“A highway to battlegrounds”: Jewish territorialism and the State of Israel, 1945–1960

ABSTRACT

This article explores the relationship between the Jewish Territorialist movement and the State of Israel during the first decade of the Jewish State’s existence. Territorialism was never explicitly anti-Zionist, but it did grow increasingly critical of Zionist policies, especially regarding the Palestinian Arabs, and of Israel’s militaristic character. While their stance vis-à-vis the young state became ever more negative, the Territorialists established contacts with members of the bi-nationalist Ihud movement. The fact that these “atypical” Zionists affiliated themselves with Territorialism during the 1950s demonstrates that May 1948 did not spell the end of alternative expressions of Jewish political behavior.

KEYWORDS:

• Territorialism
• Zionism
• pacifism
• Socialist Revolutionary ideology
• Ihud
• Freeland League

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Steinberg, “Yavneh or Jerusalem?” 99.

2. Ibid., 94–9. For an in-depth analysis of how Steinberg’s Russian political career shaped his ideology, see Grill, “Kampf für Sozialismus und Judentum,” as well as Grill, “Isaak Nachman Steinberg.” See also Almagor, “A Territory, but not a State.”

3. Minutes Freeland Youth Organization, July 10, 1947, YIVO Archives, Center for Jewish History, New York City, RG366/65 (Isaac Steinberg Papers); ‘‘Excerpts from letters from Europ,” letter from Łodz, April 27, 1947, YIVO RG366/143; Saul Goodman to Boris Raptschinsky, April 15, 1947, YIVO RG366/107; ‘‘Facts of Freeland League,” October 1, 1947, YIVO RG366/515; Biuletyn Z ^̇ ydowskiego Stronnictwa Demokratycznego w Łodzi, nr. 14, July 10, 1947, YIVO RG682/378 (Mordkhe Schaechter Papers).

4. Hermann, “Pacifism and Anti-Militarism”, 145.

5. Gordon, Toward Nationalism’s End, 125.

6. David Vital, Zionism, the Formative Years; Shmuel Almog, Zionism and History; Gur Alroey, Zionism without Zion; Adam Rovner, In the Shadow of Zion. For a full bibliography on the history of Jewish Territorialism, see: Almagor, “Jewish Territorialism (in Relation to Jewish Studies).”

7. Faris, “Israel Zangwill’s Challenge to Zionism,” 89.

8. Dubnov, “True Art,” 117–8, 124.

9. Rovner, In the Shadow of Zion, 133–4; Udelson, Dreamer of the Ghetto, xiv, 187; Rochelson, A Jew in the Public Arena, 195; Jabotinsky, The War and the Jew, 250–7.

10. This image was pioneered by historians such as Avi Shlaim: Shlaim, The Iron Wall, 5–10.

11. Alroey, “Angolan Zion,” 182.

12. Ito Pamphlet No. 1, 4, 12; ITO Leaflet no. 6: ‘‘The ITO and its critics,” [no date], Central Zionist Archives (CZA), Jerusalem, A36/8 (Jewish Territorial Organization Papers).

13. Israel Zangwill to Max Mandelstamm, August 21, 1907, CZA A120/59 (Israel Zangwill Papers).

14. “The Jewish Territorial Organisation. Branch Aam Israel,” fly-leaf no. 2, [no date], CZA A36/8.

15. Faris, “Israel Zangwill’s Challenge,” 85.

16. Attachment to letter Israel Zangwill to Abraham S. Schomer, August 14, 1907, CZA A330/153 (Joseph Leftwich Papers).

17. ITO, Ito Pamphlet No. 1, 31.

18. ITO Leaflet no. 3: “A letter addressed by Mr. Israel Zangwill to the secretary of the Manchester Branch of the Jewish Territorial Organization on the occasion of a Meeting of that Branch, IIth November, 1906,” CZA A36/8.

