WI: Zionist Eithiopia

Eithiopia has had historic ties to The Jewish people going back to The Queen of Sheba, and it’s emperors have at various times claimed titles such as The Lion of Judah. Beta Israelis make up a sizable chunk of the sprigs Jewish population. So my question is, what if it had become a Jewish homeland rather than the more spiritually fulfilling Israel?
 
Perhaps the knowledge and knowhow, combined with the fact that maybe due to hardships and oppression they themselves had suffered, actually look to use their expertise they've gained in europe and elsewhere and come to Ethiopia to develop the economy (which at that stage, post WWII, had a lot of potential still to make that jump). Especially if Ethiopia gets Somalia and still has Eritrea etc. You have a resource rich country with access to the horn of africa with a highly educated populace coming there.

Honestly i'd say it would turn out reasonably well at best (perhaps the only real 1st world nation in africa), however there is a chance that in the short term, they may set themselves up as a minority rule government (which would lead to many issues, including anti-semitism amongst the local populace and even throughout that region).

Not getting Israel would also be a big hit i'd imagine to the jewish people, they wanted israel in the worst way.
 
Mmmmm. Mayby an earlier POD would do nicely. Let the Zionist movement help the Ethiopians during the war with the Italians. (volunteers, arms, propaganda, etc.) and help them to stay independend. In the 1930'3 Ethiopia remembers the help form the Jews and is the only country that accepts Jews without restrictions fleeing from Germany. These well educated and rich immigrants help to develop the country. In WW 2 Ethiopia joins the Allies and after the war, the former Italian colonies are given to them.
 
The Emperor's son, had strong zionist views. Had Hallie Sallessie died earlier. The Monarchy in alliance with israel, might have been saved. Even without Ethiopia as Zion, an alliance would be possible
 
The entirety of Ethiopia cannot become a Jewish homeland. To do so would require ethnically cleansing all the Christian and Muslim inhabitants, which isn't feasible even in the worst ATL due to the heavy population density and mountainous geography that favors guerrilla warfare and armed resistance.

You could get a small area around the Semien as a Jewish homeland given that that's where the Beta Israeli homeland is, but it would be a very small state and very resource poor. Unlike Israel it wouldn't even have the advantage of sitting astride the Suez canal. It would most likely be a poor country due to its small size and few resources, hampered by poor relations with Ethiopia, which as we know from Eritrea OTL isn't happy about losing territory.

Alternately you could get an Ethiopia that accepts Jewish refugees during WWII or something, but that country wouldn't be a Jewish homeland as no amount of Jewish immigration could feasibly displace the Christian majority. Also we've seen OTL that Jews that arrived in underdeveloped countries that accepted refugees left as soon as they could and returned to Europe. OTL Haiti and Cuba both had temporarily large Jewish populations that only lasted as long as WWII did before they all returned to Europe. So even if Ethiopia accepts Jewish refugees they would probably leave ASAP.
 
May I go back further yet? If we work in the alternatives that likely butterfly the Second World War and the holocaust, leaving open a surviving Imperial Germany and likely A-H as well as OE, then you force some refocus of Zionism. At its core it is focused upon "Palestine" but there were two branches, a political one seeking a nation state and another more cultural branch seeking to create a Jewish cultural center rather than a homeland. Given that Zionism is rooted in A-H and assuming it gets Poland in this alternative the doors are open. The Zionists are not getting their political dream here, but I could see a revival of Jewish cultural activity focused in the holy land. You get settlers who are opposed to assimilation in Europe but hardly a flood. You can make the big jump to having Zionists cast about for a friendlier state to revise the Jewish people as a "nation." Would that be Ethiopia here? A-H has no colonial presence in Africa, it is not going to be Italy's best friend and there is a connection to Ethiopia. Allowing for all this jumping I could see a cultural push to settle Jews in Ethiopia, not a colony, not a state, but as an alternative to the USA as a place to go and build a Jewish community. It is the Kibbutz in Africa, farmer communes that develop their larger community, and that might draw off especially those Jews in any country still anti-Sematic, perhaps reactionary Russia, maybe nationalist Poland, etc. Far-left leaning Jews from across Germany and A-H might be drawn. It might give Ethiopia a stronger tie to Europe and a "reverse brain drain", attracting talent and money. This Afro-Zionist movement could bring a lot to the table, perhaps most of all preserve the independence of Ethiopia and open her future to anything but what occurred.
 
I think an autonomous realm around Semien-Gondar could be possible. It's a crummy area, but so was the coastal area of pre-zionist Palestine that the Jews settled in. Bring in the zionists, they fix the area up a little, and you could maybe work something out.

Issue is, the Zionists more or less only wanted Palestine. I think a large number of jews without any better options may show up (as well as more secular zionists who just wanna have a jewish autonomy *somewhere*) but it won't be a Jewish home the way Israel is.

I could see sizable Jewish populations popping up in Asmara and Massawa too here. A Semien-Asmara-Massawa Jewish corridor would be neat to see.
 
I think an autonomous realm around Semien-Gondar could be possible.

I could see sizable Jewish populations popping up in Asmara and Massawa too here. A Semien-Asmara-Massawa Jewish corridor would be neat to see.

