MASARYK UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF SOCIAL STUDIES Department of International Relations and European Studies

Study Field International Relations

The Influence of on the Establishment of the State

Bachelor's thesis

Veronika Frankovská

Supervisor: PhDr. Vladimír Černý, PhD. UČO: 333308 Study Field: MV-ZU Year of Enrollment: 2008 Brno, 2011 I hereby declare that I wrote the submitted work “The Influence of Czechoslovakia on the Establishment of the State Israel” on my own, and that the only data and sources I used are mentioned in the thesis.

Brno, the 2nd of May 2011 …………………………………. Veronika Frankovská

2 I would like to thank my supervisor PhDr. Vladimír Černý, PhD. for his guidance, advice and encouragement throughout the writing of my Bachelor’s thesis.

3 Table of Contents

1. Introduction ...... 5 2. Historical context...... 7 2.1 Jews and the Czechoslovak Republic...... 7 2.2 T. G. Masaryk and the support of ...... 9 3. The fight for a Jewish state...... 11 3.1 The attitude of the world towards the establishment of the Jewish state...... 11 3.2 Diplomatic support of the USSR and Czechoslovakia...... 12 3.3 The situation of Jews in Czechoslovakia and the reasons behind the support...... 15 3.4 Jewish refugees and emigrants...... 16 4. On the brink of war...... 19 4.1 The official stance of the Powers and UN...... 19 4.2 Czechoslovakia agrees to help...... 20 4.3 Specifications of the military aid...... 23 4.4 The transports of the shipments...... 24 4.5 The international reaction on arms sales...... 26 5. The change towards cold relations...... 28 6. How Israel perceives the help of Czechoslovakia today...... 31 7. Conclusion ...... 33 8. Bibliography and sources...... 35

4 1. Introduction

Czechoslovakia and Israel are connected in various eras of their history and the relations between the states are very warm in the present. In my work, I focus on the essential collaboration of these two countries before the actual establishment of the State Israel, which contributed to the founding of the state itself and enabled Israel to survive the first test of its complicated future – the War of Independence, called “The Catastrophe” by Arabs, when it had to face united surrounding Arabian countries and did so successfully.

The major inspiration to this work was given by the Israeli ambassador in , His Excellency Yaakov Levi, who spoke of T. G. Masaryk with great respect – even greater than our own country often does – during his presentation at Masaryk University. Most of the students listening to him were unaware of the close ties between Czechoslovakia and Israel. I believe that this knowledge should become much more common, what can be achieved if the issue is opened and discussed. At the same time, it should not be narrowed down and simplified to a selfless act of help which was put to an end by the communist coup ďétat in February 1948, as often mistakenly presented. The aim of my work is to try and explain the reasons and motives that led to the support of Israel and offer various perspectives on the issue.

The theme of Czechoslovakia and Israel was thoroughly described in a monograph by Moshe Yegar, former Israeli ambassador in Prague, titled “Czechoslovakia, Zionism, Israel”, written in 1997. A very good source is also a study by Karel Kaplan, “Czechoslovakia and Israel in Years 1947 – 1953”, which was published along with a work by Jiří Dufek and Vladimír Šlosar on “Czechoslovak Material and Technical Assistance to Israel” in 1993. Another academic who was well educated in this issue was professor Vladimír Nálevka. This historian, specialized on Latin America and modern history, was participating in a very interesting interview on the topic that I also use as a source of information. Unfortunately, he passed away on the 6th of June 2010. I didn't have the chance to contact him but it made me feel that it is even more pressing to increase the awareness of this part of our history among the younger generation. In search of information about some parts of the Czechoslovak support of Israel and to clear out ambiguities, I did research in the archives of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of and I found lots of valuable material in there.

5 The first part of the work introduces the situation of Jews in Czechoslovak republic and puts the Czechoslovak-Israeli relations into historical context. The Jews experienced a change in their position with the establishment of an independent Czechoslovak republic, as the Constitution of Czechoslovakia from year 1920 officially recognized Jewish nationality and their minority rights.

I purposely avoid the era of the World War II (WWII), as it is a complicated part in history of both Jewish nation and Czechoslovakia and the connections and influences are few and irrelevant for the purpose of the work. The fight for the Jewish state was fully resumed after the war had ended. Thus the next part of the work summarizes the situation of establishment of the independent State Israel and the Czechoslovak diplomatic support on the grounds of United Nations General Assembly. It also covers the situation of Jews in Czechoslovakia and neighboring countries, and their emigration to Palestine.

Even more essential than the diplomatic support was the material help; The Israeli lacked properly armed army and were fully aware that the Arabian countries plan to attack after the withdrawal of the British troops from the region. However, USA, followed by UN, imposed an arms embargo on Middle East. Czechoslovakia was one of the few countries that was willing to deal with the Jewish Agency, who represented the Jewish nation until the founding of the state, and to provide the needed weapons and aircrafts.

The final parts of the work briefly cover the years that followed in which the relations of Czechoslovakia and Israel deteriorated under the influence of international factors, mainly the shift of stance of USSR towards Israel, and the era after the when they became positive again.