19. Rochelson, “Zionism, Territorialism, Race,” 149, 60; Nahshon and Zangwill, From the Ghetto to the Melting Pot, 34.

20. Zangwill, The East African Question, 31–2; Rochelson, “Zionism, Territorialism,” 154–5; Faris, “Israel Zangwill’s Challenge,” 85.

21. Zangwill, The Voice of Jerusalem, 107.

22. Diana Muir has shown that it was not Zangwill, but rather nineteenth century Christian writers who originally coined the “Land without a People” phrase: Muir, “A Land without a People for a People without a Land.” Zangwill himself ascribed the quotation to Lord Shaftesbury (1801–1885): Alroey, “Mesopotamia,” 930. Zangwill’s most recent biographer, Meri-Jane Rochelson, argues that Zangwill’s position regarding the Arab Question as one of several aspects of his ideas that have been generally used out of context. This is partly due to the repeated appearance on the internet of some of his famous quotations like “a land without a people for a people without a land” – according to Hannah Arendt, only to be found on the moon: Rochelson, A Jew in the Public Arena, 4, 165–6.

23. Salaman, Palestine Reclaimed, 175, n. 6; Zangwill, Watchman, 34–5, 36, 45–6.

24. Publisher’s Circular, (January 29, 1921), CZA A120/5.

25. Zangwill to Julius Berger and Dr. A. Hantke, June 10, 1922, CZA A120/30, p. 2.

26. Spielmann to [?] Meyer, May 30, 1925, CZA A36/5.

27. For an analysis of Steinberg’s Territorialist visions for a Jewish future after the Holocaust see Almagor, “A Territory, but not a State.”

28. Krutikov, “Isaac Nahman Steinberg,” 13, 17, 21; Almagor, “A Territory, but not a State,” a.o. 96. For Steinberg’s own account of his revolutionary years, see Steinberg, In the Workshop of the Revolution (New York/Toronto, 1953).

29. Arthur Meyerowitz (New York Federation of Reform Synagogues), “Letter to the Editor,” Freeland 1, no. 2 (February 1945): 24. Interestingly, the following issue of Freeland included a rectification, stating that Meyerowitz had not intended his letter to be made public, betraying the persistent awareness amongst some Territorialist sympathizers of the strained relationship between Territorialism and Zionism: Freeland 1, no. 3 (April 1945): 19.

30. [Emcol] Document ‘‘Plan oder nicht Plan,” [1937], YIVO RG366/46; EMCOL, ‘‘Emigration and Colonization,” for the Evian Conference 1938, YIVO RG366/485; Memorandum Jewcol (Daniel Wolf), January 3, 1939, YIVO RG366/490.

31. Leaflet “Freeland League. URGENT,” [1947], YIVO RG682/600.

32. “Report of the First Freeland Conference (Held in New York City on November 23rd and 24th, 1946),” Freeland 3, no. 1 (Jan.-Feb. 1947), 13–15: 14.

33. “The place of Freeland with Jewish Life,” address to the Second Freeland Conference, NYC, October 1948, YIVO RG682/566.

34. Isaac Steinberg to Robert Waley Cohen, March 5, 1939, YIVO RG366/405.

35. “Washington Testimony,” Freeland 2, no. 2 (March 1946), 3,4, 12–13: 3. Admittedly, Steinberg also asked for the abolishment of the White Paper to encourage more immigration into Palestine: Isaac Steinberg, Statement before the Anglo-American Committee, 1946, 4.

36. Rovner, In the Shadow of Zion, 212.

37. A. Tempelman to the Freeland League, June 23, 1948, YIVO RG366/106.

38. Helen Wilson (Voluntary Agency Liaison Officer PCIRO) to Isaac Steinberg, June 18, 1948, YIVO RG366/114.

39. “Report of the Second Freeland Convention.” October 9–10, 1948, YIVO RG366/167; “Protokol. Fun der 2-ter Landes-Konferenc, Plejtim-Frajland-Lige, in Estrajch,” July 10, 1948, YIVO RG366/529. For the Joint’s perspective, see the JDC file on the Freeland League’s Suriname Scheme: JDC Archives, G 45-54/4/47/2/DG.1.

