Ally Abandoned: Facing the Axis Invasion Threats to Palestine during the Second World War

In May 1941 a string of German victories, a pro-Nazi revolt in Iraq and a hostile Vichy-led collaborationist government in Syria suddenly left Palestine, with its half a million strong Jewish community, facing the possibility of German invasion from both north and south. Germany's attack on the Soviet Union provided some respite for hard-pressed British forces, but the overwhelming initial success of that attack, together with Rommel's advances in North Africa, meant a return of the pincer threat a year later when the period from April to November 1942 was named as the '200 days of anxiety' by the Jews of Palestine (known as the Yishuv). This book examines why, despite the close Anglo-Jewish relationship in Palestine between the wars, there was only very limited co-operation in 1941 when an enemy invasion seemed imminent. Chronologically, the book begins with an overview of the development of the Jewish National Home in Palestine under British rule, the Arab Revolt 1936–39, the change in British policy towards Palestine immediately prior to the Second World War and the Anglo-Jewish relationship in Palestine during the first twenty months of the war. In 1941 the British continually rebuffed Jewish pleas for the Yishuv to be given a better defensive capability within the Yishuv itself. More widely, plans to create a Jewish Division fighting the Germans as part of the British Army were also quashed. This book shows that this opposition stemmed from doubts about Arab loyalty throughout the Middle East, particularly an exaggerated fear by General Wavell of an imminent Arab uprising should the Jews be given such visible support. The result was widespread hostility in the Yishuv towards Britain By 1941 mutual mistrust had grown to the extent that the Yishuv was not provided with the weapons and training to defend itself that year and nor were any plans put in place to develop a defensive capability so that when, in 1942, the new German pincer movement threatened and the British contemplated evacuating Palestine and retreating to Iraq, their plans failed to take any account of the Yishuv's available manpower. In fact, by 1942, there was a new fear of growing Jewish strength and organisation within the Yishuv. In this regard, 'official' steps to prevent the training and arming of organised Jewish units in the British Army, were contradicted and undermined by 'unofficial' co-operation and training of elite Yishuv forces by the Special Forces Executive (SOE). Even this training, however, was to set up resistance cells after a German occupation and was not to help the Yishuv defend itself from invasion. More than two years later, in a volte face, a Jewish Brigade was established within the British Army and fought against the Germans in Italy. The book ends with a look at the formation of the Jewish Brigade to test the extent to which fears of creating a Jewish armed force in 1941 and 1942 were justified. It analyses the Haganah's attack on 11 bridges on the night of 16/17 June 1946 to gauge the extent to which SOE training had become a threat to British policy, and considers the extent to which prejudice lay behind British decision-making during this period. What becomes clear is that British and Yishuv decisions taken during these two years not only prepared the Yishuv for a post-war fight against Britain, something which before 1939 would have been unthinkable, but also helped determine the outcome of the Jewish State's war of independence in 1948. That the Jews would be successful in that war was not a foregone conclusion even in 1948. The events of 1941 and 1942 built the foundations on which the State of Israel would be established. AUTHOR: Geoffrey Charin read Accountancy and Economics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and holds a PhD from Buckingham University (2025) on the subject of Britain's Palestine policies during WWII. At the end of 2021 his debut novel, relying on research from the same period, was published and was critically acclaimed in the Financial Times, featured in the Daily Express and was shortlisted in the Historical Fiction category in a competition in the USA 20 illustrations

Table of Contents:
1. Towards a British Mandate in Palestine 1917–20 2. Antisemitism, Immigration and the Arab Revolt 1920–39 3. The ‘MacDonald’ White Paper: May 1939 4. The White Paper and a Policy of Appeasement 5. The Yishuv: an Ally Snubbed 6. Tensions over Refugees Fleeing Europe 7. The Fallacy of the White Paper 1940 8. The Patria Incident, November 1940 9. The Start of SOE-Yishuv Co-operation 10. General Wavell Under Pressure on all Fronts 1941 11. The Yishuv looks to its Defence 12. The Commanders Change but Still no Jewish Fighting Force 13. The Threat from the North 1942 14. The Struma Incident, February 1942 15. The Threat from the South and the ‘Haifa Plan’ March–October 1942 16. The Growing Awareness of the Holocaust and its Impact on Policy 1942–43 17. The Increasing Military Strength of the Yishuv and its Impact on Britain’s Palestine Policy 18. Replacing the White Paper Policy 1943–44 19. The Jewish Brigade 1944 20. Post-War Case 1: The Night of the Bridges June 1946 21. Post-War Case 2: The King David Hotel July 1946

About the Author :
Geoffrey Charin read Accountancy and Economics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and holds a PhD from Buckingham University (2025) on the subject of Britain’s Palestine policies during WWII. At the end of 2021 his debut novel, relying on research from the same period, was published and was critically acclaimed in the Financial Times, featured in the Daily Express and was shortlisted in the Historical Fiction category in a competition in the USA

Review :
"Thought-provoking and essential reading for our times ... Charin charts the historic alliance of Palestinian Jews with the British against Nazism, only to find they are betrayed by the Britain after 1945. An excellent factual account on one of the most misunderstood conflicts in history."--Dr Helen Fry, historian "This is a timely book when once again Israel and Palestine are headline news. Dr. Charin examines here an earlier crisis when Britain ruled Palestine during the Second World War. He charts the collapse of good relations between the British and the local Jewish community, which led to the final Jewish revolt and the foundation of Israel. This is a much-needed study, told with careful attention to the evidence and solid judgement. We now have a fuller picture of the failure of Britain's Middle East imperialism and the birth of the new Jewish state."--Professor Richard Overy, author of "Blood and Ruins: The Great Imperial War, 1931-1945" "This is an elegant account of the genesis of the long-forgotten military struggle of the Jews for an independent state in Mandatory Palestine during the early 1940s. Geoffrey Charin dissects the complexity of the times and the possibility of a Nazi invasion of Palestine - and what this could have meant for its Jewish population. Charin eloquently examines British national interests in a time of war and its political and security machinations in the Middle East."--Colin Shindler, emeritus professor, SOAS, University of London