Before and After World War I How Jewish Self Defense Developed

 Nadene Goldfoot  

                                                                

                              Our First 1909 Jewish Defense Force:  Hashomer

Our 1st Aliyah from Europe was in 1880.  The term "1st Aliyah" generally refers to the first major wave of Jewish immigration to Ottoman Palestine, which occurred between 1882 and 1903. This period, also known as the Agricultural Aliyah, saw an influx of approximately 25,000-35,000 Jewish immigrants, primarily from Eastern Europe and Yemen. Motivated by Zionist ideals and fleeing anti-Semitic violence, particularly the pogroms in Russia, these immigrants sought to establish a Jewish homeland. 

Hashomer (The Watchmen), founded in 1909 was a Jewish self-defense organization in Palestine, active in the early 20th century. It aimed to protect Zionist settlements and Jewish agricultural communities from attacks. Images from Getty Images show Hashomer members, often depicted with rifles, guarding settlements.    

They first were commanded by Israel Shochat.  They did 2 things;  defense of Jewish settlements and struggle for the employment of Jewish workers.  They established a few labor settlements during WWI.  After the Allies won which to themwas a British conquest, it worked with the upper Galilee police force and directed selfdefense activities during the riots of 1920-1921.  Its function was later taken over bythe Haganah.                                       

Hajj Mohammed Amin El Husseini (1893-1974) By 1921, the high commissioner, Sir Herbert Samuel of the British Government, only Jew in  it, appointed Husseini as Mufti of Jerusalem and head of the Supreme Moslem Council...Little did he understand what Husseini's goals had been  

                                Great Britain in Palestine

• 1917: The Balfour Declaration pledged British support for a Jewish national home in Palestine, sparking growing Arab opposition.
• 1919: Amin al-Husseini began organizing small groups called "fedayeen" to oppose Jewish settlement in Palestine. These groups launched attacks against Jewish farms in the Jordan Valley and Galilee, according to Israel My Glory.
• April 1920: The Nabi Musa riots erupted in Jerusalem. While a British commission report (the Palin Report) blamed both sides, al-Husseini was accused of inciting the Arab crowds, according to Wikipedia. These riots caused damage to Jewish property and resulted in deaths on both sides, according to Wikipedia; and other sources. 

These significant riots and attacks on Jewish homes occurred primarily in the 1920s and later, as Arab opposition to Jewish immigration and land purchases intensified. The first significant riots, which included attacks on Jewish homes, occurred in Jerusalem on April 4, 1920. 

                                                             

                     Haganah June 15, 1920

• Establishment of Jewish Self Defense : In June 1920, the Haganah ("The Defense") was founded. Initially, it was a loosely organized network of local defense groups and continued till 1948 when Israel was declared a country.  They realized that under British administration as they held the 30 year mandate, Jews were not being protected from Arab attacks.  They worked on making it even stronger after the 1929 Arab riots which resulted in a British policy of appeasement of the Arabs.  

The Jaffa riots were a series of violent riots in Mandatory Palestine on May 1–7, 1921, which began as a confrontation between two Jewish groups but developed into an attack by Arabs on Jews and then reprisal attacks by Jews on Arabs. The rioting began in Jaffa and spread to other parts of the country. The riot resulted in the deaths of 47 Jews and 48 Arabs, with 146 Jews and 73 Arabs wounded. total dead, 95                                                  

                            

                     Meanwhile in the United States

The Roaring 20's The social and cultural features known as the Roaring Twenties began in leading metropolitan centers and spread widely in the aftermath of World War I. The spirit of the Roaring Twenties was marked by a general feeling of novelty associated with modernity and a break with tradition, through modern technology such as automobiles, moving pictures, and radio, bringing "modernity" to a large part of the population. Formal decorative frills were shed in favor of practicality in both daily life and architecture. At the same time, jazz and dancing rose in popularity, in opposition to the mood of World War I. As such, the period often is referred to as the Jazz Age.  Lots of anti-Semitism developing, here in classes; not allowed in gentile societies, work places, etc.  

