Thread: Did Zionists Entangle the U.S. in WWI?

Did Zionists entangle the United States in World War I? How did American involvement (which caused over 100,000 American deaths) serve American interests? Did the Balfour Declaration motivate American Zionists to push Wilson into war?

Historian James Gelvin: Two of Wilson's closest advisors, Louis Brandeis and Felix Frankfurter, were avid Zionists. How better to shore up an uncertain ally than by endorsing Zionist aims?

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Winston Churchill: Pledges and promises were made during the war, and they were made, not only on the merits, though I think the merits are considerable. They were made because it was considered they would be of value to us in our struggle to win the war. It was considered that the support which the Jews could give us all over the world, and particularly in the United States, and also in Russia, would be a definite palpable advantage. I was not responsible at that time for the giving of those pledges, nor for the conduct of the war of which they were, when given, an integral part. But like other members I supported the policy of the War Cabinet. Like other members, I accepted and was proud to accept a share in those great transactions, which left us with terrible losses, with formidable obligations, but nevertheless with unchallengeable victory.

Malcolm Thomson: When writing the official biography of Lloyd George, I was able to study the original documents bearing on this question. From these it was clear that although certain members of the Cabinets of 1916 and 1917 sympathized with Zionist aspirations, the efforts of Zionist leaders to win any promise of support from the British Government had proved quite ineffectual, and the secret Sykes-Picot agreement with the French for partition of spheres of interest in the Middle East seemed to doom Zionist aims. A change of attitude was, however, brought about through the initiative of Mr. James A. Malcolm, who pressed on Sir Mark Sykes, then Under-Secretary to the War Cabinet, the thesis that an allied offer to restore Palestine to the Jews would swing over from the German to the allied side the very powerful influence of American Jews, including Judge Brandeis, the friend and adviser of President Wilson. Sykes was interested, and at his request Malcolm introduced him to Dr. Weizmann and the other Zionist leaders, and negotiations were opened which culminated in the Balfour Declaration.

Zionist Samuel Landman: the only way (which proved so to be) to induce the American President to come into the war was to secure the cooperation of Zionist Jews by promising them Palestine, and thus enlist and mobilize the hitherto unsuspectedly powerful forces of Zionist Jews in America and elsewhere in favour of the Allies on a quid pro quo contract basis. Thus, as will be seen, the Zionists having carried out their part, and greatly helped to bring America in, the Balfour Declaration of 1917 was but the public confirmation of the necessarily secret "gentlemen's" agreement of 1916, made with the previous knowledge, acquiescence, and or approval of the Arabs, and of the British, and of the French and other Allied governments, and not merely a voluntary, altruistic and romantic gesture on the part of Great Britain as certain people either through pardonable ignorance assume or unpardonable ill-will would represent or rather misrepresent ...

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British Colonial Secretary Lord Cavendish: “The object [of the Balfour Declaration] was to enlist the sympathies on the Allied side of influential Jews and Jewish organizations all over the world... and it is arguable that the negotiations with the Zionists...did in fact have considerable effect in advancing the date at which the United States government intervened in the war.”

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The sinking of the Lusitania was not a sufficient casus belli. The ship was carrying arms and sailing in a war zone.

The Germans in WWI were no more brutal than any of the other great powers.

Tales of German atrocities were mostly fiction.

The Nye Committee concluded that banks and the munitions industry pushed for American involvement in WWI. Not a few of these bankers sympathized with the Zionists.

Here's Samuel Landman's pamphlet: Great Britain, the Jews and Palestine

Well, this falls right in line with Hitler blaming the Jews for starting WWII.

Originally Posted by Hoosier8

Well, this falls right in line with Hitler blaming the Jews for starting WWII.

ZZZZZZZZZZ Yes of course anyone who criticizes any Jewish person is Hitler.

Now can you dispute the facts presented or not?

French diplomat François Georges-Picot: "After many years, I am still moved by the thanks he poured out to me as he gave me the two telegrams ... do not say that it was the cause of the great upsurge of enthusiasm which occurred in the United States, but I say that Judge Brandeis, to whom this telegram was addressed, was certainly one of the elements determining the decision of President Wilson."