Comment: I have worked on the Palestinian/Zionist issue for about 45 years. I was head of US MI/IDF General Staff liaison for seven long, long years. I long ago gave up any hope that the two groups could live together in any sort of peace that is not simply acceptance by the Palestinians of a status as serfs of Israel. The basic problem is the unwillingness of either side to concede much of anything to “the other.” At the Miller Center at UVa I once was asked how complex an agreement to settle the issue would be. I responded that I could write it out on a couple of pieces of paper with a map attached, but that such an agreement would never be because there was no good will on either side. That remains my opinion.
The Trump era abandonment of long-standing efforts to achieve a two state solution solved nothing. Trump’s policy was so exaggerated and one sided that one can only ask if there are any people from New York City who are not Zionists. Trump obviously holds the Palestinians in contempt as loser enemies of his Jewish friends. He prefers people like the Saudi monsters who have not yet (in his mind) been shown to be the losers they really are. Ahhh! I forgot for a moment that they have now lost their asses to the little Yemeni hill men.
The assumption on the part of; the Trumpies, the neocon fools like Joltin’ Jack Keane, Sean Hannity, Brian Kilmeade and their like has been that the Palestinians could endlessly be abused and that they would in the end cringe and whine and that would be the end of the matter. The endless racist arrogance of the Zionist establishment has encouraged that belief. The arrogance is now manifest in the Israeli government public statement that the US should mind its own business in the present crisis.
Well, pilgrim turcopoles, the Zionists went too far this time. The police invasion of the al-Aqsa mosque was something analogous to an invasion by the Italian police in Vatican city. And then there are also the announced evictions of Palestinians resident from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in EAST Jerusalem.
I heard Elliot Abrams, the convicted felon say on the TeeVee today that the Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah are “squatters.” This is typical of him.
Are the Iranians helping the Palestinians? Probably.
These two things combined to demonstrate that the Palestinian “dogs” still have teeth. pl
Trump’s policy was so exaggerated and one sided that one can only ask if there are any people from New York City who are not Zionists. Trump obviously holds the Palestinians in contempt as loser enemies of his Jewish friends.
Sir:
Even in 2016, Trump was widely criticized as excessively reverent of Jewish interests; that criticism has endured to this day. Some critics of Israel dismiss the entire Trump presidency as a very effective exercise on behalf of Israel’s interests.
The information operation centered on “Q drops” accomplished a remarkable feat, in that it turned a center for criticism of Israel – namely 8ch, now known as 8kun – into a center of support for Trump. Trump still has fans on 8kun, and they claim that Trump or his allies will somehow bring Israel to account. Their typical slogan is “saving Israel for last.” This was the substance of a “Q drop” that mentioned the DNC operative Awan on Mar 10, 2018.
On that day, a skeptic asked “What about Awan. Is Israel involved?”
“Q” replied: “We are saving Israel for last. Very specific reason not mentioned a single time.”
This anecdote is meant as useful descriptive information, not as endorsement. Many have theorized that “Q” was simply a manipulative piece of propaganda, intended to confuse and mislead Israel’s harshest critics. If “Q” were true, Israel would have to be held to account somehow. Those who believe in “Q” believe that Israel will be held to account, at least for its collaboration with the DNC against the United States. Belief in “Q” is widely derided as irrational, but the belief can be considered dispassionately as a sociological phenomenon.
I recall reading that the now deceased Sheldon Adelson spent a lot of time on the phone with Trump.
Adelson, who famously said that he regretted his service in the U.S. military and would have rather served in the IDF, gave millions to the Trump campaigns.
It is so nice to be a mega-wealthy oligarch who can use his money to have a real influence on U.S. foreign policy (even when those policies are not in the best interests of the United States).
Adelson’s comments about his military service can be found in this youtube video at time hack 5:05:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EGgCdChPOw&t=312s
I do not know how you survived 7 years in that role Colonel. I was offered some dates at a friend’s house the other day. They were Medjool, from Israel, so I declined and explained my reasons for doing so. Medjool are delicious, but I cannot stomach and will not knowingly support the vile apartheid regime of that country – our ‘ally’.
The Israelis are merely mowing the grass again. Clearing the way for more settlements.
It is the end game that will be interesting. At some point, the Palestinians will need to be expelled. How and what justification will be used will be interesting.