The 1929 stock market crash, also known as the Great Crash, was a shock; an extreme sharp decline in US stock market values that took place in October of that year. It is considered a contributing factor to the Great Depression of the 1930s. Many committed suicide.  

                             Back In Palestine

                                   

Joseph Vladimirovich Trumpeldor: (November 21, 1880 – March 1, 1920)  died at age 39,   was a Russian Zionist activist who helped organize the Zion Mule Corps and bring Jewish immigrants to Palestine. He was killed while defending the settlement of Tel Hai in 1920 and subsequently became a Jewish national hero

March 1, 1920:  The Battle of Tel Hai was fought on 1 March 1920 between Arab and Jewish forces at the village of Tel Hai in Northern Galilee. In the course of the event, a Shiite Arab militia, accompanied by Bedouin from a nearby village, entered a Jewish agricultural locality of Tel Hai in search of French soldiers. Confusion over the presence of the militias subsequently led to shots being fired and a firefight breaking out. In the aftermath of the fighting, 8 Jews and 5 Arabs were killed. Joseph Trumpeldor, the commander of Jewish defenders of Tel Hai, was shot in the hand and stomach, and died while being evacuated to Kfar Giladi that evening. Tel Hai was eventually abandoned by the Jews and burned by the Arab militia.  total=14 deaths.  

With a national monument in Upper Galilee, Israel commemorates the deaths of 8 Jews, 6 men and 2 women, including Joseph Trumpeldor. The memorial is best known for an emblematic statue of a roaring lion representing Trumpeldor and his comrades. The city of Kiryat Shemona, literally Town of the Eight was named after them.

The 1920 Nebi Musa riots or 1920 Jerusalem riots took place in British-controlled part of Occupied Enemy Territory Administration between Sunday, 4 April, and Wednesday, 7 April 1920 in and around the Old City of Jerusalem. Five Jews were killed and several hundred injured; four Arabs were killed, and eighteen injured; seven Britons were injured. The riots coincided with and are named after the Nebi Musa festival, which was held every year on Easter Sunday, and followed rising tensions in Arab–Jewish relations. The events came shortly after the Battle of Tel Hai and the increasing pressure on Arab nationalists in Syria in the course of the Franco-Syrian War.  9 killed.   Large numbers of Muslims traditionally gathered for a religious procession), which included slogans referencing Zionist immigration and previous confrontations around outlying Jewish villages in the Galilee. The trigger which turned the procession into a riot is not known with certainty.                               

Prince Faisal I bin Husssein would have his hands full with his future citizens.  He had made friends with Chaim Weizmann and had hoped the Jews would help his Arabs learn more from them, but as it was, they would rather be enemies.  

The Arab king of both Iraq and Syria was Faisal I bin Hussein. He first served as King of Syria in 1920, but was ousted by French forces. He then became King of Iraq in 1921, a position he held until his death in 1933. His people's attitude turned him away from the plight of the Jews.                 First Self Defense  1929.

The Faisal–Weizmann agreement was signed by Emir Faisal, the third son of Hussein ibn Ali al-Hashimi, King of the short-lived Kingdom of Hejaz, and Chaim Weizmann, President of the Zionist Organization on 3 January 1919. Signed two weeks before the start of the Paris Peace Conference, it was presented by the Zionist delegation alongside a March 1919 letter written by T. E. Lawrence in Faisal's name to American Zionist leader Felix Frankfurter as two documents to argue that the Zionist plans for Palestine had prior approval of Arabs.

The Arab-Israeli conflict exploded into its modern manifestation with the Jerusalem riots of 1929, centered around the use of, access to, and ownership of, the Western Wall.

• Evolution of Defense: The 1929 Arab riots triggered a transformation in the Haganah. It expanded, encompassing most Jewish youth and adults in settlements and thousands in cities. The organization implemented training programs, established arms depots, and began underground arms production, says the Jewish Virtual Library.  
•  Jewish self-defense in Palestine began with smaller, local groups like Bar-Giora and Hashomer before the 1920s. The need for a more comprehensive defense system became clear with the Arab riots in the early 1920s, leading to the formation and subsequent expansion of the Haganah as a nationwide, organized force.                                                          
  
                                Avraham 'Yair" Stern, leader of the Irgun
• 1931-1948  The Irgun, officially the National Military Organization in the Land of Israel, was a Zionist paramilitary organization that operated in Mandatory Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the older and larger Jewish Haganah. The Irgun engaged in armed conflict against both Palestinian Arabs and the British authorities during the Mandate period. 
  