6 2. Historical context

2.1 Jews and the Czechoslovak Republic

Jewish communities have been present in the territories of future Czechoslovakia since the beginning of the second millennium. They have been discriminated and given advantages, persecuted or supported, depending on the ruler and the country's situation, and very often the target of hatred among the Christian population. But Jews living in diaspora had little option but to accept such treatment. The community in the 17th century Prague consisted of 10,000 people, which was a remarkable number for its time. The breaking point of the ways of their life was the rule of Joseph II, who issued the Patent of Toleration in 1781.1 This royal edict extended religious freedom to non-Catholic Christian churches, but it also improved the situation of Jews: they were allowed to pursue all branches of commerce. However, they were required to found German-language primary schools or send their children to Christian schools, which led to a majority of Jews speaking German. Throughout the 19th century, Jews were getting more and more integrated into the society and the permission to move into cities made them a typical urban population. They fought for their rights in the 1848 revolution and their position improved after the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, when Judaism was finally declared equal to all religions and churches.2

The shield that the Habsburg monarchy provided and their German background made Jews loyal supporters of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In the Czech lands, most of their culture and the above-mentioned education stemmed from the German culture and was closely interconnected. Therefore it came as no surprise that Jewish minority didn't welcome the split of the monarchy at the end of (WWI). The chaos it brought to cities meant the hazard of riots and pogroms for them, as often any kind of change in government did. It took them a while to get accustomed to the newborn Czechoslovak republic and start trusting it.3

But the Paris peace conference and the Fourteen points of American president Woodrow Wilson gave Jews good grounds to form positive relations with the new state. Inspired by the Austrian Jews, National Jewish Council was established in Prague on the 22nd of October 1918, led by Ludwig Singer. On the 28th of October, the day when the independent

1 Grell, Ole Peter; Porter, Roy. Toleration in Enlightment Europe. In Grell, Ole Peter; Porter, Roy. Toleration in Enlightment Europe. Cambridge : University Press, 2000, p. 14. 2 Pěkný, Tomáš: Historie Židů v Čechách a na Moravě. Praha : Sefer, 2001, p. 131. 3 Salner, Peter. Mozaika židovskej Bratislavy. : Marenčin PT, 2007, p. 30.

7 Czechoslovak republic was declared, Ludwig Singer and Max Brod met the representatives of the state and presented a memorandum about the Jewish situation, asking for equality, cultural autonomy in education, teaching in Hebrew and the possibility to develop relations with the settlements in Palestine. All these demands were accepted and integrated into the Czechoslovak Constitution from the 29th of February 1920 and it made Czechoslovakia the first republic to officially recognize Jewish nationality. What was even more important, according to the Constitution nationality was based upon decision, not upon language. Majority of Jews in Czechoslovakia spoke Czech or German, not Yiddish, let alone Hebrew. President T. G. Masaryk explains this approach as principal: as Czechoslovak nation4 itself asks for independence and recognition, it cannot deny the same to the nation of Jews. The egoistic reasoning behind it, however, included that fact that it led to weakening the German and Hungarian minority; many Jews in the territory of Czechoslovakia spoke only German or Hungarian and they would be forced to register as a part of one of these minorities.5 The National Jewish Council held a conference for Jewish youth from the 3rd to the 6th of June 1919 and on this conference, Jewish party of Czechoslovakia was founded – the first political party to represent the interests of Jews. It had no direct connection to Zionism, but the relations were friendly.

In 1918 and immediately after the war, there have been unrests, especially in and regarding the refugees from the region of Halič (Galicia), but they calmed down when the government reinforced its power over the country. There have also been protests at the occasion of naming a third Jewish minister in 1920, but that was also the last case of such a public display of hate towards Jews until 1938. “It can be said that that Czechoslovakia between the world wars was less anti-Semitic than other countries,” claims Moshe Yegar, the former Israeli ambassador in Prague and the author of the book Czechoslovakia, Zionism, Israel.6

4 T. G. Masaryk was a supporter of Czechoslovakism, the movement stating that all the inhabitants of Bohemia, Moravia, and Slovakia are of one nationality. On this he based the founding of the Czechoslovak republic, where the Czechoslovak nation had a majority of population (65,5% in 1921). Nálevka, Vladimír. Světová politika ve 20. století (I.). Praha : Nakladatelství Aleš Skřivan ml., 2000, p. 16. 5 Yegar, Moshe. Československo, sionizmus, Izrael. Praha : Victoria Publishing and East publishing, 1997, p. 25. 6 Ibid, p. 26.

8 2.2 T. G. Masaryk and the support of Zionism

The Zionist movement was popular among Jews in Czech lands since its founding in 1897. By the end of 1919, the first Czechoslovak Zionist Conference took place, to organize the various Zionist societies that sprung up all around the country. The most important of them was a youth club called Tchelet Lavan, which meant “White and Blue” in Hebrew, and its activities included an agricultural training for emigration to Palestine. Even more active in this field was a left-wing organization Ha-Shomer Hatzair (Young Guardian), members of which later founded Kfar Masaryk in the land that was to become Israel.7 The state was supportive to these societies and it didn't restrict Zionism in any way. It was only the Munich conference in 1938 and its consequences that rapidly changed the life of Jews in Czechoslovakia.