Things have changed. The Izzies no longer have a monopoly on grass-mowing hardware. The Resistance claim to have 100,000+ missiles and the capability to level Tel Aviv should they so wish. They also continue to demonstrate the ability to do serious damage to Israel’s new Gulfie BFF’s with missiles and drones. It seems a conventional MAD of sorts now seems to exist between the wider set of protagonists. I note our host has chosen a picture of the Houthi armed forces spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree as this post’s banner picture.
Meanwhile in Tel Aviv and elsewhere in Israel I read that a reverse Kristallnacht of sorts is underway tonight, with mobs of Jewish extremists rioting and smashing up Arab-owned businesses.
Precisely!
One major thing I’ve learned since reading this blog, and before that Larry Johnson’s No Quarter blog, is the extent of Israeli influence on US policies. As an average person (small businesswoman, housewife) who relied solely on the MSM for information, it’s been eye opening. I had NO IDEA.
Just today I got the latest report by Glenn Greenwald on the subject. One surprising factoid he reported that I was unaware of was that James Baker, the eminent GOP advisor (some would say consigliere), was put in his place for a proposed stance on Israel. No doubt those here already in the know are aware of this and so much more than I am. BUT for the benefit of others like myself:
“Ever since Bush 41’s Secretary of State James Baker was vilified for attempting in 1992 to condition U.S. aid to Israel on the cessation of growing settlements — arguing that such settlement expansions harms U.S. national security by inciting anti-American sentiment around the world — leaders of the establishment wings of both parties have shoveled enormous sums of U.S. taxpayer dollars to the Israelis even as Israel refuses to stop the conduct U.S. military officials warn is undermining U.S. national security.”
After criticizing prominent Democrats, Greenwald hints he intends to hold the MAGA crowd to account as well at some point. How can they square “America First” with policies involving Israel and the billions in aid paid to it year after year? With so much support on both sides added to a poorly-informed public, will this issue remain a Third Rail forever?
“will this issue remain a Third Rail forever?”
No and it won’t remain one much longer either.
I’m curious why you say this, as an interested outsider, (Ireland), i don’t get any sense of significant change in popular attitudes to Israel in the US. What am I missing?
akaPatience –
I highly recommend the book ‘Mythologies Without End’ by Jerome Slater for a comprehensive look at the history of the effort to get some sort of just settlement to the long festering Israeli-Palestinian issue.
Slater, an emeritus professor of political science (who also happens to be Jewish) documents the grossly one-sided effort by the U.S. to work this problem. He provides example after example where Israel torpedoed one peace initiative after another, oftentimes after the Palestinians were open to making some real concessions for a deal.
At just short of 400 pages, it is a rather depressing read, but gives one a good feel for just how uninterested the Israelis are in coming to terms with the Palestinians. And how dishonest a broker the U.S. has been through the decades, inevitably supporting the interests of Israel.
Source: Jerome Slater – Mythologies Without End: The US, Israel, and the Arab-Israeli Conflict 1917 – 2020 – Oxford Univ Press – 2021
Thank you for the recommendation. I appreciate it.
Since Israel was not held to account for the Liberty, they think they will never be held to account by anyone.
All
If Lebanese Hizbullah had any guts they would open fire and end this, but then, they are Lebanese.
It is technically feasible to arm the entire ME with gnookz which are designed so that they can only detonate within the confines of a certain Sparta on the eastern Mediterranean? I think probably so, though risky less done right, but it’s doable I bet. And if so, and in a foolproof manner, then toute suite, by all means, toute suite, full speed ahead. Or impose a non gnook ME, which means some little ultra fundamelist fanatic religiously exclusive country has to cough up its arsenal which everyone knows they have. Since that will never happen – plan A.
How would that end…..?
cpm
IMO a full engagement with all the weight of the rocket and missile forces available to Hizbullah would break Israel’s back both materially and psychologically.
I’d be very interested to hear you expand on this view, Sir – particularly the psychological aspect. You think Hizballah has the ability to smash the Zionist dream of a secure Jewish ethno-state in the ME once and for all? Does the Hizballah leadership share this view, I wonder.
FWIW I agree with you re the moment to act being now.
