2) [In his meeting with the Russian minister of the interior, 1903. N.N.]: "He (Herzl) describes his Zionist plan as the only alternative to the Jews being drawn into radical revolutionary activity, which threatens the very existence of the Czarist state... This claim can be found earlier in Herzl's talks with the Austrian prime-minister and German chancellor." (preface by Prof. Shlomo Avineri, p. 37)

Jewry in Grave Danger

3) "I believe that the question of the Jews is a very grave matter. Those who imagine that the incitement against the Jews is merely a fashionable phenomenon that may disappear from the world, are badly mistaken. Due to reasons that are as deep as the abyss, this reality will become worse until the revolution, which is inevitable." (p. 195)

4) "The Jewish question is not as urgent in Germany today as it is in Austria, Russia, Rumania etc., but this very interlude, which apparently cannot last for long, could and perhaps should be used for seeking the solution." (p. 306)

From Ben-Gurion's Memoirs Volume II (1934-1935), Am Oved 1972

Jewish "Healthy Life" by Restricting Jewish Immigration

5)"If the idea of a Jewish national home has any meaning at all - it is not that many Jews would come to the Land of Israel, but rather that the Jews of the Land of Israel would lead a healthy national life. And there is no healthy life without a large portion of the nation having deep roots in the soil and supporting itself through its own labour. Until now, those who came to the Land of Israel have succeeded to a large extent in changing their social structure." (Ben Gurion, Mapai Central Committee, 27/5/1934, p.96).

6)"Katzenelson: ... that we should be able to select the human resources, to prevent destructive elements from coming ... the Revisionists may be able to align with the Farmers Association and receive very wide support." (Meeting of Mapai Party Centre, 18/7/1934. P.127)

7) Meeting of the Jewish Agency board with the Association of Jews from Germany, 23/11/1935, p. 518:

"Dr. Weizman notes the importance of this time. He agrees with K. Blumenfeld, ... if we hide behind the notion that the Zionist Organization is not designed to save from disasters and refrain from doing everything that we can, the Jewish people will not forgive us for this. Dr. Centor is right in saying that the question of immigration from Germany can be solved, and that 200,000 people may emigrate from Germany. He does not wish to refer to the fate of the Jews who would stay in Germany. The immigration of 30,000 Jews from Germany to the Land of Israel [in 1933-35 N.N.] is no light matter, and if at this rate, 10,000 to 15,000 Jews would immigrate [per year, N.N.], we would be in a position to answer to history that we did everything in our power." [To bring 200,000 Jews within 15-20 years (!!) and leave another 400,000 to their bitter fate, despite the fact that the wealth of German Jewry could have facilitated the immigration of many poor Jews from Eastern Europe. See forward quotation. N.N.]

[The 19th Zionist Congress passed a resolution in 1935 that accepted the Mapai policy and limited the number of German Jewish immigrants. This moved Jabotinsky to establish this year the New Zionist Organisation. N.N.]

German Jews Immigration Would Allow Greater Jewish Immigration

8)"Dr. Rupin ... Since the Nazi revolution, some 27,000 Jews came from Germany to the Land of Israel, around 10,000 Jews per year. It is conceivable that a similar number of Jews [from Germany. N.N.] could come to the land in the future, providing that the transfer of capital from Germany could continue at its present scope, as this allows for bringing to the land, together with the wealthy Jews, also immigrants with no assets." (A meeting of the Jewish Agency board, 8/12/1935, p.533). [In 1935, beyond the 10,000 German Jews, some 50,000 immigrants came to the land, a record figure for that period. N.N.]

Opposing the Rescue of German Jews Out of Israel

9) "Yesterday, we dealt with balancing our poor budget, we are short of several tens of thousands of pounds, and we cut down a thousand here and two thousands there to fix our accounts. And now we hear about plans of millions and about big names - lords, millionaires, Jewish cabinet ministers." From a Ben Gurion's letter Simon Marx, expressing his absolute objection to the plan of transferring the Jews of Germany with their property to any possible country. (p. 570)

10) Meeting of the Jewish Agency board with the Association of Jews from Germany, 23/11/1935, p. 518:(Continuation)

"Mr. Grinboim ... we have to arrange for the immigration of the German Jews to the Land of Israel, but we should set limits, that must not be violated, and we must not become a factor that develops Hitler's industry [The German Jews would bring their capital in German products. N.N.]. Anything can be done, but not the expansion of the transfer to American and England."

"Mr. Kaplan says ... that he totally objects the suggestion of a world transfer, which cannot promote our cause and only cause us troubles."

