Churchill, Palestine and Zionism, 1904-1922 - Douglas J. Feith

Palestine and Zionism, 1904-1922 221
Jabotinsky, a journalist and Zionist leader from Odessa. 24 The command
of the Egyptian expeditionary force responsible for the Palestine campaign
did not want a "fancy" Jewish unit and affirmatively impeded recruitment.
25 But in London important officials respected Jabotinsky's intrepidity
and appreciated the Zionists' desire to soldier in the Allied cause.
Among Jabotinsky's key allies in bringing the Jewish legion into being
was Leopold Amery, the third of the war cabinet assistant secretaries,
who soon thereafter became a prime author of the Balfour Declaration. 26
Hence, among the officials who decided whether and how the British
government should publicly announce sympathy with Zionism, a remarkable
number had worked hand in hand with gifted Zionists who contributed
eagerly to Britain's cause. A number-such as Lloyd George,
Balfour, and Sykes27 Jabotinsky, a journalist and Zionist leader from Odessa.
-were also moved by what they intensely believed,
for religious or humanitarian reasons, was the moral rightness of the
Zionist prescription for the Jewish problem. Such men were thus primed
to accept other-pragmatic-arguments for a pro-Zionist declaration.
In autumn 1917, when the war cabinet finally decided the issue, the
24 The command
of the Egyptian expeditionary force responsible for the Palestine campaign
did not want a "fancy" Jewish unit and affirmatively impeded recruitment.
25 But in London important officials respected Jabotinsky's intrepidity
and appreciated the Zionists' desire to soldier in the Allied cause.
Among Jabotinsky's key allies in bringing the Jewish legion into being
was Leopold Amery, the third of the war cabinet assistant secretaries,
who soon thereafter became a prime author of the Balfour Declaration. 26
Hence, among the officials who decided whether and how the British
government should publicly announce sympathy with Zionism, a remarkable
number had worked hand in hand with gifted Zionists who contributed
eagerly to Britain's cause. A number-such as Lloyd George,
Balfour, and Sykes27-were also moved by what they intensely believed,
for religious or humanitarian reasons, was the moral rightness of the
Zionist prescription for the Jewish problem. Such men were thus primed
to accept other-pragmatic-arguments for a pro-Zionist declaration.
In autumn 1917, when the war cabinet finally decided the issue, the
14 In 1915 in Egypt, Jabotinsky broached the Jewish legion proposal to a minor British
official in Cairo named Ronald Graham. British military authorities reacted coolly, but
agreed to form the volunteers into a transport unit for use outside Palestine. This became
the Zion Mule Corps, which won distinction at Gallipoli but was soon after disbanded.
General Ian Hamilton, commander of the Gallipoli expeditionary force, praised the courage
of the Zion Mule Corps: Vladimir Jabotinsky, The Story of the jewish Legion (New
York: Bernard Ackerman, 1945),44. It happened that, by 1917, Graham was transferred
to London. He became a Near East department official in the foreign office, whence he
enthusiastically supported the Balfour Declaration. See also Shmuel Katz, Lone Wolf: A
Biography of Vladimir (Ze'evJ jabotinsky, 2 vols. (New York: Barricade Books, 1996),
vol. 1, 155-238.
25 They objected, first of all, to the idea of a foreign legion within the British army. Colonel
John Henry Patterson, who led both the Zion Mule Corps and the Jewish legion, has
written that no precedent existed for such a unit within the British army. They also
doubted the practical value of a fighting force of Jews. Certain officers opposed the legion
because they disliked Jews, as Patterson states: "From the moment of debarkation it was
made plain by the Army staff that our arrival was deeply resented. The anti-Jewish chief
of staff, General Louis Jean Bois, did his best to destroy us." See the foreword by Colonel
John Henry Patterson in Jabotinsky, jewish Legion, 20; see also 16-17. Regarding impediments
to recruitment, see ibid., 112.
26 Amery was a close friend of Colonel John Henry Patterson, the Irish-born Protestant
and world-famous lion hunter who had commanded the Zion Mule Corps and was
later given command of the Jewish legion. Patterson introduced Amery to Jabotinsky.
Ibid., 68-70.
27 According to his son, the historian Christopher Sykes: "[Sir Mark] was a man of ardent
character and he took no decision either of a public or private kind without considering
his duty as a member of his [Roman Catholic 1 Church. This is the first point to recognise
for an understanding of the part he played in the history of the Jewish people." Sykes,
Two Studies in Virtue, 175.