Barbara Ann
Someone here accused me of a lack of respect for the maneuver and strategic bombardment forces of Lebanese Hizbullah. Nothing could be farther from the truth. IMO they are a match for the IDF. The IDF have been afraid of another ground effort against Hizbullah fighters on carefully prepared ground. The offensive is the more decisive form of combat but the defensive is the stronger. The ideal situation is to receive attacks while entrenched with overhead cover and the attackers canalized by obstacle systems (wire, ditches, mines, etc) into killing zones covered by anti-tank weapons, mortars and crew served machine guns. Israel’s best infantry unit are the full-timers of the Golani Brigade. I have talked to them. They want no part of Hizbullah in what I call the Tabbouleh Line II. If you think IDF air would dominate the situation, you are not considering the very considerable AAA assets of Hizbullah which will degrade the effectiveness of pilots who always, alway fear the “golden BB.” This would be quite different from shooting at Syrian targets from a great distance. While such a ground battle occurred the strategic bombardment forces of Hizbullah would devastate the northern half of Israel. Hizbullah has approximately 50,000 deliverables that can be brought to bear. The IDF is going to be heavily committed on the Gaza front as well as in Jerusalem. Hizbullah military forces can do the job. Whether or not Hizbullah political leadership is capable of such a decision is a different question.
I think Israelis would nuke Southern Lebanon if they had their backs to the wall….
cpm
“You pays your money and you takes your chances.” By the time they made up their minds to do that, Israel might be so badly damaged that nuclear might be mere revenge.
Mere revenge is merely sweet.
So let’s not put it pass them…
Next?
Are we’re in Armadeggon territory?
cpm
I guess your military knowledge is quite limited. Listen to me! The amount of damage that will have been done to Israel will be so great that NOTHING will be sweet.
True that.
But they still could deploy those weapons.
Call it operation Sampson.
They’d do it….you know it.
What comes next?
Col. Lang,
Hasn’t it been the case over the many decades that the other Arabs and the Persians have primarily espoused Palestinian rights for public consumption while not really caring about their plight in private?
It seems the Palestinians are on their own with no real support from anyone whether in the Middle East, or the West or even Asia. What makes this “tribe” suffer so much humiliation, expulsion, corralled in smaller and smaller bantustans and constant beatings, at the hands of the Israeli Jews and abandoned by everyone, yet have not surrendered on their knees?
BP,
You’re spot on. No one cares a rats ass about the Palestinians. The other Arabs and the “Resistance” as Nasrallah calls themselves are all hat and no cattle. All they do is make pious statements and rabble-rousing speeches.
What we’ve witnessed over the many decades is the slow strangulation of Palestinians as their land and icons are expropriated by force. There’s no will anywhere to tangibly come to the defense of the Palestinians as the anti-Semitic card is held like the Damocles Sword over the west.
Yes, the hypocrisy is stark but when hasn’t hypocrisy been at the center of world politics?
With respect Col., I believe Hezbullah is husbanding its resources so as to have them available for use to maximum strategic effect. Whereas they have proven themselves as a highly effecive fighting force, as you know they as still up against a foe with practically unlimited firepower in both armour and airpower. They have to pick their battles carefully if they are not to be manipulated into fighting to Israel’s strenght, and their own weakness.
razor
This actually IS the strategic moment that should be seized.
But what if Israel launches counterstrikes in Lebanon and restarts the Lebanese Civil War? Does Hizbullah fear this possibility?
peter williams
“Do not take counsel of your fears.”
Hizbullah may not have the capacity for a conflict at this time. Their support to the Syrians has been substantial and is ongoing. A projectile war with the Israelis would be foolish and would serve no purpose. They should not take the bait.
Stueee
I completely disagree. Their maneuver forces have actually been improved by their experience in Syria. casualties have been moderate and that kind of experience is invaluable. OTOH, Israel is a much more brittle opponent politically and psychologically than you realize. The IDF General Staff knows that they cannot defeat Lebanese Hizbullah on the ground and the strategic bombardment of countervalue targets in Israel will cause mass emigration from the country.
It’s encouraging to hear you say that Col, re mass emigration. That is what I have myself suspected for some time, that when the going gets hot for Israelis in combat, many of the secular and younger ones will take off for New York London, Paris, Berlin etc, rather than have their comfortable lives put at risk.
could be but by may 25-27 it could be the other way round
Three missiles fired from Lebanon landed inside Israel today.
Maybe Hizbullah wants to goad Israel into overreacting, at which point Hizbullah can go boots’n’all without Israel claiming victimhood?
Or…. maybe those missiles were fired by accident?
Does the chastisement of Liz Cheney represent a subtle resistance to the Netanyahu wing of the Republican Party?
In the late 1930s and 1940s the Democrats were reliably and openly pro-zionist pro-Israel. Benzion Netanahu, Bibi’s father, had been Vladirmir Jabotinsky’s assistant in New York, and took over Vlad’s roles when that man died.