• 1939-1942;  Lohame Herut Israel or   Irgun Tzevai Leumi, known to British as the "Stern Gang."  Yair Stern left the Irgun Tzevai Leumi  in 1939 which he had been leader, because of its refusal to continue anti-British activities in Palestine during World War II.  He formed an underground organization later known as Lohame Herut Israel which carried out acts of sabotage, etc.  Stern was killed by British police while being arrested.                                      
  
  Stanley Goldfoot was chief of Intelligence for the Stern Group.  Born in 1914, he made Aliyah right after high school.  He's my 2nd to 3rd cousin.  I met him at the King David Hotel which it was said he planned to blow up long ago but denied to me.  
  
•    Stanley Goldfoot with first wife and two daughters.  He was born in   May 1914  in Johannesburg, South Africa.    
• It was said he played an important part in the assassination of Count Bernadotte, an operation planned in his apartment. After the assassination he was arrested with other Lehi members and imprisoned in the Jaffa, Akko, and then Jalameh Prisons. After over five months, he was released during the general amnesty. He worked in journalism afterwards, and did business in the US two years. For seven years he co-operated with Dr. Yisrael Eldad  publishing  the Times of Israel, with a circulation of about 50,000 copies in the US and Israel. He published the international edition of Dr. Eldad’s book, The Jewish Revolution. Stanley wrote LETTER TO THE WORLD. (read below)  Stanley lives in Jerusalem with his wife Helen, née Milner. He is the father of three daughters and two sons (including those from previous marriages) and grandfather to seven.
• Resource:
• Letter to the World (in my blog ) https://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2023/09/letter-to-world-from-stanley-goldfoot.html
• Letter to the World by Stanley Goldfoot:  https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-letter-to-the-world-from-jerusalem-2019/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_casualties_of_war
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Trumpeldor
• https://lehi.org.il/en/goldfoot-stanley/
• The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irgun
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Aliyah#:~:text=The%20First%20Aliyah%20(Hebrew:%20%D7%94%D7%A2%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%99%D7%94,had%20grown%20to%20approximately%2055%2C000.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashomer#:~:text=Hashomer%20(Hebrew:%20%D7%94%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%9E%D7%A8%2C%20',Israel%20Giladi%20and%20Mendel%20Portugali.
• https://jewoughtaknow.com/king-faisal-i-bin-hussein#:~:text=King%20of%20Syria%2C%20King%20of,King%20of%20Iraq%20in%201921.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaffa_riots#:~:text=Dozens%20of%20British%2C%20Arab%2C%20and,stabbed%20and%20beaten%20with%20sticks.

CNN's Presentation of Jerusalem, City of Faith and Fury Part 5 Independence and Defeat

 Nadene Goldfoot                                               

Hussein ibn Ali, King of Saudi Arabia, father of Abdullah, who wanted Transjordan and got it.  

The presentation started off with the history of this period from the viewpoint of the Arabs.  I was able to see how much they omitted that were important elements to the history.  Of course i felt it was all one-sided.  One thing CNN had correct was how both the Arabs and the Jews viewed Britain's part; all for Britain.  How they saw it was different from the Jewish point of view.  Britain played both the Arabs and the Jews, making promises to both.

The fact that bothers me and was not brought out was that the Jerusalem and this part of Palestine had once been the Jewish nation over 3,000 years ago, lost to them in 70 CE with Jews yearning and praying 3 times a day for a return.  What they needed were leaders to pull it off, which finally took place in 1918.    It was part and parcel to their religion of following the laws of Moses who told them that G-d said they were to live in this land.  None of the following was mentioned.  