Semien yes, Gondar no. There are way too many Christians, and as one of the most historically significant cities in Ethiopia, the odds of them giving it up are like asking Japan to hand Kyoto over to a bunch of Mormon immigrants. Asmara and Massawa aren't realistic territorial goals either. They could form minorities there but the indigenous populations are too high for it to form part of any officially Jewish area.

It might end up as developed as OTL Israel, but that's contingent on it having friendly relations with its neighbors because unlike Israel such a country wouldn't have a coastline to access international trade. If it doesn't normalize relations with its neighbors it would end up economically blockaded and landlocked which is far from a good position for development.
 
Semien yes, Gondar no. There are way too many Christians, and as one of the most historically significant cities in Ethiopia, the odds of them giving it up are like asking Japan to hand Kyoto over to a bunch of Mormon immigrants. Asmara and Massawa aren't realistic territorial goals either. They could form minorities there but the indigenous populations are too high for it to form part of any officially Jewish area.

It might end up as developed as OTL Israel, but that's contingent on it having friendly relations with its neighbors because unlike Israel such a country wouldn't have a coastline to access international trade. If it doesn't normalize relations with its neighbors it would end up economically blockaded and landlocked which is far from a good position for development.

Yeah I only think Semien would be the core Jewish area. I think there'd end up being sizable Jewish communities in Asmara and Massawa (far from majority) due to the routes Jews would take to get to Semien, how Semien would connect with the outside world, and because there'd likely be some more urban-minded Jews showing up anyway.

I appreciate the correction about Gondar. I just referenced it because it looked like a habitable nearby area.

I think Semien would just be an autonomous province within Ethiopia with considerable wealth and infrastructure connections to Massawa and Asmara. Hopefully the ripple effect of Jewish settlement and organization of the area would be economic well-being in surrounding Ethiopian communities.

I wonder what language the Jews would speak. Hebrew perhaps, but yiddish would also be a strong contender. Maybe the Zionists decide to embrace the idea of the Kingdom of Semien and adopt a local language, although prior to the 17th century Hebrew was the liturgical language of the Beta Israel.

The relationship between the Ashkenazi settlers and Beta Israel likely will be similar to the early-zionist interaction between the Yemenites who moved to Palestine and the Ashkenazim: positive but testy due to cultural tensions and ashkenazi secular pretentiousness. Come to think of it, I bet a lot of Yemenites would move to Semien here. Ashkenazim, Yemenites, and Beta Israel all rallying around a "Semien", "Semieni", or "Semienite" identity is a fun thought experiment. I guess they'd all just agree to use Hebrew as the common language.
 
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I think Semien would just be an autonomous province within Ethiopia with considerable wealth and infrastructure connections to Massawa and Asmara. Hopefully the ripple effect of Jewish settlement and organization of the area would be economic well-being in surrounding Ethiopian communities.

I wonder what language the Jews would speak. Hebrew perhaps, but yiddish would also be a strong contender. Maybe the Zionists decide to embrace the idea of the Kingdom of Semien and adopt a local language, although prior to the 17th century Hebrew was the liturgical language of the Beta Israel.

You'd have to make some major changes to Ethiopian leadership to get them to accept Semien as an autonomous province. OTL Eritrea was supposed to be autonomous but Ethiopia never respected its autonomy, which is what ended up leading to the Eritrean War for Independence. Ethiopia is so ethnically heterogenous that the leadership often fears that demands for autonomy are just a prelude to outright secession of regions like Oromia and the Ogaden.

The most probable situation to me seems like Semien would just ally with Eritrea to jointly declare independence from Ethiopia. Such a conflict could even draw in the Somalis in the Ogaden and even Somalia itself. If Eritrea breaks off too then Semien would have an (indirect) connection to the sea, and would avoid forced isolation, but it would still have pretty hostile relations with Ethiopia much like India and Pakistan OTL. Closer relations with Eritrea, and possibly Somalia would probably see any development in Semien uplifting those countries rather than Ethiopia.

Given that most of the initial population of the territory would be Beta Israeli, you could get the official language to be either Kayla or Qwara, the two Agaw languages spoken by the Beta Israeli. A Hebrew revival is probably most likely though, especially because most Beta Israeli would already speak a Semitic language (Amharic) so they wouldn't have much difficulty picking up a new one. That could also mean that Modern Hebrew TTL is more influenced by Amharic than Modern Hebrew OTL which is more Arabic influenced. I don't think Yiddish is very likely though just because this community wouldn't be dominated by Ashkenazi immigrants and would have to find a language that compromises with the Beta Israelis.
 
Mmmmm. Mayby an earlier POD would do nicely. Let the Zionist movement help the Ethiopians during the war with the Italians. (volunteers, arms, propaganda, etc.) and help them to stay independend. In the 1930'3 Ethiopia remembers the help form the Jews and is the only country that accepts Jews without restrictions fleeing from Germany. These well educated and rich immigrants help to develop the country. In WW 2 Ethiopia joins the Allies and after the war, the former Italian colonies are given to them.
What would the reason be for the Zionist movement/Zionist World Congress to assist Ethiopia, a country with a major Orthodox Christian population and a substantial Muslim community? I agree that these Jews would be more likely to settle in the Semien province but how is the outcome of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War changed with Jewish assistance?

It may end in Italian occupation and perhaps have a more organized Arbegnoch movement - the Jews may even run guns to the Ethiopian guerrillas and establish training programs, similar to the Italian Communist Party's assistance to the Ethiopian resistance.
 
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