Jewish Brigade - Background

Background

After World War I, the British Empire and the French Empire replaced the Ottoman Empire as the pre-eminent powers in the Middle East. This change brought closer the Zionist movement's goal of creating a Jewish state. The Balfour Declaration of 1917 signified the first official approval of this proposal, and led to a surge of Jewish emigration in 1918-1921, known as the "Third Aliyah". The League of Nations incorporated the Declaration in the British Mandate for Palestine in 1922. Jewish immigration continued through the 1920s and 1930s, and the Jewish population expanded by over 400,000 before the beginning of the Second World War.

However, in the White Paper of 1939, the British government under Neville Chamberlain abandoned the idea of establishing a Jewish Commonwealth. When World War II began in September 1939, David Ben-Gurion, the head of the Jewish Agency, famously declared: "We will fight the White Paper as if there is no war, and fight the war as if there is no White Paper."

Chaim Weizmann, the President of the World Zionist Organization, offered the British government full cooperation of the Jewish community in Palestine. Weizmann sought to establish an identifiably Jewish fighting formation (under a Jewish flag) under the auspices of the British Army. His request for a separate formation was rejected, but many Jews in Palestine wanted to fight the Nazis and joined the British Army. Some of these were formed into separate Jewish companies in their battalions. There was a Jewish battalion attached to the British Army’s East Kent Regiment stationed in Palestine.

In all, fifteen Palestinian Jewish battalions were formed in the British Army in September 1940, and fought in Greek campaign of 1941.

But there was no designated all-Jewish formation. Jewish groups petitioned the British government to create such a force, but the British refused. At that time, the White Paper was in effect, limiting Jewish immigration and land purchases.

Some British officials opposed creating a Jewish fighting force, fearing that it could become the basis for Jewish rebellion against British rule. In August 1944, Winston Churchill finally agreed to the formation of a "Jewish Brigade". According to Rafael Medoff, Churchill consented because he was "moved by the slaughter of Hungarian Jewry was hoping to impress American public opinion."