Several congresses of the World Zionist Organization took place in Czechoslovakia: the 12th World Zionist Congress in September 1921 in Carlsbad (which was important, as it was the first Zionist congress after WWI and Balfour Declaration), the 13th World Zionist Congress in August 1923 in Carlsbad as well, and the 18th World Zionist Congress in August and September 1933 in Prague.8 Since 1926, Czechoslovakia had a consulate open in Jerusalem. In 1935 it was promoted to general consulate.9

An important figure to contribute to the positive relationship between Czechoslovak republic and its Jewish minority, the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish settlements in Palestine was president Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk himself. His first public defense of Jews is connected to the infamous “Hilsner affair”.10 Masaryk himself claims though, according to Moshe Yegar, that “he didn't get engaged in the affair because of some kind of philo- Semitism, but because of the feeling of humanism and because of worries that the superstitions such as the ones about a ritual murder will put the Czech nation to shame.”11

7 Baláž, Anton. Transporty nádeje. Bratislava : Marenčin PT , 2010, p. 53. 8 The Hagashama Department WZO. 12 February 2003. Doing Zionism - The Zionist Congresses. Available at: http://www.hagshama.org.il/doingzionism/resources/view.asp?id=1248 . 9 Klimek, Antonín; Kubů, Eduard. Československá zahraniční politika 1918-1938. Kapitoly z dějin mezinárodních vztahů. Praha : Institut pro středoevropskou kulturu a politiku, 1995, p. 108. 10 The “Hilsner affair” is the most publicized of the many cases of trials with Jews for ritual murder that took place in the 19th century in the Austro-Hungarian empire. Leopold Hilsner was accused of murdering a Chritstian girl Anežka Hrůzová for religious reasons. In 1899, he was sentenced to death. Masaryk published a work in 1900, where he asked for appeal and reevaluation of the case, in consequence of which the sentence was changed to imprisonment for life. Frankl, Michal."Emancipace od židů" : český antisemitismus na konci 19. století. Praha : Paseka, 2007, p. 281. More information about the case can be found in: Kovtun, Jiří: Tajuplná vražda. Případ Leopolda Hilsnera. Praha : Sefer, 1994. 11 Yegar, Moshe. Československo, sionizmus, Izrael. Praha : Victoria Publishing and East publishing, 1997, p. 19.

9 In 1883, he published a book where he wrote that he believes that Jews are an independent nation and that he doesn't agree with assimilation. When Theodore Herzl published his work titled Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State) in 1897 and thus founded Zionism, Masaryk supported the movement and although he was skeptic about the plan of the Jewish return to Palestine, he saw it as a national movement that will greatly improve the situation of Jews living in various countries. In a newspaper that his party published, he was regularly informing about the Zionist movement and its advances. He also approved of the Balfour declaration and considered it a wise decision of British administration.

During WWI, when Masaryk was fighting for his own state, his connections to prominent figures of Zionism in America helped him gain the trust of president Woodrow Wilson. His Excellency Yaakov Levi, the Israeli ambassador in Prague, along with Moshe Yegar, says that it was therefore natural for Czechoslovakia and its representatives to support Zionism and establishment of the Jewish state, State Israel, in return.12

In 1927, Masaryk paid a memorable visit to Palestine. It was his first longer visit abroad after WWI and more importantly, the first visit of a head of a state to Palestine. He traveled in his 77 years, accompanied by his daughter Alice. Although he expressed doubt that the Jews will successfully deal with the Arab resistance, or that the British actually do plan to build a Jewish state in Palestine, he appreciated the Zionist work in Palestine.13

12 Ibid, p. 21. 13 Ibid, p. 41.

10 3. The fight for a Jewish state

3.1 The attitude of the world towards the establishment of the Jewish state

The roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be found mostly in the beginning of the 20th century. The rising nationalism and anti-Semitism of 19th century led to increased interest in the “Jewish question”. Theodore Herzl inspired waves of emigration into Palestine, as the new movement of Zionism claimed that Jews can only be content in a state of their own, not in attempts to assimilate with other nations. At that time, the “Holy Land” was a part of the Ottoman empire, until the Great Arab Revolt supported by the United Kingdom ended the Turkish hegemony in the region of Middle East and Palestine became a Mandate territory of the League of Nations under the administration of United Kingdom in 1918. However, United Kingdom played a complicated game with both Jews and Arabs during WWI – in order to keep the favour of both sides against the Central powers, and due to various lobbying pressures, Arabs and Jews alike were promised a country of their own in the territory of Palestine.14

Between the wars, the situation between Jews and Arabs worsened. What appeared to be a potential for cooperation and peaceful coexistence of two nations when the agreement between Chaim Weizzman and emir Fajsal was signed on the 3rd of January 191915, turned into an escalating conflict consisting of minor and major riots and violence, reaching its peak during the Arab revolt in Palestine from 1936 to 1939.

British administration tried to control the Jewish immigration, restricting it by White Paper issued in 1939.16 During the war, the years of persecution of Jews, United Kingdom didn't loosen its strict rules, in an effort not to lose the favor of Arabs and in fear that they might join Hitler's side. Not even the victory softened the British stance: the White Paper wasn't withdrawn despite the thousands of Jews who survived , living in undignified conditions in refugee camps, and many more who sought new life in Palestine – the bitter experience of war made the desire for a Jewish national state, that would take care of its people and defend them, much stronger.

14 Čejka, Marek. Izrael a Palestina. Brno: Barrister & Principal, 2008, p. 35. 15 Ibid, p. 37. 16 Ibid, p. 50.

