By Charles Gardner —
The British Government bears responsibility for trapping millions of Jews in Nazi Europe during World War II, a senior academic has claimed in a film documentary.
In a revised episode of the brilliant expose from established filmmaker Hugh Kitson, Professor Steven Zipperstein of the University College of Los Angeles Law School revealed new evidence of Britain’s betrayal of the Jewish people at the time when they were charged with preparing them for statehood.
Narrated by Col Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, Whose Land? Part I – Foundations explores the history of modern Israel’s legitimacy, powerfully challenging the false narratives of much Western media. It was released in 2017 and has since been followed up by Whose Land? Part II – The Law of Occupation and the Status of Jerusalem, premiered earlier this year.
Key to the original discussion was a 1939 White Paper restricting Jewish immigration to what was then known as Palestine to a miserly 75,000, which left millions of Jews trapped in Nazi Europe with nowhere to go as virtually no country would accept them. Such action was in fact illegal because it broke the terms of the League of Nations Mandate granted to Britain.
Now it has been revealed that, just two days after Hitler’s troops marched into Prague on March 15, 1939, the leaders of Poland’s three-and-a-half million Jews, the largest Jewish community in the world, sent a telegram to Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain pleading that they would “not apply a policy in Palestine which throws the Jewish masses into an abyss of despair”.
Prof Zipperstein said there was no record of any response to this desperate plea, the shocking consequence of which was that Poland’s Jews were all but wiped out, with just 75,000 surviving the Holocaust (ironically, the same figure as the limit on immigration to Israel).
Britain’s actions, driven by attempts to appease the Arab/Muslim population, were variously described by program participants as illegal, shameful and wrong.
Clearly appalled by the White Paper’s restriction on Jewish immigration, Winston Churchill (before becoming PM) spoke up: “Now there is the breach; there is the violation of the pledge; there is the abandonment of the Balfour Declaration¹. There is the end of the vision, of the hope and the dream.”
Prof Zipperstein, an expert on the legal issues surrounding the Mandate, said: “I think it’s fair to say that the British Government bears responsibility for trapping millions of Jews in Europe during World War II, for which it has never really come clean… leaving them as victims of the Nazi regime.”
The situation hardly improved in the immediate aftermath of the war when Jewish refugees were either turned back or sent to detention camps, with many brought in railway wagons similar to those used by the Nazis.
Restricting immigration to 75,000 over a five-year period, the White Paper further stipulated that there would be no further immigration unless the Arabs agreed to it, and that Jews should not exceed one-third of the population. All of which amounted to a betrayal, not only of the Mandate’s terms, but of the trust of the Jewish people.
On the bright side, it was revealed that the Labour Party had, along with Churchill and others, opposed the White Paper; how different their policy is now! Even an Anglo-American committee meeting in Geneva in 1946 judged that it had breached international law.
We also learned that U.S. President Harry Truman demanded Britain allow at least 100,000 Holocaust survivors to settle in Palestine, but this was ignored by the British Government, which continues to live in denial of its historic betrayal.
There is a consensus among those watching and praying over Israel that time is fast running out for Britain to come clean on these issues. We have become a virtually godless nation with few Christians in government, and it is now more the UK – not the Jewish people – standing on the edge of the abyss.
The prophet Isaiah put it plainly: “For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish; it will be utterly ruined.” (Isaiah 60:12)
¹ Britain’s 1917 promise to do everything possible towards restoring the Jews to their ancient homeland.
Here are the links to the relevant sections of the film: Episode 8 (13m 38s) https://youtu.be/mlYJPDFJ80w and Episode 9 (8m 52s) https://youtu.be/dIfQFcuq7cc