The Palestinians had no great reason other than in 632 Mohammad had said that he flew to Jerusalem on his special flying horse and back. It was the Ottoman Turks who held the land for 400 years up to WWI, not the Arabs.  At the time, it was both Jews and Arabs, Arabs who had 4 wives if they wanted, with plenty of children, who managed to live there. 

 I disagree with the population figures given, flatly saying the Arabs were far greater in numbers than the Jews.  According to the Romans in 70 CE, Jews who managed to be alive were not allowed to ever return, though some remained where they were not found, but the numbers were small, indeed.   We remember entering Canaan with Moses with 601,730, having lost 1,820 after the 40 year Exodus from Egypt. 

                                                                  

 The Arabs had the chance to create a state when the Ottomans were there and afterwards, but it was the Jews who were frantic to gain their ancient land back and had been talking to the British since WWI had developed, hoping and expecting them to win and gain back their land which was an integral part of the war.  The Ottomans were on the wrong side;  the German side of the war.  Jews had waited 2,000 years for this chance.  Jews fought on the Allied side.   One had created an element for ammunition that made it superior, helping to win the war for the British and that was Chaim Weizmann.  

In 1914, there were 94,000 Jews to  595,000 Non-Jews with 13.67% Jews.  Groups of Jews had been migrating to Palestine since 1881 called Aliyahs, with 5 in all.  They were breaking ground there, pioneers.  

In 1918, there were 60,000 Jews to 600,000 Non-Jews with 8.1% Jews;  Pogroms were going on in Russia, killing Jews, making life unbearable.  Zionism and plans to return were happening.  

By 1931 there were 174,610 Jews to 861,211 Non-Jews with 16.9% Jews.

By 1939 there were 449,000 Jews.  Jews were going through terrible times in Germany, elsewhere.  Arabs were being allowed to enter Palestine while Jews were kept out by British.  

By 1947 there were 630,000 Jews to 1,324 Non-Jews with 32.0% Jews

By 1948 there were 716,700 Jews to 156,000 Non-Jews with 82.1% Jews. 

What was mentioned was that in 1948, the Arabs wanted to push the Jews into the sea, and that was true.  Abdullah of Saudi Arabia was then brought into the story as a major player.   

                                                                            

It was said that Abdulla took the West Bank.  My understanding was that the British gave him 80% of the Jewish Homeland.  He wanted this West Bank, the original Judea and Samaria, when he asked for it, and that was done against the understanding given to the Jews originally.  This happened because of who he was, son of the leader of Saudi Arabia and that he wanted land.  He brought a few of his people with him to rule over.  Britain was planning to have the land or be involved themselves.  

                                                                   

David ben Gurion then was brought into the story.  He was a major Zionist whose visions for the land was that it would be a light unto the nations as mentioned that the Jews were to be that in the bible.  

                                                                        

   Golda, on May 14, 1948 announcing the birth of their nation, Israel.  5 minutes later they were attacked again.  

Golda Meir was then mentioned, the future 1st woman prime minister.  The War of Independence was talked about, not mentioning that it started on 29 November 1947 when the Arabs responded to the UN idea of  partitioning the land into 3 parts; one for Arabs, one for Jews, and one for Jerusalem.  The Arabs refused, Jews accepted, and the war was on.  Both felt tricked but Jews were desperate for that chance of even a little teeny piece of the land at this point.  The war lasted until the signing of the armistice Agreements in 1949.

                                                                   

If I were watching this presentation and had no prior knowledge, I might think that Jews somehow, a small group, didn't deserve the land, even though the original section in reality was a very small piece.  Jews have been painted as undeserving and the Arabs, the good guys, cheated out of the land they had been living on by both the Jews and the British.  It never was discussed that the majority of Arabs had come into the land at the same time as the Jews had made aliyah in 1880-81 looking for work from all over the Middle East.  They were Arabs, but not a people; coming from all sorts of countries.  Jews had been a scattered people,  a people sharing their religion, language, foods, etc.;   finding they were even related to each other up to 5th cousins and more.  They were coming together as prophesized in the Bible, surprisingly.  Both Jews and Arabs had been living in the land since 70 CE, even the Arabs who may have come in later when Rome was gone. 