11 3.2 Diplomatic support of the USSR and Czechoslovakia

The major figures in Czechoslovak politics were publicly in favour of the establishment of the Jewish state. President Edvard Beneš empowered Angelo Goldstein, a former Member of Parliament from Tel Aviv, to release his official statement on the issue in April 1946:

“My stance to Zionism remains unchanged. (…) I consider the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine the only possible and just solution to the world Jewish question. Therefore I will help to its realization whenever I get the opportunity. I was in touch with professor Weizmann during the war and I understood his stance and his tactics and I completely approved of it.”17

The president's opinion was openly known, as was the stance of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jan Masaryk. The son of first Czechoslovak president not only continued in his father's steps, but he was also a personal friend of Chaim Weizzman since the 30's18 and a great supporter of the cause, which was shown especially in his approach to Jewish emigrants to Palestine after WWII. During the war years, London was broadcasting programmes once every two weeks where Masaryk talked about the danger of Germans and the genocide of the Jewish nation. He encouraged people to help the persecuted Jews and warned those who cooperated with Nazis that they will be punished after the war.19 The third important actor in the relations between Israel and Czechoslovakia was Vladimír Clementis, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and, after Jan Masaryk's death in , the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Czechoslovak republic. In Slovakia, his friend Daniel Okáli had the position of the Commissioner of Interior and he was responsible for the essential decisions about emigration to Palestine that concerned the territory of Slovakia.

The support of Czechoslovakia would have never been so essential if it hadn't been backed up by the USSR. The relationship between this Power and Zionists, though, was problematic from the start. Back at the beginning of the 20th century, communists and Zionists of Russia were fighting for the same target group of population – the Jewish minority in Russia, which consisted of approximately half a million people. Although the differences between these two

17 Dufek, Jiří; Bulínová, Marie. Československo a Izrael v letech 1945 - 1956 : Dokumenty. Praha : Ústav pro soudobé dějiny AV ČR, 1993, p. 60. 18 Fingerland, Jan. Rozhlas.cz. 13 February 2010. Česká republika a Izrael. Available at: http://www.rozhlas.cz/komentare/portal/_zprava/694277 . 19 Yegar, Moshe. Československo, sionizmus, Izrael. Praha : Victoria Publishing a East publishing, 1997, p. 60.

12 movements weren't so visible, Marxism–Leninism sought to present Zionism in darker light, comparing it to Fascism after WWI. It didn't even recognize Jews as an independent nation.20

The shift in their relations came with increased interest of USSR in the region of Middle East during WWII. The first contacts between Zionists and USSR were made even before USSR declared war on Germany – and this act had made them easier. Chaim Weizzman and David Ben Gurion themselves were frequently meeting the Soviet ambassador in London, Ivan Mayski, persuading the Russians that there is no real antagonism between Zionism and communism to speak of, and negotiating the Russian approval of emigration of Polish Jews to Palestine.21 In return for bringing Zionist memorandum to Moscow, Mayski asked Ben Gurion to intervene in America for help for Russia, regarding military material and financial aid.

After the end of WWII, USSR made repeated efforts to establish its influence in the Middle East region, failing to do so in Iran and in Turkey. Palestine was the last territory where it could play a part – at the same time, a territory under the rule of United Kingdom. USSR's general politics was to wait and rely on the problems between UK and USA, however, it turned out to be unsuccessful in this case – while USA didn't agree with UK policy in Palestine, it was determined not to let USSR get any influence in the region. At that time, Zionists and USSR became allies out of sharing a common enemy. Their aim was to force UK to leave the region – an effort that has been successful, if not directly because of their influence, but under circumstances of the economic crisis that followed the exhausting war. UK gave up its desperate clinging to the position of a colonial power, adapting to the new tendencies on the field of international relations. On the 25th of February 1947, the British prime minister Clement Atlee delivered a speech in which he let the solution of the

22 „Palestinian question“ to UN.

On this impulse, a special session of UN General Assembly was called from the 28 th April to the 15th May 1947, to solve the Palestine question. It was Czechoslovakia, Poland and USSR, who put through that the General Assembly hears the representatives of Jewish Agency as well. The most surprising part of the session was the speech of Andrey Gromyko, the leader of the USSR delegation, who spoke passionately of the need of an independent Jewish state, using many arguments that Zionists often would.23

20 Rucker, Laurent. Stalin, Izrael a Židé. Praha : Rybka Publihers, 1997, p. 15. 21 Ibid, p. 46. 22 Čejka, Marek. Izrael a Palestina. Brno: Barrister & Principal, 2008, p. 65. 23 Rucker, Laurent. Stalin, Izrael a Židé. Praha : Rybka Publihers, 1997, p. 71.

