Post-Holocaust Politics
Britain, the United States, and Jewish Refugees, 1945-1948
Arieh J. Kochavi
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Published: 01/2003
Pages: 400
Subject: Political Science, History
| University of North Carolina
Print ISBN: 9.78E+12
eBook ISBN: 9780807875094
DESCRIPTION
Kochavi argues that political concerns--not human considerations--determined British policy regarding the refugees. Anxious to secure its interests in the Middle East, Britain feared its relations with Arab nations would suffer if it appeared to be too lax in thwarting Zionist efforts to bring Jewish Holocaust survivors to Palestine. In the United States, however, the American Jewish community was able to influence presidential policy by making its vote hinge on a solution to the displaced persons problem. Setting his analysis against the backdrop of the escalating Cold War, Kochavi reveals how, ironically, the Kremlin as well as the White House came to support the Zionists' goals, albeit for entirely different reasons.