It may not be an unreasonable question to ask what the names Herzl and Weizmann mean to the younger generation of Christadelphians? Thirty years ago these names were almost household words, but that was before Israel held an accepted place among the nations. How this people finally reached its homeland, and the mighty work of those who led it throughout the crucial struggles of the past 70 years, is the theme of what is, at least, one of the best books on the subject.
The author, Lord Russell of Liverpool (the full title to distinguish him from Bertrand Russell, himself also a peer), was editor of the Liverpool Daily Post, an English daily newspaper of good standing. And his book bears all the hallmarks of a conscientious and able journalist. There are no guesses. The trend of events from the 1890’s to 1948 is well and clearly documented. Its voice carries the tone of conviction.
The apt title, If I Forget Thee (Cassell, Aust. price 44s. 9d.), sums up the spirit of the people whose agonising struggle over the centuries was crystallised and echoed in the Eichman trial.
We are spared many of the horrors of Jewish physical suffering, but there is a sense of shame—at least to an Englishman—as we read of the appalling mismanagement and what appears to be wilful and deliberate misrepresentation of the Balfour Declaration and the subsequent Mandate over Palestine.
For the first time I have seen a copy of the wording of the McMahon-Sharif Hussein correspondence. On it the Arabs base their claim that the Balfour Declaration of two years later was a sheer violation of Britain’s promise to them. Frankly, I believe anyone could come to the same conclusion. There is no mention of Palestine. The western boundary of the Arab claim was the Red Sea, the Mediterranean Sea up to Mersina”. Later, when British Cabinet ministers who had authorised the letters were questioned, they declared with all sincerity that in their minds at the time Palestine was not included.
Apart from all the wrangling that went on as the years went by, the greatest denial of the implementation of the Declaration and the Mandate came from the British Labour Party. We well recall the assurance that the cause of Israel would be in the forefront of its policy if and when that Party came to power. Opportunity came when the Conservative Party was defeated at the polls in 1944. But nothing was done for Israel. Much was done in favour of the Arabs. In the end Britain withdrew. Israel, alone in the world, proclaimed its independence. Within hours the United States recognised the new State. It is a thrilling story.
If ever a political Party had denied itself, it was the Labour Party led by Mr. (now Lord) Attlee. In denying itself, it denied Great Britain. Much has happened since then — a downward trend in British affairs. Should we be surprised?
In the years that have followed, Egypt with the Suez has been lost; India, Cyprus and others have seceded and yet remained in the commonwealth; South Africa is no longer even under the protection of the Union Jack. The Labour Party is at its lowest ebb. Divided by internal friction, it lacks virile leadership and cohesion to bring it back to power. Is it an exaggeration to link the two things together?
The words of Scripture fall on deaf ears on the men of this world. Through Zechariah the words ring out to those who will hear, “He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye!”
Again, Isaiah declared, “I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopa and Seba for thee”; and this has been long recognised as having been fulfilled in British control of Egypt as wages for her assistance to the Jewish race. Is it but another coincidence that, when Britain left Israel to her fate, the wages were withdrawn when Egypt was lost?
If there is one regret, it is that the book stops at the declaration of Jewish independence. A chapter on the war with the Arabs, its conclusion and the definition of existing boundaries would have crowned a remarkable account of the triumph of Bible prophecy over the ignorance and duplicity of human rulership.
Review of “The Early Earth” by John Whitcomb (1972)