13 On the 15th of May, a day after Gromyko's speech, UN General Assembly adopted resolution no. 106, creating the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) for the purpose of “ascertaining and recording facts, and investigating all questions and issues

24 relevant to the problem of Palestine”. Consisting of delegates from Australia, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Guatemala, India, Iran, Netherlands, Peru, Sweden, Uruguay and Yugoslavia, its activity started on July 16th 1947 when arriving to Jerusalem. The Czechoslovak representative was Karel Lisický. The Committee interviewed the representatives of government, Jewish institutions, including the Sephardi Jews, but they also met and heard Anglican bishop, Scottish bishop and a catholic priest. Hearing the other side of the barricade was, however, much more difficult. The Arab Higher Committee announced a boycott against UNSCOP and no parts of the Arab society were willing to communicate with UNSCOP and let them hear their stance.25

As Czechoslovakia was well in the Soviet sphere of influence, Gromyko's speech allowed them to engage fully into the fight for the Jewish state. In August 1947, representatives of Communist parties of the eastern block met in Warsaw and concluded that they are going to support, both politically and materially, the Jewish effort to build an independent state.26 The government of Czechoslovakia had the question of Palestine on its program on August 27th and September 9th 1947. The first meeting indicated the general positive attitude towards the partition of Palestine, supported by both Jan Masaryk and (the prime minister and the chairman of the Czechoslovak communist party). The second meeting addressed the instructions for the Czechoslovak delegation in the UN General Assembly. Except for determined support for the partition plan, the instructions included a task for the Minister of Interior to gain the votes of other Slavic countries, namely Yugoslavia, who at the time opposed the partition.27

The UNSCOP investigation led to proposing termination of the mandate and a solution of the situation consisting of establishing two separate independent states – a Jewish one and an Arab one. Czechoslovakia officially declared its support for partition plan on the 13th of October 1947.28 Arab states strongly objected against the plan, even threatening to wage a war against Israel, but it didn’t change the result of the vote of the General Assembly that was 24 UN General Assembly Resolution no. 106 from May 15 1947. Available at: http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/310&Lang=E . 25 Archive of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Czech republic (Archiv Ministerstva zahraničných věcí České republiky, AMZV), Teritoriální odbory – obyčejné, 1945 – 59, Palestina, box 2, no. 164343/II.6/47. 26 Brož, Ivan. Arabsko-izraelské války. Praha : Epocha, 2005, p. 23. 27 Kaplan, Karel. Československo a Izrael v letech 1947 – 1953. In Československo a Izrael 1947 - 1953 : Studie. Brno : Doplněk, 1993, p. 11. 28 Rucker, Laurent. Stalin, Izrael a Židé. Praha : Rybka Publihers, 1997, p.75.

14 carried out on the 29th of November 1947 and resulted in adopting the General Assembly resolution no. 18129: the partition of Palestine was approved by a high ratio of 33 votes in favour to 13 against.30

3.3 The situation of Jews in Czechoslovakia and the reasons behind the support

One of the things that must be noted in order to see the more realistic motives behind the support of a Jewish state in Palestine is the decision of president Beneš to make a national state out of Czechoslovakia. On the 2nd of July 1945 he announced that the negative historical experience with the German and Hungarian minority in the first republic led him to a decision not to support minorities and their rights any further. Among other steps in this direction, he issued presidential decrees which led to the infamous transfers of Germans out of the territory of Czechoslovakia. Regarding Jews, his stance was very simple: they could either decide to assimilate, speak and accept the Czechoslovak culture, or they could leave – the best solution to the problem appeared to be emigration into Palestine.31

Most of the Jews who survived the camps and came home didn't have it easy. The above- mentioned transfers of people who were registered to the German nationality also included many Jews, as they spoke German and thus considered themselves a part of German minority before the war. This issue is a subject of criticism of the government of Czechoslovakia.32 In its defense, some of these Jews wanted to move to Germany voluntarily, and asked Dr. Lev Zelmanovits from the World Zionist Organization to address the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with a request of a permission to emigrate to the American zone.33

The Czechoslovak government itself, including the communist ministers, was openly against anti-Semitism; it was, however, sometimes not enough to make sure all the official regulations were followed all over the country, at all levels of administration. Slovak national council did not accept the validity of the presidential decree from the 19th of May 194534 and

29 UN General Assembly Resolution no. 181 from November 29 1947. Available at: http://daccess-dds- ny.un.org/doc/RESOLUTION/GEN/NR0/038/88/IMG/NR003888.pdf?OpenElement. 30 Čejka, Marek. Izrael a Palestina. Brno: Barrister & Principal, 2008, p. 68. 31 Yegar, Moshe. Československo, sionizmus, Izrael. Praha : Victoria Publishing and East publishing, 1997, p. 61. 32 AMVZ, Teritoriální odbory – obyčejné, 1945 – 59, Palestina, box 2, no. Z/B – 3515/39-16/10-46 from the 11th of November 1946. 33 AMVZ, Teritoriální odbory – obyčejné, 1945 – 59, Palestina, box 2, no. ZB – 3559/416 from November 28 1946: Věc: Emigrace čs. občanů židovského původu, německé národnosti (Subject: Emigration of Czechoslovak citizens of Jewish orgin, German nationality) 34 Decree of the President of the Republic no. 5/1945 from May 19, 1945 concerning the invalidity of some transactions involving property rights from the time of lack of freedom and concerning the National Administration of property assets of Germans, Hungarians, traitors and collaborators and of certain

15 in the fight of the law system regarding the national administration issued its own regulation instead. The Slovak version of the regulation didn't state the duty to return the aryanized property. The impulse to enforce the presidential decree in Slovakia was a brutal pogrom in Topoľčany in September 1945. The lack of the institutional refusal of anti-Semitism was shown when the local authorities asked the soldiers in the town to pacify the crowd attacking a Jewish doctor, but around 20 of the soldiers joined the attackers instead, pretending to take the Jews to the police station they led them directly to the raging mob.35

