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The Birth of Israel
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True or false? During World War II, the security services of many countries knew that the Nazis had built camps to exterminate Jews.
May 1945 World War II is over in Europe. Soon the world will be reached by terrible pictures: emaciated, abused children, women and men of Jewish descent. The pictures are from the now liberated concentration- and extermination camps the Nazis built throughout the war, to systematically exterminate Europe's Jews. The security services of many countries have long known that the Nazis built camps to exterminate Jews. But, for the soldiers who arrive to liberate the camps, it’s a shock to see people who have been treated with such cruelty.
They are met by skeleton-thin people, piles of corpses, train cars full of decayed people. The stench of corpses and death is disgusting. Archives with the names of millions of murdered Jews will soon be found. It will emerge that about 6 million Jews were murdered in just a few years. After the war and the Nazi genocide of Europe's Jews, hatred of Jews is no longer felt in many countries.
People are beginning to understand what anti-Semitism can lead to. In the 1930s many Jews fled Nazism and moved to Palestine. After the end of the World War II, more people move there, In 1947, two years after the end of World War II, the UN decides it wants to create a safe home for Jews. The Palestinian territories in the Middle East are controlled by Britain, but the UN decides that Palestine should be divided into one Arab and one Jewish state. The Jews will have their own country.
But the majority of the inhabitants of Palestine are Arab Muslims. They do not like this division of state. The Arab states of Egypt, Transjordan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Yemen vote against the UN proposal for two states. The proposal passes anyway. May 14 1948 The day before Britain is due to hand over the territory to the new state, the leaders of the state to be, proclaim that they now constitute an independent country.
The country is called Israel. The next day, Transjordan, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq attack Israel. Israel wins and expands its land area by occupying several Arab cities. The war is Israel's first, but it won’t be its last. Meanwhile, Europe has been divided by the victors of World War II.
Countries in Eastern Europe liberated by the Soviet Union fall under Soviet-influenced communist rule. In the beginning, Jews living in these countries have the same rights as everyone else. But things begin to change when Soviet leader Stalin realises that Israel is allied with the Soviets' enemy, the United States. Stalin and other leaders in Eastern Europe begin to persecute Jews in their countries. Jews lose their jobs and are not allowed to join the Communist Party.
Publicly Stalin condemns anti-Semitism. At the same time, he has thirteen famous Jewish poets executed. And when the Arab countries attack Israel, the Soviet Union backs them. In 1967, Egypt and other Arab states gather troops along Israel's borders and prepare for an attack. But Israel attacks first, conquering large tracts of land over six days.
The Six-Day War leads to a series of violent attacks on Jewish minorities living in Arab countries. About 800,000 Jews flee, or are expelled. Even in Europe, the war has consequences. The communist countries break all diplomatic relations with Israel. In Poland, the government launches an anti-Semitic campaign against the country's Jews.
Jews are labelled ‘agents of Israel and the United States’. Many are fired from their jobs. Several thousand Jews flee Poland. From the very beginning, relations are strained between Israel and other countries in the region, all of which have Muslim majorities. The United States takes the side of Israel, the Soviet Union takes the side of the Arab states.
In Europe, the political right supports Israel and the left the Arab states. During the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United states, the Middle East Conflict becomes very symbolically charged. Much of the criticism directed against the State of Israel, is soon dressed as anti-Jewish - anti-Semitic messages.