Jewish Homeland without Holocaust?

kernals12

Banned
If the holocaust didn't happen (let's just assume Hitler never comes to power), would Israel still be founded or would a Jewish homeland just be one of those talked about but never implemented ideas?
 
If the holocaust didn't happen (let's just assume Hitler never comes to power), would Israel still be founded or would a Jewish homeland just be one of those talked about but never implemented ideas?

The Holocaust helped give the Zionist campaign serious international support (and near-universal support among Jews). The "Jewish Question" would still have persisted, and many of the institutions that became the State of Israel - the Jewish Agency, the Histadrut, the Haganah - predated World War II. If we go with no Nazis at all, there may not be a Jewish Brigade, which means a much weaker Haganah.

One possibility is that without the Holocaust, the Jews might be willing to compromise on the notion of a sovereign state. Haj Amin al Husseini would never have gone for it, but King Abdullah of Jordan probably would have granted the Jews considerable rights in return for supporting his rule. The Haganah and Arab Legion working together would have crushed the Mufti's forces, and the other Arab states would probably balk at invading a Arab Palestine, even one with a large, autonomous Jewish minority.
 

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
Donor
Monthly Donor
No Nazis - puts achievement of a separate Jewish state at risk, and any that is established is likely smaller than OTL's.

If there are Nazis but no Holocaust (presuming the Nazis are contained and stopped much earlier in WWII) early Israel might be more powerful and populous than OTL.
 
I think the Balfour Declaration would have amounted to something. It probably would have been a "swiss cheese" Israel, even more so than OTL, with Arab/Palestinian areas more clearly demarcated at the beginning. (I say at the beginning because that might have changed if the Arab states had wars with Israel as IOTL.) Although immigration could be limited when the area was a British protectorate, once it became an independent state, some version of aliyah would exist and immigration would be encouraged. I imagine many of the Polish and Russian Jews who died IOTL would have emigrated.

The butterflies that would necessarily arise from not having Nazis and WW2 could result in just about anything, though. Anything from a smaller Jewish homeland that's promptly overrun by the Arab states to a complete lack of Arab states capable of waging war on a much larger, more populous Israel.
 
Anything can happen, but Jews will keep flocking to Palestine, and sooner or later, under the British or after they leave, a tipping point will be reached where the Arabs react by force.
 
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