As ‘zionist Israel’s man in USA,’ Benzion introduced the idea that Republicans, not just Democrats, should be called upon to favor Israel. Since then — early ’40s I believe — both parties have had a pro-Israel plank in their platforms.
Liz Cheney surely represents that plank — her father has major investments in oil rights in the Golan; not hard to see why that piece of Syrian territory was magically declared Israel’s.
And John Boehner has expressed his bitterness about Republican failures https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2021-04-09/john-boehner-nostalgic-bitter-memoir-on-the-house, Boehner being (what I consider) the traitorous sot who invited Bibi to speak in US Congress, where he received 29 standing ovations. (His fellow Ohioan, Tim Ryan, has announced his candidacy for a Senate seat. In a recent C Span appearance, a Pritzker-version volume of the Zohare was prominent on the bookshelf behind Mr. Ryan, who frequently bruits his “Catholic schooling” and is from Jim Traficant’s district).
That’s what Liz Cheney represented.
May her departure mark a fissure in that relationship.
I have watched with disappointment – disgust might not be too strong a term – at the one-sided coverage from such sites as Conservative Tree House and Gateway Pundit to whose perspectives on the defense of the Republic, Constitution, and civil liberties I accord respect, of the latest rounds of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. There seems to be much “religiously-based” sentiment here, judging not only from the posts but also from the comments, which beliefs I have always considered to be informed by a fundamentally heretical point of view. Allow me to explain.
Consider the scriptural account of one incident during the 40 days of Jesus in the wilderness. I refer to the Tempter’s words to Jesus where he suggests to Jesus that he throw himself off a cliff; he argues that God would send lehions of angels to bear him up, saving him from harm. The response of Jesus is interesting; he tells the Tempter that if he were to do so, he would be tempting God, and that this is forbidden.
How does this relate to fundamentalist unreserved support for Israel, regardless of the justice of any actions they might undertake? Well, there seems to be a motivation of forwarding the ongoing ingathering of Jews to “Israel”, as this is a sign of the End of Days and the Last Judgment. Is this motivation not an example of tempting God? It smacks of pagan sacrifices whose principle was that of Do Ut Des, i.e., I do so that you must do. The sacrifice is made in order to compel the gods to do something desired by the sacrificer in return. “We Christians are assisting the ingathering to make a Sign to implicitly compel God to bring on the End Times”. Is this not a form of heretical, grossly misguided thinking, particularly when one adds to the pan the scriptural admonition that, “No man knows the hour”, if one wishes to truly respect the clear scriptural warnings against such spiritual pridefulness?
Ah, well, no theologian I, and these are personal thoughts that I entertain. But I am most certainly not a follower of Dispensationalist theological systems, which I believe to be not only fundamentally suspect in their theology, but most particularly because of their effects on the US’s policies concerning the State of Israel.
JJ,
The sites you mentioned while they did yeoman’s work in exposing the Deep State and the globalist stranglehold on our body politic, they’re essentially Trumpists. They defend him even when Trump’s weakness was obvious. They excuse with all kinds of sophistry Trump’s lack of courage.
Since, Trump was more zionist than even those that prostrate at the AIPAC altar the editors of these sites naturally are all about Israel uber alles!
They were also blowing kisses to Mohammed bin “Chainsaw” Salman, Jared’s buddy.
I’ve noticed the same ethos on those sites. And it’s ironic that on one hand those folks hate the MSM yet on the other they’ve been effectively brainwashed by them.
Regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and our role there remains – remember the Liberty…
I suspect that the Israelis were going for a two-fer: to change the status-quo in the Temple Mount and Sheikh Jarrah AND to provoke Hamas into displaying impotence with a rocket-barrage that Iron Dome just swats away with nary a care. Harrah!
That latter aim is looking a bit sick now. Hezbollah will be taking note.
And if Iron Dome ends up being exposed as all talk and no bottle then it may well be that the Izzies will also have to back away on their unconscionable plans for East Jerusalem.
A two-fer indeed, only not in the way that Bibi was expecting.
Are we headed towards a PLM (Palestinian Lives Matter) reckoning in Palestine where the American Left and MSM will be hard-pressed to distinguish the “mostly peaceable” PLM protests in Israel, the occupied territories and Gaza from the “mostly peaceable” BLM protests in the Blue Cities of America?
