Part 21 (2/2)

To compensate for all the misfortunes we were called upon to endure, our life in the battalion itself was quite smooth and happy, all pulling well together.

Personally, I took no thought whether a man was a Jew or a Gentile; I remember that an officer joined us while we were serving at the front, and, through some misunderstanding, I took him to be a Jewish officer.

He distinguished himself later and earned the M.C., which pleased me very much, for I was always glad when I was able to recommend a Jewish officer for promotion or reward. I sent this officer with nine others to form a ”Minyan” (the number required to hold a Jewish religious service) at the burial of a Jewish soldier who was killed on the day we captured the Umm esh Shert Ford, and it was not until after this incident happened that I discovered he was a Gentile.

There was one exception, however, to the general harmony and _esprit de corps_ of the battalion. A Staff officer was sent to do duty with us from G.H.Q., where he had been employed for over a year. Some time after his arrival he publicly insulted one of my Jewish officers and refused to apologise. The matter was then brought before me, and, as he still remained obdurate, I brought him before General Z. When asked by the latter why he had insulted the Jewish officer his reply was, ”I don't like Jews. _The Jews are not liked at G.H.Q., and you know it, Sir.”_ The General ordered him to apologise, which I must say he did most handsomely, but his remarks about the dislike of Jews at G.H.Q., though no news to me or the General, may be somewhat illuminating to the reader!

Although we hoped that all unpleasantness with the General was over, I regret to say that this was not the case. I could give many instances of unfair treatment to which we were subjected, but I will not weary the reader by relating them here. After his apology the General never again came near us, and every indignity, slight and petty tyranny that could be invented was put upon the battalion. The whole subsequent att.i.tude of the G.O.C. showed us that his apology was merely eye-wash, and had simply been extracted from him by fear of the consequences of his outrageous behaviour.

In fact, in the end, I had to bring his conduct to the notice of the Commander-in-Chief, with the result that he was removed from his Command and no longer troubled Israel.

CHAPTER x.x.xI.

PROTESTS.

In case any readers may think that my account is exaggerated I give some letters of protest which I received from some of the officers in my battalion. From this it will be seen what a difficult position I was placed in, owing to the policy of G.H.Q. towards Jewish aspirations.

A few interested parties, for their own ends, sedulously spread the rumour that there was no anti-Semitism shown in Palestine. I will leave the reader to judge whether these people were knaves or fools:

LUDD, 4-7-19, A7/48.

SIR,

I beg to report that the men are discontented, not only in our battalion, but also in the other Jewish units, which cannot fail to influence our men still more.

The causes of their discontent are much deeper than delay of Demobilization. Over 3/7ths of the Judaeans in this country are men who volunteered to serve in Palestine in the name of their Zionist ideals, and in reply to the pledge embodied in the declaration which Mr. Balfour, on behalf of H.M. Government, issued on the 2nd November, 1917.

It is now a general impression among our soldiers, an impression shared by the public opinion of Palestine, that this pledge has been broken, so far as local authorities are concerned.

Palestine has become the theatre of an undisguised anti-Semitic policy. Elementary equality of rights is denied the Jewish inhabitants; the Holy City, where the Jews are by far the largest community, has been handed over to a militantly anti-Semitic munic.i.p.ality; violence against Jews is tolerated, and whole districts are closed to them by threats of such violence under the very eyes of the authorities; high officials, guilty of acts which any Court would qualify as instigation to anti-Jewish pogroms, not only go unpunished, but retain their official positions. The Hebrew language is officially disregarded and humiliated; anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism is the fas.h.i.+onable att.i.tude among officials who take their cue from superior authority; and honest attempts to come to an agreement with Arabs are being frustrated by such means as penalising those Arab notables who betray pro-Jewish feeling.

The Jewish soldier is treated as an outcast. The hard and honest work of our battalions is recompensed by scorn and slander, which, starting from centres of high authority, have now reached the rank and file, and envenomed the relations between Jewish and English soldiers. When there is a danger of anti-Jewish excesses, Jewish soldiers are removed from the threatened areas and employed on fatigues, and not even granted the right to defend their own flesh and blood.

Pa.s.sover was selected to insult their deepest religious feelings, by barring them access to the Wailing Wall during that week. No Jewish detachment is allowed to be stationed in Jerusalem or any of the other Holy Cities of Jewry.

When a Jewish sentry is attacked and beaten by a dozen drunken soldiers, and a drunken officer disarms with ignominy a Jewish guard, n.o.body is punished. Leave to certain towns has become a torture because the Military Police have been specially instructed to hunt the Jew, and the weaker ones among our men escape this humiliation by concealing their regimental badge, and subst.i.tuting the badge of some other unit.

In addition, army pledges given to them are also disregarded; men who were recruited for service in Palestine are sent against their will to Messina or Egypt or Cyprus; men who enlisted under the understanding that their pay would be equal to that of any British soldier suddenly discover that no allowances will be paid to their wives and children.

Under these conditions, even some of the best among them give way to despair; they see no purpose in carrying on, conscious that the great pledge has been broken, that instead of a National Home for the Jewish people, Palestine has become the field of operations of official anti-Semitism; they abhor the idea of covering with their tacit connivance what they--and not they alone--consider a fraud.

They cannot formulate these grievances in full, nor gather the doc.u.ments necessary to prove them, but under their desire to ”get out of the show” there is bitter disappointment, one of the most cruel even in Jewish history.

You, Sir, have always been in favour of speeding up their demobilization; I, as you know, was of the opinion that it is the duty of every volunteer to stick to the Jewish Regiment as long as circ.u.mstances might demand, and I still hope that many will stick to it in spite of all. But even I myself am compelled to admit that things have reached a stage when no further moral sacrifice can fairly be demanded of men whose faith has been shattered.

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