ZIONISM 101 SERIES | ZIONISMU.COM | NILI Lesson 25/NILI | 2
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Lesson 25/NILI | 1 Military Stirrings NILI Lesson Plan Central Historical Question: What was the role of NILI in the British struggle against the Turks for Palestine? Materials: • NILI PowerPoint • NILI Video • Copies of Documents A-H. Plan of Instruction: The PowerPoint, video and supporting documents reinforce lesson content through purposeful repetition and the gradual addition of new material. 1. Pass out Documents A-H. 2. Mini-lecture with PowerPoint: • Slide: Aaron Aaronsohn: Aaronsohn is the son of Jewish immigrants who come to Palestine from Romania in 1882. Aaron is 6 years old. By all accounts, he has a brilliant mind and at the age of 30 makes a major scientific discovery. In 1906, he finds the origins of wheat. With this discovery he is recognized as a world class scientist, traveling to America and Europe. • Slide: Athlit: Aaronsohn’s success enables him to raise funds to build an agricultural experiment station at Athlit, about 10 miles south of Haifa on the Palestine coast. It’s near the Aaronsohn home at Zichron Ya’akov. The station is run by a small team of professional scientists and members of Aaronsohn’s family, notably his younger sisters Rivka and Sarah. The station provides an enormous amount of data and serves as a model for dry farmers in the United States and throughout the world. At Hadera, a town further south, Aaronsohn establishes a branch of the experiment station and puts in charge his friend Avshalom Feinberg, thirteen years younger than Aaron, who is in love with Aaron’s sister Rivka. • Slide: World War I – Palestine: In 1914, Turkey joins the Central Powers in the war against the Allies. While life in Palestine has never been good under the Turks, conditions grow far worse. The Jews are especially badly treated, and hundreds are deported to Egypt. Aaronsohn says: “No enemy ever more ruined an invaded, conquered country and ill-treated its inhabitants than the Turks ruined the country and ill-treated the inhabitants of Syria and Palestine.” He hears stories of massacres of Armenians and worries a massacre might be in store for the Jews. All this strengthens his ZIONISM 101 SERIES | ZIONISMU.COM | NILI Lesson 25/NILI | 2 conviction that the best chance for the Jewish people is if Britain conquers Palestine. • Slide: Djemal Pasha: Aaronsohn attempts to alleviate the suffering of the Jews. As a scientist he’s able to arrange a meeting with Djemal Pasha, Minister of the Navy and later Governor of Syria who leads the Turkish forces in Palestine against Britain. Aaronsohn’s status rises when a locust invasion plagues the country and Djemal calls in Aaronsohn to deal with the problem. Aaronsohn will later use this to his advantage when another locust attack threatens and he convinces Djemal Pasha to give him and his men the right to roam the country at will, giving them the ability to observe the movements of soldiers and military equipment. • Slide: Aaronsohn’s Plan: In the spring of 1915, after much soul-searching, Aaronsohn hatches a plan to help the British conquer Palestine from the Turks. He explains his decision in a letter dated October 1916 to Judge Julian W. Mack, a leading American Jew whom he befriended during a visit to the U.S.: “As long as our lives, at least, were safe under the Turkish misrule, I did not feel the right to take a hand in the destruction of the Turks. But when it became clear to me, above the shadow of a possible doubt, that our lives depended on the caprices of a Djemal, or any other Turk suffering from sadism, then I felt the strong duty to draw the conclusions, and that I did.” • Slide: Bad Relations: Unfortunately, Aaronsohn’s relations with the Jewish community in Palestine are not good. There is bad blood already prior to the war over a decision he made to pass over a popular physician to serve as the head of a public health institute to battle malaria. Aaronsohn had very good reasons for appointing someone else but he is blamed for his decision. When the community becomes aware that Aaronsohn is the only one who can reach Djemal Pasha, they swallow their dislike and call a meeting asking for help. However, Aaronsohn acts arrogantly at the meeting, antagonizing the leaders still further. Then there is hostility between his family and the Second Aliya pioneers because he employs Arab laborers at Athlit. They believe only Jewish laborers should be hired. They also know that he’s anti-socialist. Pent-up anger toward Aaronsohn will vent itself later against his spy network. • Slide: Aaronsohn’s Network: Aaronsohn begins building a network including his colleagues, family