Well, this is getting more and more interesting.

First, let’s go back to the Rav’s comments from last week, which you can read HERE.

The relevant snippet:

There were no bridges, there were no train tracks, there was nothing [in Eretz Yisrael at the turn of the 20th century]. The Jews brought the train tracks, the bridges, they built houses. [The Bedouin] lived in tents, they lives in houses made of mud-brick.

The Jews… It’s a holy birthright… It’s the holy birthright of the firstborn son [i.e. the zchut of the firstborn that Eisav sold to Yaakov in return for a pot of lentils], the real Jews, the true sons of Eretz Yisrael.

All of this, Hussein Ali wrote.

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But they didn’t want to accept him, and then the Z…s saw that Dahan was already meeting with them [the Arab Heads of State].

He already had three letters. They ran off to Amman fast, to meet him, with Hussein Ali.

He said, no, I only want religious Jews [in Eretz Yisrael]. Here, there should only be chareidim.

This is what he said.

I don’t want you, I don’t want any agreement with you, no joint activities.

They [the Arabs] themselves wanted the Jews the ascend [to Eretz Yisrael]. They said, we will help to found here a national home [for the Jews].

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When I was typing this up last week, I thought the Rav was engaging in unrealistic hyperbole, to make a point.

It seems, I was wrong about that.

Here is the academic article where I found the text that proves what the Rav states, above:

https://www.academia.edu/43194874/From_Zionist_to_Anti_Zionist_The_Tragic_Fate_of_Jacob_Israel_de_Haan_in_Palestine_Reconsidered

This is the source he brings, where Emir Abdullah of Amman is quoted as saying the following to the Z-ist delegation who rushed out to meet him, to try to counter De Haan and Agudat Israel’s influence:

When they met again in Amman the next month, Abdullah unequivocally stated that the Zionists should better rid themselves of their illusions and expressed his favor for the Orthodox party:

“I do not see a Jewish majority in Palestine surrounded by Arab countries. One cannot live in peace, I mean true peace, with the Greater Arab Idea. From all sides there is suspicion.

When Dr. Weizmann says that Jews in Palestine do not have political privileges, do you think the Arabs believe him?

And if I say, that a constitutional government in Palestine will not harm the Jews, would the Zionists believe me?

My country is open for Jews. And the country of my brother [King Faisal of Iraq] is open. All Arab countries. But just one condition: no exclusive political rights.

Also not in Palestine.

You have the choice: peace or friendship with all Arab nations. Or hunting after something impossible in Palestine.

I do support Arab- Jewish cooperation on equal footing in all Arab countries, including Palestine. If the Zionists cannot or do not want to, let then the others, of Agudat Israel do it (..).”

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This is dynamite!

By putting secular political aspirations ahead of observance of Torah Judaism, the Z-ists here created the problem we have been dealing with, ever since.

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Of course, the Arabs are not blameless.

The Hashemite monarchs were double-dealing with everyone, and saying different things to different people, depending on what advantage they thought they could get. This is an extremely nuanced picture, that requires tons of research to actually avoid the pitfalls of ‘oversimplication’ – not easy, when you just write a blog post where people’s eyes glaze over after 5 seconds.

The official Z-ist delegation sent out from Jerusalem to counter de Haan is also interesting:

It was made up of the Zionist Commission’s local chief Colonel Frederick Kisch, the Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yaakov Meir and deputy mayor Yellin.

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Frederick Kisch is this guy, snippet from Wiki:

Frederick Hermann Kisch, CB, CBE, DSO (23 August 1888 – 7 April 1943) was a decorated British Army officer and Zionist leader. A Brigadier, he was the highest ranking Jew to serve in the British Army.

Political zionism was a British-military project, don’t forget. It required Jewish ‘puppets’ to front the movement, and those the Brits found in great numbers.

One researcher, Rubinstein, states that it was Frederick Kisch, and not Yitzhak Ben-Zvi (later second President of Israel) who actually gave the order to have De Haan murdered:

Rubinstein claimed that Kisch, rather than Ben-Zvi, was the instigator of the murder although there was no clear evidence in this direction.

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If the ‘Kisch’ name sounds familiar it’s because this guy is his grandson:

Yoav Kisch

Snippet:

Kisch was born and raised in Tel Aviv. His paternal grandfather was Frederick Kisch, the highest-ranking Jew ever to serve in the British Army. Through his mother, he is a descendant of Shmuel Salant, who served as Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem in the 19th century.

Kisch held British citizenship until having to renounce it in 2015 as a condition of being allowed to take up a seat in the Knesset.

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And the last thing to add, from THIS academic article, is that De Haan was possibly also gunned down because he was about to expose a massive financial scandal involving the Z-ists embezzling money for themselves, that was meant to buy land and solve Arab-Jewish tensions.

Snippet:

According to Giebels, the immediate motive to the murder was that De Haan was about to expose a large financial scandal related to the Zionist land purchase project, in which the administrator of the Rothschild settlements Chaim Kalvarisky was the leading figure.

De Haan probably found out that Kalvarisky embezzled money of a fund that was designated for the rapprochement of Arab-Jewish relations to solve his own financial problems, since his estate contained a receipt of Kalvarisky’s bank account.

Michael Berkowitz added that De Haan also planned to publicly accuse Zionist officials, including Kalvarisky, for attempting the murder of a Jew that refused to cooperate in a crucial land deal. This would have severely damaged the image and credibility of the Zionist leadership in Palestine.

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There is literally nothing new under the sun.

As it was then, so it still is today.

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What was the sin of the Jewish people, that led to King Saul being created the first Jewish king by the Prophet Samuel?

They wanted to be like everyone else around them, and to have a flesh-and-blood king, instead of relying on Hashem.

Here’s the relevant passage, from Shmuel I:12:11-17:

So Hashem sent Jerubaal [Gideon] and Bedan [Shimshon] and Jepthah and Samuel, and He rescued you from the hands of your enemies all around, and you dwelt in security. But when you saw that Nahash, king of the Children of Ammon, came upon you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us!

But Hashem, your God, is your King!

And now, here is the king whom you have chosen, whom you have requested….

I shall call to Hashem and He will set forth thunder and rain; then you will recognise and see that your wickedness is great…in requesting a king for yourselves.

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The first ‘kingdom’ of Shaul ended badly.

Shaul turned away from God, and from doing what the Prophet Samuel told him, including killing off all the Amalekites, and even  ended up resorting to witchcraft to try to ‘predict’ what was going to happen on the battlefield.

They coined the phrase ‘he who will be kind to the cruel will end up being cruel to the kind’ after Shaul.

He refused to kill the Amalekite King, Agag, out of misplaced pity; but then happily murdered a whole town of righteous Kohanim and their families in Nov, for the ‘sin’ of giving the refugee David some bread to eat.

The parallels with what are going on here today, in our failed State, are too obvious to require stating.

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But after Shaul, and his failed kingship, came David, the ancestor of the Moshiach.

Let’s not forget that.

The story does have a happy ending.

We just have to hang on, turn to God, and carry on working on overcoming our own bad middot and lack of emuna, until we finally get there.