,000 Jews), but most importantly, Mr. Berman knew well of the Palestinian revolt of 1936 against Jewish immigration (which lasted for three years at a high cost to Palestinians) plus sever limits on Jewish immigration were imposed by the British 1939 White Paper. In a nutshell, why would Aaron (& many other Jewish historians) keep repeating this lie when they know well that Palestinians and the occupying power were both against increasing Jewish immigration in any sizable fashion? Of course, all this none sense makes sense only if you believe that Palestinians don't exist, Palestine (the most important land bridge) was empty and romantically waiting for Jews to bloom its Negev for 2000 years. Therefore, we must ask:
  
  A) Is it possible that Zionists made a bad name for Jewish refugees? Why would any people welcome refugees who would replace & dispossess them?
  B) Did that contribute to the Jewish refugee crisis & increase of "antisemitism"?
  C) How does focusing on Palestine (as the only destination for Jewish refugees against the wishes of the occupying power & the indigenous population) not communicate to other nations that they could be replaced as Zionists were plotting to do to Palestinians?
  D) Although Palestine was emptied of its people, Europe's Jews have been voting with their feet by immigrating and continuing to live in the Americas. Anyhow, as we have pointed out earlier, it was Zionist leaders who lobbied to make Palestine the only viable destination (even Aaron documents some of that in his book).
  
  
  NY Times Magazine, April 18, 1982: Zionist leaders admitted there wasn't enough bandwidth to fight both the White Paper of 1939 and Hitler. Thus, fighting the Nazis for the Gentiles so they can focus on defeating the White Paper
  On top of that, we found many countries at the Evian volunteered and stepped up, but they rejected these would-be Jewish immigrants to be entirely destitute, especially in Latin & South America, which Aaron must have known about this since he alluded to this fact in the eleven-point plan on pages 103-4 (i.e., Dominican Republic, Peru, Paraguay, ...etc.). What is tragically funny is that Zionist leaders even lobbied against Jews being rescued even to Alaska (shamelessly, they even used fear of antisemitism as the primary reason to reject such rescue). Is it too hard to quote Ben-Gurion when he clearly stated that Europe's Jewish refugee crisis will be the lever that will create the "Jewish state"? As Aaron quoted a famous Zionist Leon Feuer on page 102, he wrote:

  "Leon Feuer: If they failed to take advantage of this great opportunity [referring to the Jewish refugee crisis and the plight of Europe's Jews], he soberly warned: it may never again present itself".

• Aaron often covers up Zionists' lack of enthusiasm for rescuing Jews by stating how many times they met in America, how many times they demonstrated, and how much they collected to rescue Jews, which is all fine and dandy (see p. 101-105). On the other hand, Mr. Berman fails to tell us how the collected money (that was collected for rescuing Jews) was allocated, which Dina Porat addressed two decades before he published his book. It is well known since the early 1980s and before the Zionist archives were opened for researchers, how Zionist leaders were starving rescue funds to divert them to build their future "Jewish state". The only way to know if Zionists were sincere or enthusiastic about rescuing Jews is to take a look at their budget and how it was allocated during WWII! What is tragically funny is that the Zionists' rhetoric was lacking luster! Simply rescuing Jews wasn't their priority. On the contrary, rescuing Jews to places other than Palestine constituted an imminent danger to their project, which by itself speaks loudly of the Zionists' treason.
• Aaron congratulated American Jews for doing the most to create the "Jewish state" before Nakba of 1948, but he didn't provide any dollar amount. On the other hand, once you look at the numbers, then you will understand that it was the 3rd Reich who financed building the state 15 years ahead of its time, and when that fact was made clear to Hitler, he overruled all Nazi bureaucrats and allowed Haavara to continue early 1938, which was shut down only in December 1941. Why else did Haavara continue if it wasn't profitable? It seems that Aaron is not aware that the Jewish Agency was almost bankrupt, and Hitler saved it from being liquidated! For sure, it wasn't American Jews who bailed out the Jewish Agency! By far, Germans before and after Shoah (inclusive of reparations); their monies made the vast majority of the assets that created the "Jewish state". In this regard, let's see what the former speaker of the Israeli Knesset (Abraham Burg) said about Haavara and its impact on the creation of the "Jewish state": "It turns out that before the Nazis started to slaughter Europe’s Jews, they enabled us to build the foundations of our state-to-be" (p. 73)
• Aaron used incredible propaganda (a.k.a. Hasbarah, gaslight) to show Palestinians' resistance to British colonialism of their land as terror but portrayed Haganah terror on the British (after the 1939 White Paper) as attacks. It seems Hasbarah dies hard (see p. 70-71). In this regard, we Palestinians wonder how American Jewish historians would characterize Palestinians' resistance against the Napoleonic invasion of Palestine! Would they label our response as terror, attack, or resistance? As if American Jewish historians believe that Palestinians didn't exist and Jews (who mostly don't live in Palestine even after it was emptied) have a valid claim to the land! Aaron doesn't see colonization whatsoever! We Palestinians got more empathy from Jabotinsky than from the most liberal of Jewish historians.
• For decades, sympathetic historians like Aaron have painted Weizmann as a reluctant player in this tragedy. They note his hesitancy at the Biltmore Conference of May 1942, where David Ben-Gurion forced through the maximalist demand for a Jewish state. They cast him as a tragic moderate, sidelined by harder men.

  But this myth collapses when we look squarely at 1943. By then, Chaim Weizmann had folded when he met FDR in June of 1943. His meeting with Roosevelt proves it. Faced with the chance to confront the most powerful man alive about the fate of millions, Weizmann said nothing.

  This silence was not incidental. It was the logical consequence of the new Zionist consensus: rescue was secondary, Palestine was primary.

Related Link

• Read this book online for free after logging into Archive.org.
• Chapter IV American Zionism and the Holocaust in PDF with our notes added  (a must-read)
• Chapter V of this book (The American Zionist Lobby, 1943-1945) in PDF with our notes added (a must-read)
• Chapter VI: The Triumph of American Zionism
• Aaron Berman's online profile