40. Mordkhe Schaechter, “The Refugee Freeland League in Austria,” Freeland 6, no. 2 (Nov.-Dec. 1951), 8–9: 8.

41. Heldring, Het Saramacca Project, 190–3, 197, 277; Rovner, In the Shadow of Zion, 212–5. For a more in-depth exploration of the Suriname scheme in relation to the DP issue and the Zionist movement, see Almagor, “Tropical Territorialism.”

42. “A Statement, A Radio Message and An Article,” Freeland 7, no. 4 (Sept.-Oct. 1953), 16.

43. M. Levadin [Isaac Steinberg], “The Jewish Press on Freeland,” Freeland 8, no. 8 (Sept.-Oct. 1954), 3–4.

44. Freeland League Statement, September 17, 1946, YIVO RG366/515; also published as: “There Are Real Possibilities. Statement of the Freeland League,” Freeland 2, no. 5 (Sept.-Oct. 1946), 3–4, 19: 3.

45. William Zuckerman, “Dr. I.N. Steinberg,” Freeland 10, no. 1 (Jan.-Feb. 1957), 5–6: 6; and Steinberg, Australia: The Unpromised Land, 116.

46. Samuel J. Stoll, “An Appeal to Jewish Reason,” attached to letter to Steinberg, March 24, 1944, YIVO RG366/584, and online: https://www.bjpa.org/search-results/publication/20311 (last visited: May 15, 2017).

47. Krutikov, “Isaac Nahman Steinberg,” 23.

48. Isaac Steinberg to Charles Seligman, November 30, 1938, YIVO RG366/468.

49. Isaac Steinberg, “Now Is the Time,” Freeland 2, no. 2 (February 1946), 4–5, 19:19; Leo Fruchtbaum, “An Evaluation Of Territorialism,” Freeland 8, no. 8 (Sept.-Oct. 1954), 5–6.

50. For a further elaboration of the colonial dimensions of Territorialist thought, see Almagor, “Fitting the Zeitgeist.”

51. “Washington Testimony,” Freeland 2, no. 2 (March 1946), 3,4, 12–13:3. Moreover, American-Jewish philosopher and Freeland League-member Israel Knox pointed out the difficulties Israeli citizenship laws posed for American Jews, who were not allowed dual citizenship at the time: “Gleanings From The Press: The Nationality Act In Israel,” Freeland 6, no. 5 (June-July 1952): 15.

52. See note 43 above.

53. “Letters,” Freeland 2, no. 6 (Nov.-Dec. 1946), 19.

54. The connection between Fromm and Steinberg was formed by Salman Rabinkow, who had been a tutor to Steinberg in Russia and who may have passed on some of Steinberg’s Socialist Revolutionary ideas to Fromm when both were in Heidelberg: Friedman, The Lives of Erich Fromm, 15; Jacobs, The Frankfurt School, 36. Fromm and Steinberg probably did not actually met until around 1950, when both were in the United States: Jacobs, The Frankfurt School, 214, n. 63.

55. Erich Fromm, “Jewish State and The Messianic Vision,” Freeland 6, no. 1 (Sept.-Oct. 1951), 11–12; “On the Mental Health of the Jewish People. A talk between Dr. Erich Fromm and Dr. I.N. Steinberg,” Freeland 6, no. 5 (June-July 1952), 2–4: 4. See also: Mita Charney, “Erich Fromm On the Jewish National Character,” Freeland 7, no. 2 (March-April 1953), 11.

56. For a description of Fromm’s engagement with the Freeland League, see Jacobs, The Frankfurt School, 124–6.

57. Friedman, The Lives of Erich Fromm, 317; and Braune, Erich Fromm’s Revolutionary Hope, xiii-xvi. For an in-depth analysis of Fromm’s concept of messianism, see chapter 4 of Braune’s monograph: pp. 147–90.

