The Search for a Jewish Homeland: From Uganda to Ethiopia

Israel continues its military campaign in Gaza without respite. Over 30,000 innocent people have been brutally killed. Those who remain are fighting for survival under the most unimaginably difficult conditions. In Gaza, where electricity, water, and fuel have been cut off, there is also not enough food. The cold weather, on top of starvation, is exacerbating the population's plight.

It is unknown when the genocide in Gaza will end. As Israel kills as many Palestinians as it can and reduces Gaza to rubble, it is also planning to relocate the surviving Palestinians to African countries like the Congo, Rwanda, and Chad.

While Israel consistently recounts the persecution Jews faced throughout history on every platform, it is now inflicting far worse upon the Palestinian people, with the full backing of the United States. The African continent, which Europe once turned to for relocating Jews a century ago, is now in Israel's sights as a destination for Palestinians.

Unwanted Jews in Europe Were to be Sent to Africa

European nations spent a long time searching for a place to settle a Jewish population estimated at four million. The history of this search began in 1885 when the French academic Paul de Lagarde, known for his antisemitic views, proposed Madagascar as a solution to "rid Europe of its Jews." However, it took time for serious steps and comprehensive plans to materialize.

Uganda (The Mau Plateau)

The founder of Zionism, Theodor Herzl, first appealed to the Ottoman Empire in 1901 to gather all Jews in a single homeland and asked for the land of Palestine. After being rejected by the Ottomans, Herzl then requested territories from Britain, either Cyprus or Sinai (Egypt). Britain declined both offers and instead prepared a completely different plan.

In 1903, British Minister Joseph Chamberlain deemed the Mau Plateau, then part of Uganda and now within Kenya's borders, suitable for Jewish settlement. Many Jewish delegates received this proposal positively, and it was accepted at the 6th Zionist Congress. However, shortly afterwards, disputes between religious and secular Zionists led to the Uganda proposal being rejected at the 7th Zionist Congress in 1905.

Angola

By 1910, another potential settlement site for Jews was found on the African continent: the Portuguese colony of Angola. The absence of antisemitic tendencies in the Portuguese administration, and their rather fraternal approach towards Jews, was one reason for choosing Angola. The move was also intended to attract Jewish investors to Portugal. In 1912, a bill was prepared for Jewish settlement in Angola. The draft was sent unanimously to the Portuguese Parliament and then to the Senate for approval. If conditions were met, Jewish settlers would be under Portuguese administration, receive Portuguese citizenship, and benefit from certain rights offered by the government.

This proposal was discussed extensively during a conference of the Jewish Territorial Organization (JTO), founded in 1905 by British Jewish activist Israel Zangwill, who opposed Britain's Uganda plan. However, the bill was not approved. Public reaction in Portugal was significant. Catholic circles opposed Jewish immigration on religious grounds, while merchants objected due to concerns over commercial competition. Suspicions grew that the plans and activities of the Jewish Organization were linked to German imperialist ambitions.

Madagascar

On December 9, 1938, French Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet told German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop that a "final solution" was needed to relieve France of 10,000 Jewish refugees. In the European search for a final solution, the new direction became Madagascar, located off the coast of East Africa.

In 1940, Franz Rademacher, an official in the German Foreign Office, outlined in a memo to the Nazi government the idea of sending millions of Jews living in Europe to the island of Madagascar.

The Madagascar Plan, approved by Hitler, was officially shelved in 1942 after Britain invaded the island. In public policy statements, it was replaced by the term "evacuation to the East."

The Final Proposal in Africa: Ethiopia (Harar)

In March 1944, a Harar Council was convened to discuss establishing an autonomous Jewish settlement in Ethiopia's Harar province.

This proposal, initially presented by Hermann Fuerberg in earlier years, had been postponed until 1944 due to the war. The World Jewish Congress condemned Fuerberg's plan as a "mousetrap," but this did not prevent a Jewish refugee in America, Erwin Kraft, from forming an organization titled the "Harar Council for an Autonomous Jewish Province in Harar."

In correspondence between the US and British governments and the Ethiopian government, Harar—Islam's fourth holiest city—was suggested as suitable for Jewish settlement. The reasons cited were Ethiopia's sparse population, its climate resembling Europe's, and the fact that the Ethiopian Emperor claimed descent from King David and thus held sympathy for Jews.

The correspondence stated: “Our project is in no way a rival to Palestine; indeed, we feel the power of Palestine's spiritual call and fully appreciate the advantages of an established country against the pioneering required to build a new province. But the essential fact is that under present conditions, it is impossible for Palestine to absorb all the Jews who need help in this time of crisis. Furthermore, in the book of Zohar* we find the prophecy: ‘When the Jews enter the land of Kush,** the diaspora will end.’ Kush is none other than Ethiopia, of which Harar forms a part.”

Despite all efforts by America and Britain, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, in a letter dictated to his ambassador to the US, Blatta Ephrem Twelde Medhen, declined the proposal, citing economic reasons.

If Israel Had Been Established in Africa

Had Israel been established on African soil instead of Palestinian land, it undoubtedly would not have lagged behind Western powers in exploiting African peoples and carrying out massacres; it would have been responsible for even greater genocides. Indeed, today, alongside other global powers, Israel continues its imperialist policies towards Africa at full speed, whether through agricultural projects or Christian Zionism.

Many African countries, led by South Africa, have realized that Zionism is a threat to the entire world, based on Israel's massacres in Palestinian territories and its 76-year-long discriminatory and oppressive policies. For those African countries that have forgotten historical truths and cooperate with Zionist ideology for short-term gains, it is still not too late to demonstrate the same awareness.

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*The Zohar is a group of books containing commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah.
**In the Hebrew Bible, Kush is the grandson of Noah, the eldest son of Ham, and often refers to East Africa or Southwest Arabia, sometimes to North Arabia or Southern Israel, and at least once to Mesopotamia.

Sources:
“סיכום / SUMMARY.” Zion / ציון, vol. יא, no. ד, 1946, p. I–IV. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23547066. Accessed 8 Jan. 2024.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-madagascar-plan-2
https://primolevicenter.org/printed-matter/jewish-settlement-in-ethiopia/
https://perspectivia.net/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/ploneimport_derivate_00001116/zimmermann_juden.pdf

 This article was originially published in Independent Türkçe, on January 24, 2024.