I recently read “The Pledge” by Leonard Slater, published in 1970 (I read it so many years ago that I forgot it). As far as I know it is the only book that tells in great detail how the Jews of Palestine acquired arms for the expected Arab attack against them when the British left in 1948.
Jack Cohen – The Pledge – Leonard Slater
Not only the Arabs of Palestine attacked, but the professional armies of the surrounding six Arab States of Egypt, Syria, Transjordan (later Jordan), Lebanon, Iraq, as well as some units from Saudi Arabia, invaded Palestine to destroy the nascent Jewish State and kill its inhabitants. There were at that time only ca. 650,000 Jews in Palestine and they were outnumbered 10:1 or even 100:1 depending on how you do the calculation.
The situation was fraught with difficulties, since the British were in control of Palestine under the Mandate that they had been granted by the League of Nations in 1922. According to this they were supposed to help establish a Jewish State in Palestine, but they had a secret plan to keep Palestine for themselves as part of their Empire. They defeated an Arab uprising in 1936 and then used the Arabs against the Jews. But, then WWII intervened and the local conflict was put on hold. The Arabs generally sided with the Germans, while the Jews of Palestine volunteered for the British Army and eventually there was a Jewish Brigade in the British Army. In doing so the Jews of Palestine not only helped to defeat the Nazis but they also learned how to fight.
As soon as WWII was over in 1945, David Ben Gurion, the leader of the Jewish settlement in Palestine, sent some of his followers around the world to search for and acquire arms with which to defend the Jewish State, that he hoped would be founded, against the Arabs. After WWII the world was awash with surplus arms and materiel, but there were two major difficulties. First, the British would not let the Jews import arms into Palestine, they had a naval blockade and confiscated all Jewish arms and left the Jews defenceless against the Arabs. Second, the countries of the world, including the victorious Allies, would not allow the Jews (who were not yet a state) to buy or procure weapons, and if they did they would not allow them to export arms from their own countries to Palestine. Most notable in this respect was the United States, that was divided between the State Dept, that opposed the formation of a Jewish State (that they mistakenly believed would be Communist) and Pres. Truman who supported the formation of the Jewish State. This was a nearly impossible situation since the US Govt. officially, thru the FBI, US customs and military depts., prevented arms to be bought and exported by the Palestinian Jews.
How a few Palestinian Jews, with the help of a large number of Jewish businessmen, who supplied the money, almost without question, managed to overcome this boycott on arms sales to the Jews, is the bulk of the story. A group of Jewish leaders from all over the US and Canada met secretly for lunch every Thurs in NY under the chairmanship of Rudolf Sonneborn starting in 1945 and pledged and donated over a period of 10 years until it was disbanded at least some 20 million dollars. Although there were plenty of arms, planes and ships available in the US, and the Jews acquired them through a series of dummy companies, it proved impossible to get them legally out of the US. Military equipment (guns, ammunition) as well as lathes and other specialized equipment to make arms was bought, dismantled and shipped inside large transformers that had been welded shut and were shipped by Elie Schalit thru the port of New York. The group also helped to find qualified pilots, navigators, engineers , etc. In all some 500 volunteers were found in this way. Some were Zionists, some were thrill seekers and some were Christians, who after WWII wanted to help establish the Jewish State. They managed to fly five cargo planes down to Panama to a dummy airline there and then flew them across the Atlantic via Brazil, Africa, Italy and then to Czechoslovakia. This was a dangerous business and altogether five of the volunteers were killed in various accidents.
Why Czechoslovakia? In scouring the world for aircraft, the only place the Jews found where they could buy fighters and export them to Palestine, with the cooperation of the State, was in Czechoslovakia (outside British and American control). The Czechs had a large industrial capacity that the Germans had used to make planes, tanks and other German weapons during WWII. After WWII the Czechs had a large stash of new Messerschmitt Me-109 fighters. They agreed to sell 25 of them to the Jews secretly (at that time Czechoslovakia was under Russian control and behind the Iron Curtain) and for a year they cooperated with the Jews and initially five were flown out disassembled (they could not make the flight alone) but packed inside the American cargo planes (with other weapons). It is a mystery why the Communists allowed a largely American Jewish operation to proceed under those circumstances, but it was probably for the money, they earned over 12 million dollars for their otherwise useless aircraft.
As soon as the British started to leave Palestine on May 14, 1948, the Arabs attacked. At that point the Jews had no large guns, no tanks and no planes. Egyptian air planes were able to attack Tel Aviv and other locations with impunity. The aircraft from Czechoslovakia could not arrive until the British had left on May 15 and Israel officially became a State. Then the flights kept coming and the Me-109s and some Spitfires and other aircraft were assembled and within a week the Jewish air force, now the Israel Air Force, struck back and stopped an invading Egyptian Army on the way to destroy Tel Aviv at Ashdod, only 25 miles short of its target. Soon the IAF had established air superiority over the Land and as they say, the rest is history. The IAF is now considered to be the best air force in the world. Many people, including those who now support the BDS movement against Israel, should read this book and find out what the situation was really like in those early days.
Born in London, UK, lived in suburban Washington DC area for 30 years, moved to Israel in 1996. He has a web site: Jack’s Blog
Jack Cohen – The Pledge – Leonard Slater
