Zionist leaders never treated Jewish bodies equal. Some Jewish bodies were more deserving & worthwhile than other Jewish bodies.
From 1880s-1914, the Zionist leadership in Palestine rejected 61% of Jews hoping to settle in Ottoman Palestine, the primary reason being they were too destitute. Zionists didn't want poor, needy, weak, dependent or sick Jews. sup.org/books/jewish-s
Arthur Ruppin & Menachem Sheinkin, in charge of Zionist immigration policy, instead wanted strong, able-bodied, self-reliant, wealthy & healthy Jews of certain professions. Ruppin was worried a large influx of “inferior refugees" would pose a danger to the Yishuv, which needed candidates with the right “profession, state of health, and character.” tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.108
Chaim Weizmann, the leader of the Zionist movement in Europe, agreed. In 1919, he wrote: "alas, Zionism can’t provide a solution for catastrophes," closing Palestine to thousands of impoverished Jews fleeing persecution in Ukraine. Weizmann wanted productive immigrants, not needy & impovershed Ukrainian Jewish refugees.(lib.ugent.be/catalog/rug01:)
A. Ruppin & Ignaz Zollschan, Zionist racial scientists, argued that Jewish marriage w/ non-jews would cause a deterioration in the Jewish racial type & that a child born of a mixed marriage would possess mediocre capabilities. These views were echoed by Germany's antisemitic & Nazi intellectuals, such as Theodore Fritsch & Wilhem Marr. jstor.org/stable/4054170
By 1926, the Zionist policy was to deport Jews who were chronically ill or social misfits so they wouldn’t become a burden to the Jewish community. Once sent back to Europe, they were “dying in the streets from illnesses.” haaretz.com/israel-news/20
Yehoshua Gordon, deputy director of the Zionist immigration department in the 1920s, wrote: "our criterion must be bringing constructive elements here." Among "undesirable elements," he listed people with heart disease, epilepsy and syphilis. haaretz.com/israel-news/20
Israel embraced this same eugenicist policy after 1948. The Jewish Agency Executive member, Dr. Nahum Goldmann: "A state and a nation are entitled to exercise a certain ruthlessness....I see no harm in it if Jewish organizations look after these sick people abroad. A more efficient selection is good for the immigration ..." source: (Segev, First Israelis, p.142) yplus.ps/wp-content/upl
After 1948, the Israeli politician, Itzhak Refael worked hard to keep out undesirable Jewish immigrants. He said: "I held up 2,000 visas in Tunis, which had been issued to old people & invalids, & gave an order not to bring them over. I held up 800 visas in France, which were issued to sick and aged people ... also invalids in Germany, 5,000 people." (Segev, First Israelis, p.143) yplus.ps/wp-content/upl
In fact, on December 5, 1948, Israeli officials prepared a list of diseases. Anyone with those diseases would not be allowed to come. "Hold up the immigration of the chronically ill," was the order. yplus.ps/wp-content/upl
Consider the Vazana family, who wished to emigrate from Morocco to Israel during the 1950s, but remained in Casablanca because Israeli immigration authorities did not let them travel w/2 of their children who were classified as disabled. The family was told they should leave the two children behind or else they could not immigrate. Their story was a typical case in Morocco, a product of Israel's Eugenist immigration policy ojs.library.osu.edu/index.php/dsq/
In 1958, then-foreign minister Golda Meir raised the possibility in a "top secret" letter of preventing handicapped and sick Polish Jews from immigrating to Israel. haaretz.com/2009-12-09/ty-
In short, it's part of Zionism's DNA to regard healthy, able-bodied Jews as superior to diseased or sick Jews. Israel is now applying the same logic to the Palestinians. It's a vile and toxic belief, yet it lies at the core of the diseased Zionist project.
For more content like this: PalestineNexus.com
If anything, I see myself as a “witness.” I’d also be pleased, if you’d call me an “interpreter.” WIM WENDERS
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