58. Braune, Erich Fromm’s Revolutionary Hope, xv. On Fromm’s relationship to Marx see ibid., 215, 222, 238.

59. Ibid., xxiii, xxv, xxxiii, 213, 217. For an analysis of Fromm’s critical position vis-à-vis the State of Israel and especially its treatment of the Palestinian Arabs, see Jacobs, The Frankfurt School, 123–32.

60. Leo Steinberg, “A Freelander’s Comments on Zionist Misobservation,” Freeland 1, no. 5 (June 1945), 10–12.

61. Handwritten note Isaac Steinberg, December 14, 1947, YIVO RG366/337; “In search of a Jewish Freeland,” [1947–8], YIVO RG366/519. The anti-militarism argument based on its incompatibility with Jewish tradition was reiterated in: Isaac Steinberg, “The Way Of Freeland,” Freeland 6, no. 1 (Sept.-Oct. 1951), 2–4, and Isaac Steinberg, “Jews In Asia,” Freeland 8, no. 11 (June-July 1955), 5–6. See also Leo Fruchtbaum, “An Evaluation of Territorialism,” Freeland 8, no. 8 (Sept.-Oct. 1954): 5–6.

62. Steinberg, “Now Is the Time,” Freeland 2, no. 2 (February 1946), 4–5, 19: 5.

63. “The Palestine Decision,” Freeland 3, no. 2 (Nov.-Dec. 1947), 3, 15.

64. Steinberg, Statement before the Anglo-American Committee, 5.

65. Isaac Steinberg, “End the War!”, Freeland 2, no. 6 (Nov.-Dec. 1946), 5–7, 14–15: 5–6, 15. See also Isaac Steinberg, “Political Negotiations and Prospects,” Freeland 3, no. 1 (Jan.-Feb. 1947), 4, 16: 4.

66. Handwritten note Isaac Steinberg, December 14, 1947, YIVO RG366/337; “In search of a Jewish Freeland,” [1947–8], YIVO RG366/519; Steinberg, Statement before the Anglo-American Committee, 9, 11.

67. YIVO RG366/206 (Hofshi, Nathan) and YIVO RG366/186 (Benyomin, Rav [Yehoshua Radler-Feldman-Ha-Talmi]).

68. For example, see Martin Buber, ‘‘Let us make an end to falsities!” (translated and reprinted from Be’ayot Ha-Zman, October 1, 1948), Freeland 5, no. 1 (Jan.-Feb. 1949), 3; Judah L. Magnes, ‘‘Responsibility,” Freeland 5, no. 1 (Jan.-Feb. 1949), 11–13; Hans Kohn, ‘‘In Memory of Two Great Teachers,” Freeland 6, no. 3 (Feb.-March 1952), 3–4; Nathan Hofshi, ‘‘On The Brink” (translated from Magnes’ periodical Be’ayot Ha-Zman), Freeland 2, no. 6 (Nov.-Dec. 1946), 13–14; Rabbi Benyamin [Yehoshua Radler-Feldmann], ‘‘For The Sake of Survival,” Freeland 7, no. 5 (Nov.-Dec. 1953), 9–10; ‘‘Greetings to The Freeland Banquet [letters from Benyamin and Hofshi],” Freeland 9, no. 2 (April-May 1956), 8–9; “The Man Reb Benyomin,” Freeland 9, no. 3 (June-July-August 1956), 9–10.

69. Hermann, “Pacifism and Anti-Militarism,” 139. For more on Hofshi specifically, see the relevant paragraph of this article: 138–141.

70. For more about the War Resisters’ International–Israel Section, established in 1946, and about Hofshi’s role in it, see Simoni, “Hello Pacifist,” esp. 77, 79, 86, 88, 93, 95, as well as Hermann, “Pacifism and Anti-Militarism.”

71. For a signaling of these differences between the two movements see Heller, Mi Brit Shalom Le- Ihud, 20–1, 22–3, 388.

72. Hermann, “Pacifism and Anti-Militarism,” 128.

73. Ibid., 138, 141. Hermann convincingly demonstrates a certain “degree of tolerance for unconventional opinions on the part of the Jewish Israeli collective.” Ibid., 145.

