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Here’s What Really Happened with the British and Mandatory Palestine

David Ben-Gurion declares Israel’s independence, at the Tel Aviv Museum, May 14, 1948. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

The ignorant (or brainwashed) useful idiots who call for the destruction of Israel, claim that the British Mandate that granted Jews a homeland was not only a mistake, but an original sin.

In reality, it was a brief moment in history when the world recognized Jewish suffering, and believed that they deserved a haven in a land where Jews had continually lived for millennia. Little did they know what more horrors would be visited upon Jews in the years to come.

It is true that the colonial powers of the 19th and early 20th centuries arrogated to themselves the right to carve up Africa and the Middle East by paying little attention to the different warring tribes, cultures, and regions they forced into tense relationships when they imposed artificial borders in the region. But of course, such attitudes, conquests, and invasions existed for thousands of years. To blame only the most recent examples is to distort history.

The British Mandate was the product of the reshaping of much of the world after World War I. It went beyond the wording of the Balfour Declaration of 1917, and recognized the historical connection of the Jews to the Holy Land, and understood that Zionism meant reconstituting their national home. We have the British to thank for this. But sadly, things went downhill from there.

Critics of Israel deny all the past historical powers that were actual colonizers of the land (like Egypt and Jordan), and forget that Israel accepted a Palestinian state in 1947 and 1948. But the Palestinians and five Arab countries rejected it, and tried to destroy Israel and all the Jews in it. That’s the reason there is no Palestinian state today.

And, in fact, much of the British policy during this period was meant to favor the Arab community.

There were riots, attacks on Jewish civilians, and the notorious Hebron massacre of Jews in 1929. The British felt they had to appease the Arabs, so they began to restrict Jewish immigration. The Jews were divided between the pacifists and the fighters. The first member of a Jewish underground group, Shlomo Ben Yosef, was executed by the British in 1938. The British White Paper of 1939 virtually closed the door on Jewish immigration precisely at the moment when a haven might have saved hundreds of thousands from Nazi barbarity.

The post-war foreign secretary of the UK’s Labour government was the notorious Ernest Bevin, who was adamantly opposed to the idea of a Jewish state. He pushed the Mandate authorities to take a very hard line and enacted the Defense (Emergency) Regulations which suspended Habeas Corpus, established military courts, and prescribed the death penalty for carrying weapons or ammunition illegally and for membership of illegal organizations.

In 1946, Michael Eshbal and Yosef Simchon were arrested by the British and sentenced to death. The Irgun began a policy of reprisals. Five days later, they kidnapped five British officers in Tel Aviv, and another one the following day in Jerusalem. Two weeks later, when Eshbal’s and Simchon’s sentences were commuted to life imprisonment, the officers were released.

A year later on, April 16, 1947, Dov Gruner, Yehiel Dresner, Mordechai Alkahi, and Eliezer Kashani, were executed by the British. In May 1947, 41 prisoners broke out from Acre Prison. Six of them were killed and seven others were rearrested. Among the organizers, Avshalom Haviv, Yaakov Weiss, and Meir Nakar were tried by a military court and also sentenced to death. All these names are unknown to the vast majority of Israelis today.

The Irgun retaliated by capturing two British soldiers and announced that if their men were put to death, they would do the same to the British soldiers. The High Commissioner Alan Cunningham gave the order and the Irgun men were executed. The day afterwards, the bodies of the two British soldiers were discovered hanging from olive trees. The Irgun admitted the killings.

Ernest Bevin did whatever he could to stop the Jewish state. He plotted with the Jordanians and negotiated “the Portsmouth Treaty” with Iraq (signed on January 15, 1948) undertaking to withdraw from Palestine and ensure a swift Arab occupation of all its territory to destroy the Jewish state. As the British withdrew, they handed over their hardware to the Arabs.

We owe a lot to Britain as the first state to recognize the right of the Jews to their own homeland, regardless of their ulterior motives. Rarely is a conflict all black and white. It wasn’t then, and it isn’t now. If Arab Nationalism can be justified, why can’t Jewish Nationalism?

The Bible says, “The poor will never cease from the land.” And neither will enmity and conflict, whether they are external or internal. I don’t have a solution, only optimism. But the Balfour Declaration and League of Nations were essential elements in establishing a Jewish state after 2,000 years. And despite our present mourning, that is still a reason to celebrate.

The author is a writer and rabbi, currently based in New York. 

The post Here’s What Really Happened with the British and Mandatory Palestine first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War

Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.

Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.

“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”

GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’

Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.

“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.

“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.

“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.

After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”

RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL

Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”

Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.

“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”

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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco

Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.

People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.

“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”

Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.

On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.

Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.

On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.

“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.

Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.

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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan

Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.

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