Haavara FAQs: Uganda Scheme re-examined, was it the canary in the coal mine?

Herzl Died Thinking Israel Would Have Been in Uganda; not in "empty" Palestine

A Brief Introduction

When the Russian Tsar started persecuting the Russian Jewish community (for the 2nd time) in the early 1900s, Zionist leaders (inclusive of their founding father Theodor Herzl) quickly sensed the danger, and proposed implementing Herzl's detailed plan (which he ironed out a decade earlier in Der Judenstaat) by focusing Zionists' colonizing efforts on Uganda (rather than Palestine) on "temporary" basis. Mr. Herzl felt that the pogroms of 1880s were lost opportunities to created the "Jewish state," and he was adamant not squander the next refugee crisis for the 2nd time. Thus, Mr. Herzl lobbied the Zionist Congress, which approved his proposal (by a vote of 295 vs. 175) in Basel, Switzerland, on August 26, 1903. Herr Herzl even managed to secure British approval to colonize Uganda and that was 14 years ahead of the infamous Balfour Declaration. Zionists at the time were sincerely interested in creating the "Jewish state" anywhere for the sake of saving Europe's Jews, and the location of the state was ONLY the means to a noble end. On the other hand, the founding fathers of the "Jewish state" did the exact opposite as it will be proven soon from Zionist and Israeli sources.

Critical Analysis

Fake Valor: Why Did Zionist Jews Hoist Nazis Flag on Their Ships in the 1930s?

It should be emphasized:

A) There was nothing temporary once millions of Jews were moved to the middle of Africa and Zionists of all shades (especially the founding fathers of the "Jewish state") knew it.

B) The Uganda scheme deeply enraged and emotionally scared the founding members of the "Jewish state" (David Ben-Gurion, Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Chaim Weizmann, Moshe Sharett,...etc.) who lobbied forcibly to torpedo this proposal (and other viable schemes much later) that could have easily saved millions of Jews. It should be NOTED that the schism with the Territorialist (Jewish Territorialist Organization--ITO) was for real, which continued until Nakba. Nothing enraged and terrified the founders of the "Jewish states" like Territorialists. Based on our extensive research of the Haavara Agreement, this point cannot be overemphasized. The hate between both groups was for real, especially during the calamity, and often Zionists referred to Territorialist as traitors! If this subject interests you, we urge you to read how Zionist leaders responded to the Bergson Group during WWII. A hint: Zionist leaders weaponized antisemitism against the Jews who favored havens other than Palestine.

David Ben-Gurion envisioned that Nazis' Nuremberg Race Laws would become the LEVER that would end up creating the "Jewish state," but how? Click the image for the details

C) The Uganda Scheme was quickly reversed by the 7th Zionist Congress on July 27th, 1905 soon after Herzl's death in July 1904.

In layman's terms, at the cost of risking millions of lives, the Israeli founding fathers insisted that Palestine must be the ONLY destination when viable solutions were available at hand! This evil strategy persisted before and during WWII, and it even continued in the DP camps after the calamity ended. We were shocked to find that David Ben-Gurion eloquently articulated this sinister strategy a month after the Kristallnacht pogrom in late 1938. Zionists of all shades lobbied against any rescue scheme unless the destination was Palestine. Thus, in practice, Zionist leaders gave Europe's Jews two options: Palestine or Auschwitz and lobbied like hell against any other alternatives.

Which hate speech was worse: Hitler's hate speech at the Reichstag on Jan 30th, 1939, or Ben-Gurion's speech (just two months before Hitler's speech) when he incited the murder of German Jews a month after the Kristallnacht pogrom?

In our humble opinion, the Uganda scheme was the canary in the coal mine and set the stage for Zionists' policies for decades to come. For some unknown reasons, Zionist Jews "learned" from the Uganda scheme how to fight like hell for any solution to Europe’s Jewish refugee crisis (which they had fomented) that doesn’t make Palestine their only destination.

Just in case you think what was written was a Palestinian anti-Zionist rant, please think twice. In Jewish communities around the world, this is an open secret. Actually, American Jews investigated Zionists' policies during the 1930s and 40s in the early 1980s, and they were quickly got nixed.

