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100 Years Later, Zionism Is Still a Survivalist Imperative

Yellow Star of David Jews were forced to wear in Nazi Germany. Photo: Kjetil Ree/Wikimedia Commons.

A recent article in The Jerusalem Post, describes a planeload of French Jews making Aliyah to Israel, in spite of the continuing war with Hamas and threats from Iran. More than 1,000 French Jews have made Aliyah since October 7, and thousands more have opened files intending to do so. Incredibly, 24,000 Jews from all over have moved to Israel since October 7.

The modern Zionist movement has always been more than simply a nationalist enterprise. Every Zionist leader, from Herzl onward, made it clear that Jewish survival was at stake. Nothing better highlights this point than the Transfer (in Hebrew, Ha’arava) Agreement, signed on August 25, 1933. Without it, the state of Israel might not have come into being. Yet, other than works like The Transfer Agreement, there has been little attention to this critical period in Jewish history.

The Transfer Agreement allowed German Jews to convert some of their assets into German goods (for example textiles and industrial machinery) to be exported to Palestine and sold. The person immigrating would receive part of the proceeds, and the rest were set aside for communal economic development. The agreement was essentially an investor immigrant scheme. Each immigrant was required to have assets equivalent to $5,000 US dollars (equivalent to more than $100,000 dollars in today’s currency). This helped circumvent British restrictions on Jewish immigration to Palestine.

The agreement was controversial. Jewish leaders in the Diaspora were in favor of an anti-Nazi boycott of German products, while Revisionist Zionists led by Ze’ev Jabotinsky felt that negotiating with Nazis was unacceptable. From the German perspective, the agreement lessened the possibility of a widespread economic boycott of German products, while at the same time, creating an avenue for ridding the country of its Jews.

About 60,000 German Jews immigrated to the area between 1933 and 1939, under this arrangement. It ended with the onset of World War II. Besides likely saving 60,000 Jews from the Holocaust, the transfer of assets was an important boost to the economy of the then-British Mandate at a critical point during the Great Depression.

I grew up knowing about this episode because of my family’s story. My parents met in their early teens in Montreal in the mid-1920s, after immigrating to Canada from Eastern Europe with their families. Attracted to Labor Zionist ideology, they went to Mandatory Palestine and joined a kibbutz in the Jordan Valley in 1932. The kibbutz, founded in 1924 mainly by Latvian Jews, was located close to the point where the Yarmuk River, the Jordan River’s largest tributary, meets the Jordan.

Some of the men of the kibbutz, including my father, worked in construction to augment the meager income provided by agriculture. The work was associated with Solel Boneh, a cooperative-based construction company founded in 1921 by the Histadrut, Israel’s national trade union.

My father’s work gave him a sense of purpose and a high degree of job satisfaction. (I found his Histadrut membership booklet, his pinkas, in his effects after he died.) He excelled at calculating the number and lengths of rebar reinforcing rods required for various concrete construction projects, and he was a good organizer, an ability that served him well later in life. Unfortunately, his job became the casualty of a power struggle between the Latvians, the dominant group on the kibbutz, and the newcomers from Germany, arriving as part of the Transfer Agreement.

The German newcomers exacerbated existing factional tensions. As Canadians, my parents were outsiders. (Only 316 Canadian Jews immigrated to Mandatory Palestine between 1919 and 1948, according to Encyclopedia Judaica.) He and my mother, and their daughter of two years, left the kibbutz and returned to Canada in 1937.

My father’s story describes an unintended result of the Transfer Agreement. However, it does not change the fact that the Agreement did save many Jews. Efforts were underway during the summer of 1939 to extend the Agreement to Poland, Romania, Hungary, and Italy. In fact, as the Nazis extended their rule to Czechoslovakia in 1938 and 1939, an additional Czech transfer of 2,500 to 3,000 Jews to Palestine took place. But when Germany attacked Poland on September 1, 1939, time ran out.