Another, more serious example, is a convention of partisans that took place from the 1st to the 4th of August 1946 in Bratislava. The city administration made a mistake, as they called in army to reinforce the police forces and help maintain civil order only on the fourth day, when most of the partisans were expected to come for a manifestation. But the groups of partisans arrived sooner and as they were getting drunk for free in some of the many pubs in Bratislava, they initiated riots against Jews in the city. Kaplan argues that the riots were preceded by an anti-Semitic campaign and that although Ministry of Interior ordered to investigate the case and discipline the culprits, surprisingly few ended up arrested. One of possible reasons behind an organized action that Kaplan offers is that the partisans were connected to the Communist party, who could have been trying to increase its preferences among people.36 Another explanation according to Baláž is simply that the partisans, already hyped up to fight the “enemy of reaction”, but not understanding yet who this enemy really is, turned to the usual enemy – the Jews.37

3.4 Jewish refugees and emigrants

In other directions, the post-war support of Czechoslovak representatives towards Jews was visible and admirable. As soon as on the October 5th 1945, a Palestinian Agency (“Palestinský úřad”) was opened in Josefovská street 7 – in the Jewish quarter of Prague. This branch of Jewish Agency published its own magazine to increase the awareness of the Jewish population of its options and its purpose was to keep records of and assist those who wanted

organizations and associations. (Dekret prezidenta republiky č. 5/1945 Sb., o neplatnosti některých majetkověprávních jednáni z doby nesvodoby a o národní správě majetkových hodnot Němců, Maďarů, zrádců a kolaborantů a některých organizací a ústavů. Jech, Karel; Kaplan, Karel (eds.). Dekrety prezidenta republiky 1940-1945. Dokumenty. Brno : Doplněk, 2002, p. 216-223.) 35 Baláž, Anton. Transporty nádeje. Bratislava : Marenčin PT , 2010, p. 31. 36 Kaplan, Karel. Československo a Izrael v letech 1947 – 1953. In Československo a Izrael 1947 - 1953 : Studie. Brno : Doplněk, 1993, p. 13. 37 Baláž, Anton. Transporty nádeje. Bratislava : Marenčin PT , 2010, p. 41.

16 to emigrate to Palestine.38 Palestinian Agency in Bratislava was opened in April 1946. Their activities were financed by the American Joint Distribution Committee. 39

Jan Masaryk had close ties to the underground organization Bricha (meaning Escape) that was helping the survivors of holocaust escape to Palestine (where the immigration was still restricted) and in October 1945, he decided to provide 9 trains for the organization to transport people from Polish border to Austria or the American zone in Germany. Altogether, approximately 94,000 emigrants crossed Czechoslovakia despite the British protests. And in June 1946, Bricha became a legally recognized organization cooperating with the Czechoslovak government.40

A pogrom in Kielce in Poland in July 1946, caused by a false rumour of Jews murdering a Polish boy41, initiated a mass wave of Jews fleeing from Poland to the West. Czechoslovakia decided to open its borders with Poland and granted the Polish Jews temporary residence in their journey to Palestine. Kaplan mentions a note from United Kingdom, in which UK asks Czechoslovakia not to allow Polish Jews to enter its territory, and not to allow those who were already in Czechoslovakia to leave illegally. Such an attempt for intervention had little impact. During the autumn 1946, approximately 125 thousand of Polish Jews who returned home from USSR were transported to the West through the territory of Czechoslovakia.

On the 16th of August 1946, Gottwald announced his promise to the Chief rabbi in Israel to the government, to assist with transfer of 750 Jewish children from Poland to France. The government agreed to issue all the required permits, counting on financial support of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA). And even though UNRRA didn't finance the transportation in the scale they had promised42, the Czechoslovak government did not stop its actions because of it. The overall expenses with the refugees that it had to cover exceeded 30 million CZK. Jan Masaryk called it a good investment: he hoped to earn the potential support of American Jews concerning a loan of 50 million USD from USA.43 On the 16th October 1946, though, the negotiations about the loan were canceled by

38 AMVZ, Teritoriální odbory – obyčejné, 1945 – 59, Palestina, box 2, no. 53.268: Zprávy z Palestinského úřadu (News from the Palestine Agency). 39 Baláž, Anton. Transporty nádeje. Bratislava: Marenčin PT , 2010, p. 65-67. 40 Yegar, Moshe. Československo, sionizmus, Izrael. Praha : Victoria Publishing and East publishing, 1997, p. 70. 41 Baláž, Anton. Transporty nádeje. Bratislava: Marenčin PT , 2010, p. 15. 42 Yegar, Moshe. Československo, sionizmus, Izrael. Praha : Victoria Publishing and East publishing, 1997, p. 73. 43 Baláž, Anton. Transporty nádeje. Bratislava : Marenčin PT , 2010, p. 17.

