Was
Britain Actively Involved in the Holocaust?
In
1917 Britain issued the Balfour Declaration in order to
bring the United States to join the Allies in the war against
Germany, after the collapse of the Russian front.
But
soon after the end of the First World War it became clear
that Britain was opposed to establishing the Jewish National
Home. The Palestine Mandate covered the areas west and east
of the River Jordan and a happy solution could have been
to develop Palestine for the Jews and develop Transjordan
as the national home of the Arabs. But in 1921 Transjordan
was given over to Emir Abdullah without conditions, leaving
the Jews and the Arabs to fight over the rocky strip of
Palestine.
In
the run-up to the Second World War British policy was embodied
in the 1939 White Paper which closed the door to Jewish
immigration at a time when European Jews were badly in need
of a safe haven. British policy was meant to gain Arab sympathy,
but in fact Arab sympathy was solidly pro-Hitler throughout
the war - witness the Rashid Ali pro-Nazi revolt in Iraq
in April 1941.
Historians
attach little importance to that event but in fact if it
had succeeded Russia would have been cut off from Allied
aid and the war would have taken a different course. Britain
defended Iraq on the island of Crete where after heavy losses
the sole German airborne division was destroyed. Crete was
surrendered only when Iraq was safely in British hands.
British
policy after the war regarding the Jewish National Home
was the same. Survivors of the death camps were turned back
and were forcibly disembarked in Germany.
It
is therefore reasonable to conclude that British policy
was the same during the war.
After
the establishment of the State of Israel, British officers
led the Arab forces that attacked the Jewish state and were
paramount in delineating its frontiers.
As
a student at London University in the early thirties, I
was tormented by the ease with which Hitler was allowed
to re-arm Germany. My own teenage guesses at the time were
either that Britain wanted to achieve a decisive end to
the earlier war with Germany or that a new European war
was organised solely for the purpose of murdering the ten
million Jews of Europe. In the event, my second guess proved
correct and the Holocaust was the only lasting outcome of
World War Two.
The
nagging question remains, therefore – Is it possible
that the British government was actively involved in the
murder of the Six Million?
After
the collapse of the Rashid Ali revolt, ex-mufti Amin Husseini
who was in Baghdad, fled to Iran and thence to Italy and
Germany where he met Hitler in November 1941. Throughout
the war he influenced Nazi anti-Jewish policy and made certain
that Jews were prevented from getting out of Europe. He
persuaded Hitler that Jews leaving Europe would end up in
Palestine and that would anger the Arabs.
The
mufti’s objectives coincided with those of Britain
– witness the sinking of the Struma in 1942 with the
loss of 800 Jews.
The
question arises; was there secret contacts between the Mufti
and British agents? The mufti was afraid to leave Germany
after the war, but was given safe conduct by Britain through
France and thence to Egypt and Beirut. It is possible that
Israel was advised not to interfere with him.
All
along Britain was obviously afraid that the Zionists would
take over the Middle East and displace Britain in its vital
sphere of influence.
The
indications are strong and the leads must be plentiful.
The time has come to research this episode of the twentieth
century to put the record straight.
Britain’s
sympathy with the Palestinians and hostility to Israeli
governments continues unabated. Printing a monograph on
the subject would be financed.
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