and friends. There are his younger brother and sister Alexander and Rivka and most important his trusted deputy Avshalom Feinberg. They decide the best way they can help Britain is by providing her with intelligence about the Turks. The question is how to make contact with the British. ZIONISM 101 SERIES | ZIONISMU.COM | NILI Lesson 25/NILI | 3 • Slide: Making Contact: They decide to send Alexander to Egypt to contact the British. He will take Rivka with him and from there they will go to the U.S. Aaron wants his brother and especially his sister Rivka out of danger. But the British refuse to believe there are people in Palestine willing to help without payment. Part of the problem is the British officer Alex ended up meeting is an Arabist whose mind is closed to Zionist ideas. The officer recommends to his superiors that Alex and his sister Rivka be ordered to leave the country. They continue their journey to America. In the meantime Aaron and his deputy Avshalom have no idea what has happened and decide that Avshalom should try next. He travels to Egypt, meets with a more receptive British officer and has better luck convincing the British. It’s agreed that a ship will periodically sail off shore and communicate with Aaronsohn via signals. But the British don’t follow up. Avshalom tries twice more to get to Egypt through Sinai but fails. • Slide: Sarah Aaronsohn: At the end of 1915, Aaron’s sister Sarah returns from Constantinople, where she had been living, to Zichron Ya’akov. Sarah tells Aaron of what she’d seen on the three-week train trip -- the mass murder of the Armenians. As one historian writes: “Already committed to work for the defeat of Turkey, Aaronsohn was now confronted by the gruesome new evidence of the validity of his fears for the future of the Jewish community.” By early 1916, Sarah is inducted into the spy ring and takes an active role. • Slide: Mission to Britain: With no further word from the British in Egypt, Aaron resolves to go straight to England. His pretext for going to Europe is a scientific mission. He leaves the running of Athlit station in Avshalom’s hands. He reaches England in October 1916. • Slide: British Suspicions: With so much time lost – his permission to leave Turkey was delayed for over a month in Constantinople – Aaron urges the British to take immediate action. But he finds them suspicious that he is a double-agent. He shares with them some of the information that he has amassed. They are eventually convinced that his offer to help is genuine. A report of Aaron’s material is sent to the British general headquarters in Cairo. They are impressed and request his presence in Egypt. But British suspicions have delayed things by many weeks. • Slide: Egypt: Aaron reaches Egypt on December 12, 1916, five months after having left Zichron Ya’akov. Aaron and the British military come up with a plan of communication with the experiment station at Athlit – a British boat will approach the experiment station under cover of night and enable the transfer of intelligence. ZIONISM 101 SERIES | ZIONISMU.COM | NILI Lesson 25/NILI | 4 • Slide: Tragic Loss: On January 29th, Aaronsohn learns devastating news. His close friend and deputy Avshalom Feinberg is dead – shot by Bedouin while trying to cross the Sinai into Egypt. Sarah had pleaded with him not to go, but Feinberg had run out of patience with the long delay without word from Aaron. He had taken along a friend, Yosef Lishansky. In the Sinai they were attacked by rifle fire from 30 or 40 Bedouin. Lishansky himself was shot twice in the attack. Left for dead he was found by an Australian patrol. It’s from Lishansky that Aaron learns what had happened. Aaron blames the British for his friend’s death. If not for their suspicions and delays, Feinberg would still be alive. • Slide: Nili: Only two days later, the first successful mission to Athlit is made. The S.S. Managem sails to the experiment station with Aaron aboard. He can’t get off the boat as he mustn’t be seen on land but he does reestablish contact with his sister Sarah. It’s on this trip that one of the spy ring’s members, Liova Schneierson, comes up with a name for the group. He calls it NILI, an acronym of the line in the book of Samuel: Netzach Yisrael lo yeshaker (The eternity of Israel will not lie). He finds it by placing his finger randomly in the Bible where he comes across the line. • Slide: Sarah’s Leadership: With Feinberg dead, Aaronsohn appoints his sister Sarah in charge of Nili in Palestine. Yosef Lishansky will act as her deputy. She proves an extremely capable leader. Aaron sends instructions and requests to Sarah who passes them on to Lishansky, who shares them with agents in the field.