17 the Export-Import Bank and they were only renewed with the talks about Czechoslovakia joining the .44

At the same time, Czechoslovakia was quite liberal towards the Czechoslovak citizens who were interested in emigration to Palestine, although many did so only to get a passport and fly to America instead. After the establishment of the State Israel, many Arabs fled the country and Israel needed to fill their places with new immigrants. Ehud Avriel-Überall, the representative of Jewish Agency and later the first Israeli ambassador in Czechoslovakia, made an official request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 15th of November 1948, to allow emigration of 20,000 Jews from Czechoslovakia to Israel and in years 1948 and 1949, above 18,000 persons of Jewish origin did emigrate. This was again motivated by the vision of above-mentioned loan, as Überall wrote that the attitude towards it is positive and that Israel sends an expert to America to negotiate it.45 The loan was never given to Czechoslovakia, but Israel helped Czechoslovakia out of its complicated economic situation in another way.

The last wave of Jewish refugees fleeing through Czechoslovakia was when the Hungarian government prohibited Jewish emigration to Palestine in 1948 and by the beginning of 1949, the activities of the Central Zionist Union and all the organizations under it were prohibited. Daniel Okáli decided that the Hungarian Jews who cross the borders illegally will be transported among the Czechoslovak Jews to Israel.46

44 Prokš, Petr. Československo a Západ, 1945-1948 : vztahy Československa se Spojenými státy, Velkou Británií a Francií v letech 1945-1948. Praha : ISV, 2001, p. 109. 45 AMZV, Teritoriální odbory – tajné, fond Israel, box 1, folder 6, no. 419.481/54-AO/2 from the 25th of May 1954, referent: Barušek, Emigrace do Izraele od roku 1948 (Emigration to Israel since year 1948). 46 Baláž, Anton. Transporty nádeje. Bratislava : Marenčin PT , 2010, p. 132.

18 4. On the brink of war

4.1 The official stance of the Powers and UN

In accordance with the UN decision, United Kingdom announced the withdrawal of its forces from the Palestinian Mandate on the 15th of May 1948. As this day fell on Saturday, the day of establishment of the State Israel was set to be the 14th of May 1948.47 In short time after the announcement of the awaited Jewish state, it was recognized de facto48 by the USA (14th of May 1948) and de iure by the USSR (17th of May 1948).49 Czechoslovakia was the third

th 50 country to recognize State Israel de iure on the 19 of May 1948.

In spite of its repeatedly declared support, USA imposed an arms embargo upon Middle East that was published on the 5th of December 1947. This decision was reasoned by its preventive character.51 UN Security Council resolution no. 46 from the 17th of April 1948 called upon all nations to “refrain from importing or acquiring or assisting or encouraging the importation or acquisition of weapons and war materials.”52 The insufficiency of weapons in the region, however, did not stop the inevitable war; especially as Jordan and Iraq were more or less excluded from the embargo because of being supplied with arms by the United Kingdom.

Newborn Israel was very well aware that the celebration of its foundation is on the brink of war. Ever since the report and proposal of UNSCOP was released, the unrest, riots and armed fights in the settlements intensified. The Israelis also knew that they can't count on the British support despite its previous announcements and they were preparing for the war. The Jewish organization Hagana (meaning Defence), that was founded in 1920 to defend the Jewish community in Palestine against Arab attacks on settlements and later became the base of

47 Čejka, Marek. Izrael a Palestina. Brno: Barrister & Principal, 2008, p. 78. 48 The de iure recognition of the State Israel by USA was a result of a long political discussion and was only given on the 31th January 1949 long with the de iure recognition of Transjordan. Cohen, Michael Joseph. Truman and Israel. Berkeley : University of Carolina Press, 1990, p. 274. 49 Rucker, Laurent. Stalin, Izrael a Židé. Praha : Rybka Publihers, 1997, p. 89. 50 Kučera, Vladimír. ČT24.cz. 19 November 2007. Historie.cs (eu): Přítel Izrael. Available at: http://www.ct24.cz/textove-prepisy/historie-cs-eu/6627-pritel-izrael/ . 51 According to the words of Robert Lovett, US Undersecretary of State: "Otherwise the Arabs might use arms of U.S. origin against Jews, or Jews might use them against Arabs." United States Department of State Foreign relations of the United States, 1947 . The Near East and Africa. Washington DC : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1947, p. 1249. Available at: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/FRUS.FRUS1947v05 . The embargo was actually decided about on the 14th of November 1947, before the partition plan was approved and without the awareness of President Truman. Cohen, Michael Joseph. Truman and Israel. Berkeley : University of Carolina Press, 1990, p. 174. 52 UN Security Council resolution no. 46 from 17 April 1948. Available at: http://www.un.org/documents/sc/res/1948/scres48.htm .

19 current Israeli army, the Israeli Defence Force,53 was secretly smuggling British weapons during WWII. In the early riots and fights with Arabs, they used to get weapons by looting. Despite all the effort, the Israeli units weren't sufficiently armed against the outnumbering armies of the united Arabian countries, determined to „drive the Jews to the sea.“54 As soon as the UN General Assembly resolution no. 181 was approved, the agents of Hagana and Jewish Agency started to look for various sources of arms they could purchase and smuggle from countries in Europe.