Was the Money What Have to Be Rescue?

11) From a meeting of the Jewish Agency board with the Association of Jews from Germany, 23/11/1935, p. 518:

"Mr. Ben-Gurion says, that the question before us is not only how to help the immigration of German Jewry. For the first time in Zionist history, we face a situation in which a whole Jewish community, one of the world's wealthiest Jewish communities, is facing a threat of losing its entire property, and thus, it is prepared to invest a large portion of its wealth in the Land of Israel. No one knows how much time - perhaps years, or maybe just months - is left for saving the Jewish capital in Germany, or at least some of it, and our movement will be responsible if it does not make the utmost effort to save in a minimal time the maximum of Jewish property for the sake of the Land of Israel."

"Mr. Hoffein said ... Yet, if we bring the capital of German Jewry, we should do it only to the extent that it would benefit the Land of Israel, the immigrant should not receive his money in cash The money would be invested in the Company of Settlement in Palestine, which would issue bonds that would yield profits..."

Powerless of the Zionist Organization

12) "Ushiskin stresses ... the question of German Jewry had also taken a major part in our sessions, but regrettably, the discussions in this matter have been merely theoretical until now, since we are powerless." (Meeting of the board of the Zionist Executive Council, 29/12/1935. p. 566).

From "Jabo" - Zeev Jabotinky's Biography Shmuel Katz, Dvir 1993

Weizman's Zionism

13) "...The essence of Zionism was not necessarily the Jewish State but rather the creation of physical conditions for the growth of a creative, autonomous society... Why should we debate over the academic question of a Jewish state or a Jewish national home? The main thing is the immediate work." (Weizman at the Zionist Executive Committee, 27/8/1930. p. 784.)

"The Jewish state, whether we want it or not, will not become a reality unless we witness some fundamental change, which I cannot foresee at the moment. The propaganda voiced by certain Zionist circles, such as the Revisionists, in favour of a Jewish state, is stupid and harmful. But it does not matter, as it can achieve the same result if it demands a Jewish state in the island of Manhattan. The Balfour declaration, as well as the British Mandate, mention a national home. There is room for different opinions as to the fate of that national home - if it would have half a million, a million or two millions of Jews - but regardless of this, it will not be a Jewish state." (Weizman in a letter to Felix Warburg, a non-Zionist representative in the Jewish Agency. P. 752.)

Jabotinsky's Zionism

14) "...In exile, the Jewish people are doomed to a general Bartholomew Night massacre, and their only refuge is in a massive immigration to the Land of Israel." (Jabotinsky's speech in Bern, 1898. P.25).

15) "There is a large region in Eastern Europe that comprises several countries, and it is a region of incurable anti-Semitism. ... In the past, immigration from this region turned to other countries, but after a while [after the Marxist revolution in Russia, N.N.] it proved undesirable and now has stopped. The Land of Israel is the only country that many can go to. Therefore, the government of the Land of Israel should actively encourage the Jewish settlement, naturally aiming to achieve a Jewish majority as a precondition to the establishment of a Jewish state." (From Jabotinsky's testimony in the Shaw Committee, January 1930. P. 755)

Five years later:

16) "We seem to live on the last edge of the abyss, on the eve of the decisive holocaust in the world-wide ghetto. ... World Jewry is facing this global downfall without any weapons: its objectives are petty, its organisations are dwarfed, the administration in the land presents only obstacles and Zionism is a political vacuum." (From Jabotinsky's speech at the foundation congress of the New Zionist Organisation in Warsaw, 1935. p. 941.)

From "Jabotinsky's World" Edited by Moshe Bela, Steimatzky, 2002, p.392.

Against Selected Immigration

17) "The time has come to put a stop to the so-called 'scientific' drivel - that Zionism 'has never set as its goaal' to save the entire Jewish people from poverty and hunger. It strives to this very goal... No Jew has ever imagined in the depth of his heart, the final result of "redemption" would be the creation of a small paradise in the Land of Israel, for a small minority, while the large Jewish masses would starve and degenerate in Europe as they did before, knocking on America's doors as they did before. If any of the Jews had really thought that this would be the outcome of the entire Zionist march, he would have turned his back on it..."

"I would not have wanted to be one of these fortunate Jews, living in such a paradise, since each of these people would have felt like a traitor. The more he himself, and the country as a whole, would have enjoyed greater happiness and wealth - so would the feeling of betrayal be greater." ('Doar Hayom', 16/2/1931.)

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