For some reason have a massive exodus of Jewish Americans head to Israel after its formation in 1948. What would get most if not all Jewish Americans to head to Israel? Would it be enough to settle much of Palestine and displace much of the native Palestinian population? How does this affect Israel’s performance, military, and economy? And what happens to the US because of this?
AHC/WI: Massive Jewish Emigration from the United States to Israel
I think that you'd have to have something propelling them out of the US, because otherwise I can't imagine what could attract that kind of mass emigration to Israel.
I agree with the gorilla. In 1948 social antisemitism was quite OK, restricted towns and communities, blatant discrimination in hiring, quotas of colleges and professional schools and so forth. In spite of all that very few Jews left the USA to settle in Israel, basically because they felt the lifestyle in the USA was better, in spite of the antisemitism, and they saw things as improving for them. Assume that the McvCarthyism was stronger and had a stronger antisemitic component than it did painting all Jews as reds and pinks and anti-American. This leads to limits on Jewish in employment in state and federal civil service, not allowed as officers in the military (but can be drafted as enlisted, but like blacks pre-desegregation only in service/labor units), numerus clausus laws which limit the percent of Jews in law, medicine, etc (a traditional thing in Europe before WWII). You begin to see people like the Klan torching synagogues, or trashing Jewish retail businesses. With this you might very well see a massive emigration of Jews to Israel from America as the Jews of the USA would see this as an analogue of the early 30s right after the Nazis took over and decide to get out while the getting was good...
Chapman
Donor
A very obvious answer, but increased antisemitism (or at least the perception thereof) could do the trick. I could be wrong, as i'm too lazy to actually look for the article at the moment, but I seem to recall reading something about how much of France's Jewish population has left or is leaving for Israel, which is connected with some very vocal (if not actually all that common) antisemitism. So if you can make the same thing happen with the US (which would NOT require going full Fürher Lindberg), it'd make sense to me that at least some sizable portion would leave for Israel.
Maybe the state of Israel offers better incentives aimed at getting specifically American Jews over? I'm not sure what kind of incentives they were offering OTL.
Maybe some kind of MAJOR spy scandal, involving high-ranking Jews in government or military handing over secrets to the Soviets. I don't mean like the Rosenbergs, I mean people who would be having meetings with the President in the Oval Office on a daily basis.
And this leads to a wave of anti-semitic violence, basically like a lot of the anti-leftist violence in the 50s and 60s, but aimed specifically at Jews.
Chapman
Donor
Not even that much is necessary, though it'd probably produce a much more massive result admittedly. But I was wondering, what if we had a more proactively pro-Palestinian presence in the Democratic Party? And potentially a Democratic President (Obama might be the easiest, though I could equally him being the most difficult) who embraces that train of thought? This might be somewhat unrealistic, because it requires an American left that's much further left than IOTL (up until the growing progressive movement of today), but I think it could be done. And the result could be something like the claims of antisemitism of Jeremy Corbyn, coupled with a number of high-profile hate crimes against Jewish Americans, which drives them to Israel.
You know, that might just be enough to do it, especially during the 50s when combined with latent (and far from latent) anti-Semitism of the time.
The Czechs were big supporters of Israel during the Independence War, so it's not like we're necessarily in ASB territory.
Oh, right. Sorry, I missed that detail in the OP.
If there's a greater number and percentage of Ashkenazi Jews in Israel, how different would its society and politics be?
The West Bank will be more populated and Israel might be more willing to expel more Palestinians.
You think? I was under the impression that the Sephradis were the ones pushing for a thougher line on the Arab population.
A few American Jews have been populating the West Bank settlements as of OTL. Don’t see why not.
IMO if you want American Jews to make emigrate in large numbers after 1948 you need a POD before 1900.
My POD would be a home grown American Zionist movement. American Zionism is established as a separate movement from Europe. At the start of the 20th century American Zionism would embrace an American style democratic government rather than socialism.
The next step would be to have some American Jews establish their own separate Kibbutz rather than mixing with European Jews. The Lynching of Leo Frank in 1915 could set off of wave of terror by the KKK in the south helping the American Zionism movement gain recruits to move to Palestine. Imagine Golda Meir moving to Palestine with a group of Wisconsin Jews and teaching school.
In the twenties American Zionists get an unlikely ally from Christian Evangelists. Some see the return of the Jews to Israel as fulfillment of prophecy while others are racists who want the Jews out. Either way a lobby is formed in Washington that supports an independent Israel governed by American Jews.
By 1948 American-born Jews or Jews who lived in the states have become the dominant political group in Palestine. After Independence American Jews are encouraged to move to Israel to keep their more socialist brothers from gaining the majority and possibly siding with Russia.
My POD would be a home grown American Zionist movement. American Zionism is established as a separate movement from Europe. At the start of the 20th century American Zionism would embrace an American style democratic government rather than socialism.
The next step would be to have some American Jews establish their own separate Kibbutz rather than mixing with European Jews. The Lynching of Leo Frank in 1915 could set off of wave of terror by the KKK in the south helping the American Zionism movement gain recruits to move to Palestine. Imagine Golda Meir moving to Palestine with a group of Wisconsin Jews and teaching school.
In the twenties American Zionists get an unlikely ally from Christian Evangelists. Some see the return of the Jews to Israel as fulfillment of prophecy while others are racists who want the Jews out. Either way a lobby is formed in Washington that supports an independent Israel governed by American Jews.
By 1948 American-born Jews or Jews who lived in the states have become the dominant political group in Palestine. After Independence American Jews are encouraged to move to Israel to keep their more socialist brothers from gaining the majority and possibly siding with Russia.
If around 1948 the GI bill specifically excluded the Jews and others considered undesirable and McCarthyism was used to remove Jews from all forms of civil service from the post office to the GAO, I could see a mass movement of Jews leaving the US for a better life. Perhaps a few Jewish celeberties ie Einstein, Salk etc making a high profile move to Israel inspires the others
Two things.
First off the American Jews who are involved in setting up new settlements in the West Bank, often unauthorized, are from groups which are considered extreme by most strands of American Jewry and are not a good example of thinking of American Jews in terms of moving to Israel. Secondly, the actions which @mike of mass suggests would certainly drive Jews towards Israel, however this sort of thing would require some major PODs well before 1948, and possibly need an ASB.
First off the American Jews who are involved in setting up new settlements in the West Bank, often unauthorized, are from groups which are considered extreme by most strands of American Jewry and are not a good example of thinking of American Jews in terms of moving to Israel. Secondly, the actions which @mike of mass suggests would certainly drive Jews towards Israel, however this sort of thing would require some major PODs well before 1948, and possibly need an ASB.
Well Czechoslovakia also was still in the process of consolidation but yeah. Up to the 6 days war, in the 50's and 40's the Soviets hoped to influence Israel to their side