Zionism still is a survivalist imperative. According to the Jerusalem Post article, for those on the flight from France, “it was better to come to Israel, Iranian threat and all, than to stay in France, where antisemitism had become normalized.”

Jacob Sivak, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, is a retired professor, University of Waterloo.

The post 100 Years Later, Zionism Is Still a Survivalist Imperative first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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New Poll: Majority of NYC Voters ‘Less Likely’ to Support Mamdani Over His Refusal to Condemn ‘Globalize the Intifada’

Zohran Mamdani Ron Adar / SOPA Images via Reuters Connect

Zohran Mamdani. Photo: Ron Adar / SOPA Images via Reuters Connect

In a warning sign for the campaign of Democratic nominee for mayor of New York Zohran Mamdani, a majority of city voters in a new poll say the candidate’s hardline anti-Israel stance makes them less likely to vote for him.

In the survey of likely city voters conducted by American Pulse, 52.5 percent said Mamdani’s refusal to condemn the slogan “globalize the intifada” coupled with his backing of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement made them less likely to vote for him in November. Just 31% of city voters polled were more likely to support him because of these positions.

At the same time, a significant share of young New York City voters support Mamdani’s anti-Israel positioning, a striking sign of shifting generational views on Israel and the Palestinian cause.

Nearly half  of voters aged 18 to 44 (46 percent) said the State Assembly member’s backing for BDS and “refusal to condemn the phrase ‘globalize the intifada’” made them more likely to support him.

Mamdani, a democratic socialist from Queens, has been under fire for defending “globalize the intifada,” a slogan many Jewish groups associate with incitement to violence against Israel and Jews. While critics argue it glorifies terrorism, supporters claim it’s a call for international solidarity with oppressed peoples, especially Palestinians. Mamdani has also voiced support for BDS, a movement widely condemned by mainstream Jewish organizations as antisemitic for singling out Israel.

The generational divide exposed by the poll comes amid a broader political realignment. Younger progressives across the country are increasingly critical of Israeli policies, especially in the wake of the Gaza war, and more receptive to Palestinian activism. But to many Jewish leaders, Mamdani’s rising support is alarming.

Rabbi David Wolpe, visiting scholar at Harvard University, condemned the phrase with a sarcastic analogy.

“‘Globalize the intifada’ is just a political slogan,” he said. “Like ‘The cockroaches must be exterminated’ was just a housing authority slogan in Rwanda.”

Jewish organizations have reported a surge in antisemitic incidents in New York and across the U.S. since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war last fall. The blending of anti-Zionist slogans with calls for “intifada,” historically linked to violent uprisings, has deepened fears among Jewish communities that traditional red lines are being crossed.

Whether this emerging coalition reshapes New York politics remains to be seen. However, the poll indicates that among younger voters, views that were once considered fringe are quickly moving into the mainstream.

The post New Poll: Majority of NYC Voters ‘Less Likely’ to Support Mamdani Over His Refusal to Condemn ‘Globalize the Intifada’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Report: Jews Targeted at June’s Pride Month Events

A Jewish gay pride flag. Photo: Twitter.

The research division of the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) released a report on Wednesday detailing incidents of hate against Jews which took place last month during demonstrations in celebration of LGBTQ rights and identity.

Incidents reported by the group include:

  • At a Pride march in Wales, the activists Cymru Queers for Palestine chose to block the path and show a sign that said “Profiting from genocide,” an attempt to link the event’s sponsors — such as Amazon — to the war in Gaza.
  • A Dublin Pride march saw the participation of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which labeled Israel a “genocidal entity.”
  • In Toronto at a late June Pride march, demonstrators again attacked organizers with a sign declaring, “Pride partners with genocide.”

CAM also identified a recurring narrative deployed against Israel by some far-left activists: so-called “pinkwashing,” a term which the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions (BDS) movement calls “an Israeli government propaganda strategy that cynically exploits LGBTQIA+ rights to project a progressive image while concealing Israel’s occupation and apartheid policies oppressing Palestinians.”