David Ben-Gurion: we're the aggressors; Arabs defend themselves. (Righteous Victims, p. 652)

Why the founders of the "Jewish state" were fixated on Palestine when other rescue schemes were available?

Until now, it has been a mystery to us:

Why the founding fathers of Israel were fixated only on Palestine? Meaning, if Zionist leaders really cared about "saving Jews' lives", why didn't they contemplate Uganda, Cyprus, Argentina, or Libya?

Hitler's message to the British and American people: If Jews are such noble citizens and you care about them, how come you're not letting them in?

What was so special about Palestine that made Zionists to focus much of their colonization efforts to? Besides Palestine's strategic situation, Palestine has little to offer in terms of natural resources, and its trading routes would've been useless to the "Jewish state" as it has been demonstrated since Nakba. Most importantly, Palestine was already populated with a hostile native population who made it to clear to Herzl & Co. that they would resist his colonization efforts. Ironically, that is exactly what forced Herzl to contemplate colonizing other places, which was 14 years before the infamous Balfour Declaration.

JTA Sept. 3rd, 1933 Quoting Nahum Sokolow: "Hitlerism enables us to convert all Jews to Zionism."

Why did the founders of the "Jewish state" feel it was necessary for Europe's Jews to suffer? Why was that a prerequisite? If that was the case, how could Jewish pain and suffering be monetized politically and economically? Could the apocalyptic idea of Catastrophic Zionism was way more widely spread than previously thought?

Is it possible that instigating a Jewish refugee crisis was the actual lever that Ben-Gurion & Co. often spoke of?

Kastner Saved Lives Too: How does justifying Haavara after the fact not resemble Rudolf Kastner's defense of what happened on his famous train but at a much larger scale? Kastner train passengers on their way to Switzerland, 1944

Chaim Weizmann attempted to answer this conundrum in 1939 (just before WWII was underway), and he reasoned it was due to psychological attachment to Palestine (actually he used the word Palestine)! Mr. Weizmann could be correct, but his argument isn't convincing for simple reasons! First, the mass majority of Europe's Jews with secular atheists, and being Jewish was a cultural thing; no more. Second, even at the height of Nazi persecution before WWII, the mass majority of Europe’s Jews still chose to immigrate to Great Britain and the Americas, but not to British Mandated Palestine. It is worth pointing out that this phenomenon persisted even after Nakba, and much of Europe's Jews voted with their feet and immigrated to the Americas. On this note, also note how the American Jewish community (which is a Zionist community by a big margin) has already visited Israel at least once, but under 1% made it home, and many of those are retirees with a home in Tel Aviv and another in NYC, Miami, or LA.

Perhaps, it was possible that Zionists hawks were against the Uganda scheme not because of its location per se, but rather because of practical reasons with regards to Uganda's location? Simply Jews wouldn't go there, irrespective of the reasons?

When the Bergson Group organized pageants in major US cities during the Holocaust, why did Zionist leaders lobby to shut them down?

Honestly, we don't know. Yes, we agree that the founders of the "Jewish state" were sinister enough to purposely inflict pain and suffering on Europe's Jews to achieve their political goals. As you have seen earlier, we've shared plenty of evidence of that (especially during the 1930s and 40s), which proves such an evil policy. That said, in the case of the Uganda scheme, we are humble enough to admit that we don't know. All we know is that this mystery could be solved by examining primary sources, and we hope a courageous historian will do so soon.

If you have 90 seconds to spare, we urge you to watch this short clip that explains the Uganda scheme in an easy language. We think it is worthwhile watching:

We were shocked to discover that some Ugandan natives had even converted to Judaism, but their Israeli citizenship applications were rejected. It seems they were not Jewish enough:

Finally, please keep in mind that A) 44 of the 45 men who signed Israel's declaration of independence were secular, national socialists, and above all, they were atheists! B) Almost all Jewish religious establishments were anti-Zionists who petitioned the UN against the creation of the "Jewish state" in late 1947! Therefore, Zionist policies weren't formulated based on religious dogma (although no doubt that was helpful to some).

At length, Beit-Zvi (in the Post Uganda: Zionism On Trial) attempted to tackle this mystery, but sadly it was not to our satisfaction. Let's know what you think in the comments section.

Here it is from Martin Gilbert's the mother of all Hasbarab books (Israel: A History) on page 22

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