I don’t blame Palestinians for fighting back, any more than I blame the occupants of the Warsaw Ghetto for fighting back.
How much does continuing the Democrat control of the “Jewish vote” play in the ultimate real-politik of this region?
Some 44 Team R Senators signed a resolution urging Biden to suspend negotiations with Iran regarding the JCPOA.
Unfortunately, loyalty to Israel is bipartisan.
I could not post at all yesterday afternoon because of wifi failure.
Obviously some people knew beforehand due my record I would be posting in the same line of today.
Fast before they can notice, a whole lynch mob wasu nleashed on the Palestinians living in Israeli territory with gangs running free over there smashing windows of Palestinianas businesses and directly trying to kill people thye could grab into their cars or wherever. As the global dictatorship unleashes everywhere, these people have felt they can go now full Ukraine Pravyi Sektor even in fornt of the media, since nothing happens to them at all, not even some usual warning from the EU, Borrell says nothing, Von der Leyen is more worried about her “sofagate” ( this woman still making noise with this these past days…) and Charles Michel have nothing to say. Keir Starmer, after infiltrating UK labour party and getting rid of Corbin ( who would have said something…)remains as if nothing would be happening quietly having his cup of tea at 5…
https://twitter.com/kann_news/status/1392551091968040964
Notice near the end of this footage how the police does nothing, and they act as if they would be passing the afternoon catching a bit of sea breeze in a quite ME afternoon..
IMO, this all started as Israeli provocation to start a war as they were witnessing how they were advancing the talks on restarting JCPOA.
Several videos of extremist settlers taking over Palestinians homes in Sheikh Jarrah and bragging about it were broadcasted all over the internet. Then storming and shelling of Al Aqsa with even ancient stained glass resulting broken and all what followed, to this point with crude pogromos going on in East Jerusalem.
Hezbollah should not enter a war it is not of its election. it is the same case as with the Russians in the Ukraine, continuously provoked these past weeks to enter a war at a time and place not of their election. The same with the Chinese.
Hezbollah acts always defensively, although decisively, they will chose in what way they retaliate.
I fear nobody is secure in Israel right now, nor will be in the future.
On the other hand, what about Hamas? Taking into account what I read about their connivence with the Israelis and how the later armed them in the past, are they really in the side of the Palestinian people, or it is a matter of getting rid of OLP?
Should Hezbollah enter head in in this morass when it is Hamas who is in power in Gaza?
Recall how Hamas supported “moderate rebels” in Syria in the first times of Syrian war…
IMO Hezbollah should wait for UNSC resolution, although Israel will pass it through that part, as it did with previous resolutions, but at least International Law ( or what remains of it…) will be on their side in case slef-defense would be needed, whatever the label they are painted with, or whichever black list they are placed into.
For black lists, their creation and content could not be more arbitrary, as of today they grow as mushrooms, it could well be the case any decent, honest and courageous citizen taxpayer with a bit of independent thinking and self-respect will end in one of these not too late from now…
No mention in the posts to date of the potential for Netanyahu to have set this off in an attempt to head of his corruption case now that it is no longer him that is trying to cobble up a new Government.
His problem now looks to be too many pressure points on the Palestinians, from those listed in above posts to the banning of Gazians fishing (the major source of protein), all coming to a head at the same time. The result is not what he expected, an easy political victory leading to a grateful nation reappointing him.
Instead he looks like the proverbial headless chicken, with no strategy apart from sending in the IDF. Already Israeli/Palestinian deaths are 1:10 that can only get much worse. If they really go in hard will the ME have to react? Can they go down in history as seeing Arabs slaughtered and maybe lose their holy place?
This is undoing all of Israel’s careful diplomatic moves, as, although Arab leaderships might want to do nothing their men on their streets really don’t like what is happening. For perhaps the first time there is little censorship on what they see, it is pouring out on social media.
It has also shot the Iron Dome in both feet, showing the World that, apart from under the best condition, it is little more than a fig leaf. So much for all those export sales!
Every Israeli has now to feel very vulnerable. That Arab servant/shop worker/ labourer has suddenly morphed from being useful slave to a potential threat. This is a very serious economic issue on top of everything else. Their comfortable life is now a memory.
All in all a huge strategic mistake is underway. Turning down Egyptian mediation will prove to have been a very costly mistake.
“Israeli/Palestinian deaths are 1:10 that can only get much worse.” It probably much worse already because of unreported body count out of Gaza.