74. Nathan Hofshi to Isaac Steinberg, March 3, 1951; September 18, 1953; November 14, 1954; January 1, 1955; November 14, 1955, all in: YIVO RG366/206.

75. For an analysis of the Freeland League’s postwar views on this “language war,” see Almagor, “Forgotten Alternatives,” 217–9. On the “[p]oliticization of the Language Question” in Eastern Europe, see: Weiser, Jewish People, esp. 74–81. See also the relevant passages in Moss, Jewish Renaissance, and Karlip, The Tragedy of a Generation.

76. Nathan Hofshi to Isaac Steinberg, November 19, 1952; December 1, 1952; December 31, 1952, all in: YIVO RG366/206.

77. Nathan Hofshi to Isaac Steinberg, January 27, 1955, YIVO RG366/206.

78. For example Monroe Berger, “The Middle East: Sore Spot,” Freeland 2, no. 2 (March 1946), 6–8: 8; “From Our Point of View: The Crisis in Palestine,” Freeland 2, no. 4 (June-July 1946), 3–4; Ada Siegel, ‘‘Palestine: The Problem,” Freeland 2, no. 4 (June-July 1946), 10, 14: 10; Archibald Fenner Brockway, ‘‘Palestine: The Solution,” Freeland 2, no. 4 (June-July 1946), 11–12; “The latest issue of the ‘Ner’ [the periodical of Ihud],” Freeland 6, no. 1 (Sept.-Oct. 1951), 12.

79. “Dr. Judah L. Magnes,” Freeland 5, no. 1 (Jan.-Feb. 1949), 2.

80. Hans Kohn, “In Memory of Two Great Teachers,” Freeland 6, no. 3 (Feb.-March 1952), 3–4.

81. Hans Kohn, “Does Sovereignty Ensure Security,” Freeland 7, no. 2 (March-April 1953), 8–9. Adi Gordon sketches the development of Kohn’s early support of a specifically multinational form of statehood as a phase on the way to stateless nationhood, of which Zionism would have to become a pioneer: Gordon, Toward Nationalism’s End, 117–9. Eventually, Kohn would return to a more pro-statist view of global politics in the 1950s: ibid., 211.

82. Ibid., 143, 149, 239, 241–2, 205. For a thoughtful reflection on Kohn’s engagement with Jewish politics in the 1950s and 1960s, an episode often ignored in Kohn scholarship, see chapter 8 of Gordon’s biography: “Coda,” 235–51.

83. Heller, Mi Brit Shalom Le- Ihud, 4–5, 18.

84. ‘‘On the Mental Health of the Jewish People. A talk between Dr. Erich Fromm and Dr. I.N. Steinberg,” Freeland 6, no. 5 (June-July 1952), 2–4: 4.

85. Hermann, “Pacifism and Anti-Militarism,” 128.

86. Steinberg, “On the Tenth Anniversary of the ‘Yikhud’ In Israel,” Freeland 7, no. 2 (March-April 1953), 4. See also Aaron Staff, “Impressions from Israel,” Freeland 7, no. 3 (May-June 1953), 2–3. This open appreciation for, and affiliation with, Ihud disproves Adam Rovner’s claim that the two movements were essentially different. According to Rovner, the Territorialists opposed the binationalism, utopianism and separatism that Ihud proposed: Rovner, In the Shadow of Zion, 9.

87. Heller, Mi Brit Shalom Le- Ihud, 26, 394.

88. Nathan Hofshi to Isaac Steinberg, November 14, 1955, YIVO RG366/206.

89. Announcement in Freeland 12, no. 2 (Oct.-Nov. 1959), 15–16.

90. “Deir Yassin,” Freeland 4, no. 2 (May-June 1948): 4; “Dr. Judah L. Magnes,” Freeland 5, no. 1 (Jan.-Feb. 1949), 2.