The report notes that at a Washington DC Pride event in early June Medea Benjamin, cofounder of activist group Code Pink and a regular of anti-war protests, wore a pair of goofy, oversized sunglasses and a shirt in her signature pink with the phrase “you can’t pinkwash genocide.”

Other incidents CAM recorded showed the injection of anti-Israel sentiment into Pride events.

A musical group canceled a performance at an interfaith service in Brooklyn, claiming the hosting synagogue had a “public alignment with pro-Israel political positions.” In San Francisco before the yearly Trans March, a Palestine group said in its announcement of its participation, “Stop the war on Iran and the genocide of Palestine, stop the war on immigrants and attacks on trans people.”

CAM notes that this “queers for Palestine” sentiment is not new, pointing to a 2017 event wherein “organizers of the Chicago Dyke March infamously removed participants who were waving a Pride flag adorned with a Star of David on the grounds that the symbol ‘made people feel unsafe.’”

In February, the Israel Defense Forces shared with the New York Post documents it had recovered demonstrating that Hamas had tortured and executed members it suspected of homosexuality and other moral offenses in conflict with Islamist ideology.

Amit Benjamin, who is gay and a first sergeant major in the IDF, said during a visit to New York City for Pride month that “All the ‘queers for Gaza’ need to open their eyes. Hamas kills gays … kills lesbians … queers cannot exist in Gaza.”

The post Report: Jews Targeted at June’s Pride Month Events first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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IAEA pulls inspectors from Iran as standoff over access drags on

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi at the agency’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 23, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl/File Photo

The UN nuclear watchdog said on Friday it had pulled its last remaining inspectors from Iran as a standoff over their return to the country’s nuclear facilities bombed by the United States and Israel deepens.

Israel launched its first military strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites in a 12-day war with the Islamic Republic three weeks ago. The International Atomic Energy Agency’s inspectors have not been able to inspect Iran’s facilities since then, even though IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has said that is his top priority.

Iran’s parliament has now passed a law to suspend cooperation with the IAEA until the safety of its nuclear facilities can be guaranteed. While the IAEA says Iran has not yet formally informed it of any suspension, it is unclear when the agency’s inspectors will be able to return to Iran.

“An IAEA team of inspectors today safely departed from Iran to return to the Agency headquarters in Vienna, after staying in Tehran throughout the recent military conflict,” the IAEA said on X.

Diplomats said the number of IAEA inspectors in Iran was reduced to a handful after the June 13 start of the war. Some have also expressed concern about the inspectors’ safety since the end of the conflict, given fierce criticism of the agency by Iranian officials and Iranian media.

Iran has accused the agency of effectively paving the way for the bombings by issuing a damning report on May 31 that led to a resolution by the IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors declaring Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has said he stands by the report. He has denied it provided diplomatic cover for military action.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Thursday Iran remained committed to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

“[Grossi] reiterated the crucial importance of the IAEA discussing with Iran modalities for resuming its indispensable monitoring and verification activities in Iran as soon as possible,” the IAEA said.

The US and Israeli military strikes either destroyed or badly damaged Iran’s three uranium enrichment sites. But it was less clear what has happened to much of Iran’s nine tonnes of enriched uranium, especially the more than 400 kg enriched to up to 60% purity, a short step from weapons grade.

That is enough, if enriched further, for nine nuclear weapons, according to an IAEA yardstick. Iran says its aims are entirely peaceful, but Western powers say there is no civil justification for enriching to such a high level, and the IAEA says no country has done so without developing the atom bomb.

As a party to the NPT, Iran must account for its enriched uranium, which normally is closely monitored by the IAEA, the body that enforces the NPT and verifies countries’ declarations. But the bombing of Iran’s facilities has now muddied the waters.

“We cannot afford that … the inspection regime is interrupted,” Grossi told a press conference in Vienna last week.

The post IAEA pulls inspectors from Iran as standoff over access drags on first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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