Instead of an eye-for-an-eye, the Netanyahu law of retaliation is an eye-for-a-hangnail.
as far as I am concerned it is either mow the grass or smoke it.
All
This is how it’s done. A member of the Irish Dáil tears the Israeli Ambassador a new one. Chapeau Richard Boyd Barrett.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1392556084527783938
All
I had a Bolshie send a comment in which he said “Colonel Lang is a right wing kook on domestic affairs but he is exactly right on Palestine.” I should have posted that. Sorry.
Many of us in both the left and the center agree with your views on Palestine, Yemen, and Syria.
Col, I’m not a military man.
It seems to me that the missle thing is a numbers game. I suppose the question is how many Iron Dome and other interceptor missles are there in comparison to what Hezza can produce. Or to put it another way, could Hamas run down the reserves with their fireworks?
Israel is deliberately obliterating media buildings in Gaza to cover up the war crimes that will follow
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/523875-israel-gaza-air-strikes-war-crimes/
Here is a story from Al Jazeera on this for more context:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/15/give-us-10-minutes-how-israel-bombed-gaza-media-tower
The war crimes are already under way.
Israel is intentionally and with malice, attacking schools and houses of worship, which is IMO a war crime in and of itself. So far the IDF has attacked 2 schools and 1 mosque.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom declared that “Places of worship and other religious sites should be sanctuaries where worshipers feel safe to practice their faith.”
Documentation published by, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the United Nations Human Rights Committee, and the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination on Religion or Belief, the commission warned nations that:
“An intentional attack on a place of worship or cultural property may be considered a war crime.”
https://twitter.com/jsmian/status/1393975053679796230?s=21
The Twitter thread linked above has an interesting thesis. The Arabs will be expelled from all of Greater Israel including what is remaining of Palestine. That is ordained in the theological history.
Will other Arabs and Muslims care and have any strength and collective will to prevent it? According to the Twitter author the Prophet Muhammad prophecied that the Arab Muslims will “be scum”.
Colonel – I tried just now, for a pro-Zionist English blog, to put together a brief summary of the background to the Palestinian/Israeli dispute. There are so many strands to the decision to go ahead with the Jewish settlement of Palestine, and to the many decisions made since that time to support that settlement, but I believe the Christian Zionism strand, here in England and later in the United States, has considerably more importance than is generally recognised.
I don’t believe we can consider the present situation without acknowledging that it was the British, in the Mandate and pre-Mandate periods, who were the main players in enabling the Jewish settlement of Palestine. In particular we overlook 19th century English Christian Zionism, a product of the Evangelical wing of the Church, that boasted among its adherents very many influential politicians. At the critical time it was such as LLoyd George and Balfour, adherents of or sympathetic to Christian Zionism, who made the decisions. They were not decisions favourable to the Palestinian Arabs –
‘For in Palestine we do not propose even to go through the form of
consulting the wishes of the present inhabitants of the country .. the
Four Great Powers are committed to Zionism. And Zionism, be it right
or wrong, good or bad, is rooted in age-long traditions, in present
needs, in future hopes, of far profounder import than the desires or prejudices of the 700,000 Arabs who now inhabit that ancient land”. (Balfour, 1919)
Cited here in a study that gives a general overview of Christian Zionism influence –
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/17301104.pdf
There were of course many other strands to imperial strategic thinking at that time that led to the Jewish settlement, but the force of Christian Zionism remained strong thereafter. Wingate, for example, was passionately pro-Zionist. He is recognised as training the precursors to the IDF and his approach inspired the Jewish terrorist groups that were finally to drive the British out of Palestine. But the back of Palestinian resistance had been broken in ’36 – by us – and in retrospect we can see that that sounded the death knell for Palestinan hopes of retaining their country. Ben Gurion, as so often, saw through to the real issues –
“The revolt was branded by many in the Jewish Yishuv as “immoral and terroristic”, often comparing it to fascism and Nazism.[12] Ben Gurion, however, described Arab causes as fear of growing Jewish economic power, opposition to mass Jewish immigration and fear of the English identification with Zionism.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936%E2%80%931939_Arab_revolt_in_Palestine
There were influential voices in England warning of disaster at the time. Kipling, Gertrude Bell, many others, could see clearly the tragedy that would result from the decision to take a country from one people and give it to another. Their warnings went unheeded and we see here their fears realised –
http://johnpilger.com/videos/palestine-is-still-the-issue
And today we see a further act of the tragedy play out.