“The Jews of Palestine”
From an NBC Broadcast of Albert Einstein
From an NBC Broadcast of Albert Einstein
November 27, 1949*
… The Jews of Palestine did not fight for political independence for its own sake.
They fought to achieve free immigration for the Jews of many countries where their very existence was in danger; free immigration also for all those who were longing for a life among their own. It is no exaggeration to say that they fought to make possible a sacrifice unique in history.
I do not speak of the loss in lives and property fighting an opponent who was numerically far superior, nor do I mean the exhausting toil which is the pioneer’s lot in a neglected arid country. I am thinking of the additional sacrifice that a population living under such conditions has to make in order to receive, in the course of eighteen months, and influx of immigrants which comprise more than one third of the total Jewish population of the country.
In order to realize what this means, you only have to visualize a comparable feat of the American Jews. Let us assume that there were no laws limiting immigration into the United States; imagine that the Jews of this country volunteered to receive more than one million Jews in the course of one year and a half, to take care of them, and to integrate the in to the economy of this country.
… The Jews of Palestine did not fight for political independence for its own sake.
They fought to achieve free immigration for the Jews of many countries where their very existence was in danger; free immigration also for all those who were longing for a life among their own. It is no exaggeration to say that they fought to make possible a sacrifice unique in history.
I do not speak of the loss in lives and property fighting an opponent who was numerically far superior, nor do I mean the exhausting toil which is the pioneer’s lot in a neglected arid country. I am thinking of the additional sacrifice that a population living under such conditions has to make in order to receive, in the course of eighteen months, and influx of immigrants which comprise more than one third of the total Jewish population of the country.
In order to realize what this means, you only have to visualize a comparable feat of the American Jews. Let us assume that there were no laws limiting immigration into the United States; imagine that the Jews of this country volunteered to receive more than one million Jews in the course of one year and a half, to take care of them, and to integrate the in to the economy of this country.
This would be a tremendous achievement, but still be very far from the achievement of our brethren in Israel. For the United States is a big, fertile country, sparsely populated with a high living standard and a highly developed productive capacity, not to compare with the small Jewish Palestine whose inhabitants, even without the additional burden of mass immigration, lead a hard and frugal life, still threatened by enemy attacks. Think of the privations and personal sacrifices which this voluntary act of brotherly love means for the Jews of Israel.
The economic means of the Jewish Community in Israel do not suffice to bring this tremendous enterprise to a successful end. For a hundred thousand out of more than three hundred thousand persons who immigrated to Israel since May 1948, no homes or work could be made available. They had to be concentrated improvised camps under conditions which are a disgrace to all of us.
It must not happen that this magnificent work breaks down because the Jews of this country [America] do not help sufficiently or quickly enough. Here, to my mind, is a precious gift with which all Jews have been presented: the opportunity to take an active part in this wonderful task.
The economic means of the Jewish Community in Israel do not suffice to bring this tremendous enterprise to a successful end. For a hundred thousand out of more than three hundred thousand persons who immigrated to Israel since May 1948, no homes or work could be made available. They had to be concentrated improvised camps under conditions which are a disgrace to all of us.
It must not happen that this magnificent work breaks down because the Jews of this country [America] do not help sufficiently or quickly enough. Here, to my mind, is a precious gift with which all Jews have been presented: the opportunity to take an active part in this wonderful task.
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*Addressed to the United Jewish Appeal
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