91. Saul Goodman, “Shlomo Mendelson,” Freeland 4, no. 2 (May-June 1948), 5.

92. Albert Einstein, Sidney Hook, Hannah Arendt, et. al., “New Palestine Party. Visit of Menachem Begin and Aims of Political Movement Discussed,” New York Times (December 4, 1948), 12; ‘‘Degradation and Blasphemy,” Freeland 5, no. 1 (Jan.-Feb. 1949), 2–3.

93. William Zuckerman, “Where is Our Inferiority,” Freeland 9, no. 1 (Jan.-Feb. 1956), 13.

94. William Zuckerman, “Dr. I.N. Steinberg,” Freeland 10, no. 1 (Jan.-Feb. 1957), 5–6: 6. Zuckerman was also an intimate contact of Hans Kohn and might have been the one to connect Kohn and Steinberg in New York in the late 1940s or early 1950s: Gordon, Toward Nationalism’s End, 240.

95. “The Palestine Decision,” Freeland 3, no. 2 (Nov.-Dec. 1947), 3, 15: 3; “Israel Curbs Immigration,” Freeland 6, no. 2 (Nov.-Dec. 1951), 1; Ada Siegel, “Trends In Migration,” Freeland 6, no. 2 (Nov.-Dec. 1951), 10–11: 11; “In The Freeland League”, Freeland 6, no. 3 (Feb.-March 1952), 12–13: 12.

96. “Back on the Agenda,” Freeland 6, no. 5 (June-July 1952), 1.

97. Handwritten note Isaac Steinberg, December 14, 1947, YIVO RG366/337.

98. “From Our Point of View: The Crisis in Palestine,” Freeland 2, no. 4 (June-July 1946), 3–4.

99. Isaac Steinberg, ‘‘Free Israel and ‘Freeland’,” Freeland Bulletin (December 1949), YIVO RG682/298. To be fair, the Zionists themselves were concerned with absorption themselves and devoted numerous studies and discussions to the issue. See HaCohen, Immigrants in Turmoil, 5–6, 9; and Yehudai, “Displaced in the National Home,” 72–3.

100. “On the Cultural Front,” Freeland 7, no. 5 (Nov.-Dec. 1953), 15–16.

101. “Everything Is Kosher If..”, Freeland 8, no. 12 (Nov.-Dec. 1955), 1–2.

102. Myers, Between Jew & Arab, 1–19.

103. Solomon Stedman, “The Shpaltung Fun a Folk,” 1950, YIVO RG682/480.

104. Isaac Steinberg, “Facing Realities,” Freeland 1, no. 2 (February 1945), 1–2; Steinberg, Statement before the Anglo-American Committee, 4.

105. “Freeland World Outlook Convincingly Presented,” Freeland Bulletin 2, no. 1 (February 1948), 4, 6.

106. Ada Siegel, “Palestine: The Problem,” Freeland 2, no. 4 (June-July 1946), 10, 14: 10.

107. Ibid.

108. For an analysis of the colonial and post-colonial aspects of the Freeland League’s ideology, relying on the field of “critical geopolitics” as an explanatory framework, see Almagor, “Fitting the Zeitgeist,” 12–17.

109. “On the Mental Health of the Jewish People. A talk between Dr. Erich Fromm and Dr. I.N. Steinberg,” Freeland 6, no. 5 (June-July 1952), 2–4: 3.

110. “Gleanings from The Press,” Freeland 7, no. 2 (March-April 1953), 12–13.

111. “Deir Yassin,” Freeland 4, no. 2 (May-June 1948), 4; Isaac Steinberg, “The Jubilee of an Idea,” Freeland 7, no. 5 (Nov.-Dec. 1953), 2–3.