                                                                   

Jews were kept out of Palestine by the British who allowed Arabs to enter at the same time.  

                                                                    

In the late 30s, Jews were frantic to enter their promised Homeland, so had to be smuggled in by Haganah.  David ben Gurion felt even more determined to help the land become their country. 

  The Irgun Tzevaileumi (National Military Organization) aka Etzel, a Jewish Palestinian underground organization was created.  It's aim was retaliation against Arab attacks on Jews, but on the publication of the 1939 White Paper, it's target became the British authorities in Palestine, by attacking administrative personnel and executing acts of sabotage.  They were outlawed by the mandatory government of the British.  

                                                                               

             Stanley Goldfoot, my 3rd cousin, wife and daughters at Tel Aviv Beach, unknown to my family, found through genealogy and DNA research;  was able to meet him in Jerusalem in 1981
                                                          

                                           Avraham Stern b: 1907 d: 1942 at age 35

 Not mentioned was that an outgrowth of that was the Stern Group (Lohame Herut Israel) , of which my 3rd cousin, Stanley Goldfoot, was the Chief of Intelligence.  Abraham Stern was the leader who had left the Irgun Tzevai Leumi of which he had been a leader because of its refusal to continue anti-British activities in Palestine during world War II.  They were known by the British as the Stern Gang which carried out acts of sabotage, etc.  Stern was killed by the British police while being arrested.  Born in 1907, he would have been my father's age.  He died in 1942.  The Stern Group planned the attack on the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, but it was the leader, Stern, who planned that job. They told that 91 were killed in the explosion on the hotel.  They didn't mention that the Stern group warned the hotel of what they were doing and told them to get everyone out.  Evidently they didn't believe the phone call.   I had the opportunity to meet my cousin in 1981 at the very same King David Hotel, and talk to him about his experiences.  Stanley was a writer, who wrote the famous Letter to the World, telling how he felt about the land and Jerusalem.  Stanley corrected me, saying it wasn't the Stern Gang but the Stern Group!  

Arabs went through the defeat.  They saw Jews as a machine taking over the land.  Golda had gone to the USA and Jews had donated money for arms to help the Jews win the battle.  Israel was born after the British left their 30 year term on May 14, 1948.  Arabs felt that Great Britain had betrayed the Palestinian Arab ambitions.  I reiterate; their ambitions only developed when they saw that Jews were returning and were buying up the land from Arabs who were tired of paying high taxes for the land to the Ottomans.  They had no ambitions before that.  

Jordan's Arab Legion took control of territory on the western side of the Jordan River, including the cities of Jericho, Bethlehem, Hebron, Nablus and eastern Jerusalem, including the Old City. Following the end of hostilities, the area that remained under Jordanian control became known as the West Bank. The program had only mentioned Jerusalem.  

                                                            

They did mention that Golda had disguised herself as an Arab woman to meet with Abdullah in Jordan to talk over the situation.  He, however, was one of the first to attack Israel as he wanted Jerusalem for himself.  She had asked him not to attack.  Abdullah took over Jerusalem and Jews were evacuated out.  They were prisoners of war.  

                                                                     

As an aside, a wonderful movie was made of this period in 1966, called CAST A GIANT SHADOW, with Kirk Douglas, Senta Berger, Frank Sinatra, Yul Brynner, Angie Dickinson, that tells more about the War of Independence. The film is a fictionalized account of the experiences of a real-life Jewish-American military officer, Colonel David "Mickey" Marcus, who commanded units of the fledgling Israel Defense Forces during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. 

For the Arabs, they remember Israel's birth as a disaster while we celebrate its birthday.  

The 1967 war was mentioned.  That was the end.  One more presentation coming up next week.  

Stanley Goldfoot's Letter to the World  

1969 Stanley Goldfoot's Open letter to the world from Jerusalem - YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTM7EzhaG7I

Original Letter to the World by Stanley Goldfoot 

https://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2011/05/jerusalem-day-june-1-2011.html

 

Resource:

 CNN program on Jerusalem part 5

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordanian_annexation_of_the_West_Bank