Language:
English
Year of publication:
1998
Titel der Quelle:
Journal of Israeli History
Angaben zur Quelle:
19,1 (1998) 41-60
Keywords:
Spears, Edward
;
Zionism
;
Eretz Israel Relations
;
Great Britain Relations
;
Eretz Israel History 1917-1948, British Mandate period
Abstract:
Sir Edward Louis Spears (1886-1974) was a leading British anti-Zionist who from 1945 on was an active advocate of the Arab cause. He founded two anti-Zionist organizations in 1945: the Middle East Parliamentary Committee and the Committee for Arab Affairs. Despite his denial of the charge of antisemitism, his vehement anti-Zionism seems to have been motivated by an instinctive dislike of Jews - e.g. while he collaborated with leading non-Jewish anti-Zionists and anti-Zionist bodies throughout the world, he was reluctant to cooperate with the British Jewish anti-Zionist organization Jewish Fellowship. Examination of Spears' life shows that throughout his life he was dogged by accusations that he himself was Jewish. It was Spears' obsession with not appearing Jewish, rather than traditional antisemitism, that made him shun the Jewish organizations and, after 1948, made him more relentlessly anti-Zionist than his colleagues.
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