U.S. Aid to the Jews of "Palestine" and the U.S. Navy Were Essential 100 Years Ago

Jews of the Yishuv

In the course of preparing the sister blog History of Israel -- Picture a Day, we came across many reports of the severe persecution and suffering of the Yishuv - the Jewish population of Eretz Yisrael, Palestine.  Ottoman officials harassed, tortured, imprisoned and expelled Jews, especially "Zionist" activists. 

An account of life in Palestine during the first world war was presented to the World Zionist Congress in 1921 by the London Zionist Organisation.

Several points are amazingly relevant today.

Here is an excerpt:

In spite of all efforts made in Palestine to cope with the situation, the Jewish population would have succumbed had not financial help arrived from America.  From the day when war broke out [Jewish] Palestine had appealed to America for help.


America was at that time the one country which through its political and financial position was able to save [Jewish] Palestine permanently from going under. It was stimulated to do so by the deep interest in Palestine which of recent years had been awakened in American Jewry. ...

Great assistance was given by the American ambassador, Henry Morgenthau, who had visited Palestine some months before the outbreak of the war, and had promised his support to the director of the Palestine Office, Dr. Ruppin. Thanks to the efforts of the Zionist Organisation and of men like Jacob Schiff, to whom the Bank, the Palestine Office and the representatives of the Chovevi Zion had appealed, a large remittance of money — the first of many — was sent from America to Palestine. ...

USS North Carolina to the rescue

 
On October 6th, 1914, the American warship "[the USS] North Carolina" landed in the harbour of Jaffa, and the envoy of Ambassador Morgenthau, M. Wertheim, brought 50,000 dollars. Half of this sum had been given by Jacob Schiff, the other half by the Zionist Organisation with Nathan Strauss.


The arrival of this warship and of those that followed it was quite an event in the country. It raised the downcast spirits of the Jews, who saw that they were not abandoned, but could reckon on help from their brethren abroad. These ships also increased the prestige of the Jews in the eyes of the rest of the population and of the local administration. People saw that the Jews through their connections abroad were much more powerful than their numbers would have led one to expect.


These American ships continued their good services on behalf of the Jewish Yishuv. They brought money from time to time, and hospitably took on board the expelled Jews and the other immigrants who fled from Palestine for fear of starvation and persecution.


The transmission of the money, which was a task requiring considerable address and scrupulous care, was carried out admirably. Besides money, food also came from America on a special ship, the "Vulcan.''  Altogether, from October, 1915, 3,522,930.03 francs was brought to Palestine in thirteen American ships.

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