112. “Gleanings from the Press: ‘The Nationality Act In Israel’,” Freeland 6, no. 5 (June-July 1952), 15; “Gleanings From The Press,” Freeland 7, no. 3 (April-May 1953), 15. See also Azriel Karlebach, “I Talk With My Daughter” [reprinted from Maariv], Freeland 9, no. 2 (April-May 1956), 11–13. Both the Nationality Law and the Land Acquisition/Requisition Act were criticized by Hofshi and his circle: Simoni, “Hello Pacifist,” 87–8, 92.

113. Nathan Hofshi to Isaac Steinberg, December 31, 1952; March 11, 1953; August 17, 1953; November 2, 1953, all in: YIVO RG366/206. Hofshi was part of a lobby group that filed a petition against the Land Acquisition Act on March 10, 1953. The petition was subsequently rejected by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion: Nathan Hofshi to Isaac Steinberg, August 17, 1953, YIVO RG366/206.

114. Memo by the Freeland League to J.W. Pehle (executive director War Refugee Board), [1946], YIVO RG366/515; Isaac Steinberg to J.B. Chifley (Prime Minister Australia), April 29, 1946, YIVO RG366/550.

115. Isaac Steinberg to Alvin Johnson, December 30, 1949, YIVO RG682/325.

116. Solomon Stedman, “The Shpaltung Fun a Folk,” 1950, YIVO RG682/480.

117. “Let My People Go,” Freeland 7, no. 2 (March-April 1953), 1. See also “What is Freeland Doing?” Freeland 7, no. 3 (May-June 1953), 1; “Gleanings from the Press,” Freeland 7, no. 4 (Sept.-Oct. 1953), 15–16; “Israel Land of Emigration,” Freeland 11, no. 2 (July-Sept. 1958), 1. About the practical (mostly economic and health) reasons for immigrants to Israel to leave or remigrate (yeridah as opposed to aliyah) see HaCohen, Immigrants in Turmoil, and especially Yehudai, “Displaced in the National Home,” 71, 93, 98.

118. Judah Zelitch, “To the International Community – Jewish Migration Is Also Your Problem,” Freeland XV, no. 3 (December 1962).

119. In a somewhat milder fashion, Heller has typified Ihud as consistently reacting too slowly to changing political realities, an accusation that could theoretically also be directed at the Freeland League: Heller, Mi Brit Shalom Le- Ihud, a.o. 391.

120. Shumsky, “Brith Shalom’s Uniqueness Reconsidered,” 340–1. On this and related topics, see also Shumsky, Beyond the Nation-State. Zohar Maor nuances this statement with his assertion that statism was very much a defined concept, against which Brit Shalom members Kohn, Bergmann and Scholem, following Buber, rebelled. Their anti-statism was inspired by völkist sentiments that rejected the state as an Enlightenment product. Instead, they preferred to formulate their attachment to the land as a responsibility for this land, on which they wanted to create an inclusive Gemeinschaft: Maor, “Moderation from Right to Left,” 81–2, 94, 99.

121. See for example Hertzberg, The Zionist Idea, 63.

122. Shumsky, “Brith Shalom’‘s Uniqueness Reconsidered,” 347–8. Several other studies have focused on examples of influential individuals that challenge a strict definition of Zionism: Loeffler, “Between Zionism and Liberalism,” 307, 290–5, 303; Vogt, “Robert Weltsch,” 85–115; and Myers, Between Jew & Arab.

123. See for instance the platform of the far-right Zionist Kahanist party Otzma Yehudit, established in 2012. I would like to thank Derek Penslar for pointing out this important fact.

124. Yehudai, “Displaced in the National Home,” 80–5.

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Laura Almagor

Laura Almagor is a Teaching Fellow (History of International Relations) at the London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of International History. As of June 2020, she will be a Lecturer in Twentieth Century European History in the Department of History at the University of Sheffield. Almagor has held fellowships at the Central European University in Budapest, the Center for Jewish History in New York City, and the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies. In 2015, Almagor defended her doctoral dissertation, dealing with the history of the Jewish Territorialist movement, at the European University Institute in Florence. She has published in the fields of modern Jewish studies, religion studies, and military history.