THE DANGER OF UNCONTROLLED ZIONISM. [To THE EDITOR or THE
" SPECFATOR."]
Sig,—The British Government has recently announced that it is prepared to listen favourably to the desire of the Jews to settle in Palestine—a matter which gives food for reflection. From Ger- many comes the news that an amalgamation of all the Jewish Associations in that Empire has taken place, and they demand from their Government, among other things in their " irreducible minimum," " the unrestricted right of emigration into the Turkish Empire, and especially into Palestine." This is a matter of the utmost gravity. To permit the establishment of such Jan'ish colonies in Palestine means neither more nor less than handing over the country to enemy Jews, which is criminal folly. It is to plant the enemy there deliberately with power to pursue his usual methods of "peaceful penetration," and Palestine already suffers from far too many of that ilk. It is absurd for these Jews to talk of " national aspirations," for they are no longer a nation, and have no ruler, either secular or religious. They repudiated their own nationality for themselves and their descendants when, in order to procure the death of their Messiah, they took upon themselves the responsibility of His blood for all time, and then avowed that they had " no king but Caesar." For centuries they have been only a religious body, the greater proportion of whom consist to-day of alien enemies, and the very fact that in speaking of them it is necessary to specify that they are either German, Austrian, Bulgarian, &c., Jews shows how completely they have incorporated themselves into the nations whose citizenship and protection they claim. Of the British I am not, of course, speaking; their patriotism and generosity have been magnificent. But the Palestine movement comes largely from Jews whose adopted countries are those of our enemies, or whose patronymics betray their original homes.
The movement itself originated with Theodor Hertzl, an Austrian Jew—a charming personality and a dreamer. His successor was Dr. Tchlenow, whd died but a few weeks ago, and who wrote from his death-bed that " Great Britain has now promised to use its
best endeavours to assist us in the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine." How can a "national home " be made for a denationalized religious body? The names alone-of the President of the Conference held in London the other day and of the purchaser of the site for the University in Pales- tine betray the probable origin of their owners. To further an unlimited Zionist movement is simply to further the Mittel- Europa and Near East schemes of the Central Powers and to jeopardize our hold on India. It means the deliberate driving of a powerful enemy wedge between Egypt and the East, where for our safety it is absolutely necessary that we control unfettered the Suez Canal, Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. Have our men fought and died to rescue Palestine from the unspeakable Turk merely to replace him with a large population of Jews of enemy extraction who owe allegiance to enemy Sovereigns ? We know the Kaiser is determined to annex Palestine; he has frankly said so, and has for years been working for this end, and one of his indirect but dangerously insidious methods is to foster the estab- lishment of German and Austrian Jews all over the Holy Land. The trade, finance, industries, and hotels of Palestine and Syria are almost entirely in German hands, and this Zionist movement when thoroughly sifted is merely Pan-Germanism under a subtle disguise.
All this has nothing to do with the Jewish religion, though here again we are confronted with some hard facts of history. Pales. tine ceased to be the home of the Jewish faith and Jerusalem the centre of Jewish worship are the first century had passed away. The country then became thoroughly Christian, as the ruins of " the thousand and one churches " proclaim, and Jerusalem was the heart of Christendom, and Christian they remained -until the tide of Mohammedanism swept them away. The Crusaders did not set forth on their bravo, bold venture, to rescue from Paynim hands the site of the Temple and restore it to Jewish keeping. It was to recover the Holy Sepulchre from non-Christian conquerors and give it back into Christian hands and establish a Christian kingdom there, where Christianity had its birth, that that gallant band proceeded on their unsuccessful but Utopian errand. If Palestine is to be liberated from the tyranny of the Turk and preserved from the "peaceful penetration " of un- desirable residents, then, in the name of justice to our gallant troops and in lasting memory of the Crusaders' chivalry, let it be given back into Christian custody and safeguarded against an
enemy immigration.—I am, Sir, &o., M. BRODRICK, F.R.G.S.
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