Churchill’s Warning: Betraying Israel will bring Disaster
It wasn’t that long ago that bipartisan support for Israel was commonplace. As the rabbi of an intensely pro-Israel synagogue, I attended several AIPAC conventions at which both Democrats and Republicans publicly vowed to stand by Israel through thick and thin. Yet here we are, only a few years later, and many of those same politicians have turned their backs on the Jewish state. From boycotting Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech to Congress to blocking critical arms shipments to Israel, many American political leaders have done nothing less than stab Israel in the back as the Jewish state battles evil terrorists on multiple fronts.
But this is not the first time a supposed friend of the Jewish people has backstabbed the people of Israel. Long before American politicians cynically chose to sacrifice Israel in the hopes of gaining political support from Arabs in Dearborn, Michigan, British politicians were doing the same thing – with far more dangerous consequences.
In 1917, during the final days of World War I, the British government issued its famous Balfour Declaration, stating “His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object.” It was an earth shattering statement from one of the world’s leading powers for which the Jewish people will be forever grateful.
Sadly, the good feelings didn’t last. Within a few years, the British government began backtracking on its support of Zionism, restricting Jewish immigration to the holy land even as the Nazi shadow spread over all of Europe. In May of 1939, the British fell to a new low. After three years of a bloody Arab revolt in the holy land – during which time they murdered over four hundred innocent Jews – the British issued the infamous “White Paper of 1939,” which caved to Arab demands and stabbed the Jewish people in the back. The White Paper limited Jewish immigration to 75,000 for five years and ruled that further immigration would then be determined by the Arab majority. Jews were restricted from buying Arab land in all but 5% of the Mandate. In other words, it was intended as a death blow to Zionist aspirations and Jewish hopes for an independent Israel.
(Source: Wikipedia)
The Jewish Agency issued a scathing response to the White Paper, saying the British were denying the Jewish people their rights in the “darkest hour of Jewish history.” But it wasn’t only Jews who were sickened by the British government’s betrayal.
Winston Churchill, at this point a backbencher in Parliament without any position in the government, condemned the British betrayal, declaring: “Now, there is the breach; there is the violation of the pledge; there is the abandonment of the Balfour Declaration!”
Churchill was deeply concerned not only for the Jewish people but about the message this betrayal would send to the rest of the world: “What will our friends say?… What will our potential enemies think” What will those who have been stirring up these Arab agitators think? Will they not be encouraged by our confession of recoil? Will they not be tempted to say: ‘They’re on the run again. This is another munich.’ and be the more stimulated in their aggression?”
The only proper response to Arab aggression and terror, Churchill explained, was firmness in standing up for Jewish people: “Never was the need for fidelity and firmness more urgent than now. You are not going to found and forge the fabric of a great alliance to resist aggression, except by showing continued examples of your firmness in carrying out, even under difficulties, and in the teeth of difficulties, the obligations in which you have entered” (Martin Gilbert, Winston S. Churchill, Volume 5: The Prophet of Truth, 1922-1939, 1070-1073)
Though he spoke these words 85 years ago, Churchill’s message is as relevant today as the day he delivered it on the Parliament floor. Ever since the horror of October 7th, the Biden Administration has made the very same mistake that Neville Chamberlain’s government made in 1939. Instead of unequivocally standing with Israel in its righteous war against Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, the Biden Administration has caved to Arab pressure and repeatedly pressured Israel to agree to a ceasefire with murderous terrorists. In doing so, the administration has encouraged America’s enemies all over the world, who now understand that America will do anything – including the betrayal of its allies – to avoid war and confrontation.
Four days after Parliament ignored Churchill’s objections and passed the White Paper, Robert Boothby, a member of Parliament, wrote to Churchill: “Long after the names of the miserable creatures who are now supposed to govern us have been lost in merciful oblivion, the incredible services you have rendered this country will be remembered.”
Boothby’s words were prophetic. History has judged the feckless British leadership of the 1930s harshly, for their weakness was responsible for Hitler’s rise to power and domination over Europe. Ultimately, the British paid a steep price for their betrayal of the Jewish people during the Holocaust. In the end, the British unceremoniously left the holy land in 1948, as Jewish patriots established the State of Israel. In the decades since, Israel has grown ever stronger and more vibrant, while Great Britain has continued to decline in influence and significance.
As we speak, President Biden continues to pressure Israel to accept a ceasefire and to spare what remains of Hezbollah, projecting weakness and fecklessness to America’s enemies across the world. He, and all the American leaders who have betrayed Israel this year, would do well to heed Churchill’s warning. Otherwise, America might suffer the fate of Great Britain – and sooner than we might think.
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