According to the expectations, the Israeli-Arab war broke out. It had two phases: the first between the 14th of May and the 11th of June 1948, when the Israelis managed to stop the Arabian advancement, was ended by an ceasefire mediated by UN Peace Commission.55 The ceasefire was limited in time and the sides didn't react to proposals of its prolonging. The second phase of the war began on the 2nd of July and ended on the 19th of July 1948. This time Israelis drove back the Arabian armies, defeated them and occupied vast areas that didn't belong to Israel according to the original proposal of partition.56

4.2 Czechoslovakia agrees to help

Czechoslovakia was one of major arms producers in Europe between the wars and after it regained independence with the defeat of Germany, the arms industry continued in production and the country needed sales. Because of the more and more distinct division of the world under the spheres of influence, some of traditional markets for arms export were not available any more.57 The threat of decreasing of the arms industry was dangerous not only because it was an important branch of the country's economy, but it would also influence building and arming the Czechoslovak army. The only suitable solution that didn't include drastic measures such as subsidizing the arms industry from the state's budget or to actually import weapons

53 The Hagana - Official Site. Available at: http://www.hagana.co.il . 54 ČT24.cz. 7 May 2008 . 1948: Izraeli se splnil dávný sen. Available at: http://www.ct24.cz/kalendarium/14316-izraeli-se-splnil-davny-sen/. It is necessary to note, however, that the mentioned motto of the Arab countries is not anti-Semitic, but rather comes from claiming the right on the same territory. Professor of history Vladimír Nálevka sayis in an interview on the topic: „The Arab states (especially Iraq and Egypt) used the participation in war against Israel to cover their own internal problems and distract the public, as they were undergoing a political and economic crisis.“ Kučera, Vladimír. ČT24.cz. 19 November 2007. Historie.cs (eu): Přítel Izrael. Available at: http://www.ct24.cz/textove-prepisy/historie- cs-eu/6627-pritel-izrael/ . 55 UN Security Council Resolution no. 48 of April 23 1948. Available at : http://www.un.org/documents/sc/res/1948/scres48.htm 56 Čejka, Marek. Izrael a Palestina. Brno: Barrister & Principal, 2008, p. 78. 57 One of such cases, which is considerd the strongest blow, is the canceling of contracts with Argentina that was worth 13 081 000 USD that was initiated by USA. Dufek, Jiří; Šlosar, Vladimír. Československá materiálně technická pomoc Izraeli. In Československo a Izrael 1947 - 1953 : Studie. Brno : Doplněk, 1993, p. 113.

20 was to try and increase the export again, and the most important export sector of that time was Middle East.58

Jewish agency empowered Ehud Avriel-Überall and Otto Felix-Doron, a businessman with frequent contacts and travels to Czechoslovakia, to represent it in dealings with the Czechoslovak government. They met Jan Masaryk in November 1947, right after the session of UN General Assembly that approved of the partition. Jan Masaryk was understanding and willing to help, even pleased that it can be Czechoslovakia who will help future Israel in its fight.59 Direct meetings with the Czechoslovak arms factories followed soon afterwards, namely Zbrojovka Brno, Škoda and Avia. Israeli government also empowered Robert Adam Abramovici, a Romanian Jew who had contacts with the factories, to assist with the trade and deliveries.60

On the Czechoslovak side, the arms sales were under control of the Ministry of National Defense, and after February 1948, the decisions were made also at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Moscow was directly, though carefully, asked if they have no objections against such a trade. They reply merely stated that it is no problem as long as there are no political obstacles, such as the fascist regime in Spain.61 The consent of the whole Eastern block was crucial also because of the transportation of the shipments to Palestine.

The first delivery contract was signed on January 14, 1948, consisting of 4570 Mauser P-18 guns, 225 Spandau MG-34 light machine guns and more than 5 million pieces of ammunition. The sale was officially made to Habesh, the kingdom of Ethiopia, as the Jewish Agency had bought its letterhead paper, and it was worth approximately 750 000 USD, roughly equaling to 35 million CZK. Clementis asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Yugoslavia to allow the transport of the first load.62 There have also been contracts signed in the end of year 1947 and later in 1948 that were unofficial and it is not possible to track them or find any confirmation in the archives. Some deliveries were also made via third parties, particularly Argentina and Mexico.63

58 Ibid, p. 14. 59 Yegar, Moshe. Československo, sionizmus, Izrael. Praha : Victoria Publishing and East publishing, 1997, p. 88. 60 Dufek, Jiří; Šlosar, Vladimír. Československá materiálně technická pomoc Izraeli. In Československo a Izrael 1947 - 1953 : Studie. Brno : Doplněk, 1993, p. 122. 61 Kaplan, Karel. Československo a Izrael v letech 1947 – 1953. In Československo a Izrael 1947 - 1953 : Studie. Brno : Doplněk, 1993, p. 40. 62 Dufek, Jiří; Šlosar, Vladimír. Československá materiálně technická pomoc Izraeli. In Československo a Izrael 1947 - 1953 : Studie. Brno : Doplněk, 1993, p. 116. 63 Kaplan, Karel. Československo a Izrael v letech 1947 – 1953. In Československo a Izrael 1947 - 1953 : Studie. Brno : Doplněk, 1993, p. 41.

21 Jewish Agency also intervened and asked the Czechoslovak government not to sell weapons to Syria and the Arab world in general. Minister of Interior Václav Nosek, Vladimír Clementis and Jan Masaryk talked about the issue and their reply was that it would be more suitable for both sides if the Jewish organizations found the sales area for the weapons for Arabia64. This agreement was most likely successful, as the Ministry of National Defense issued a regulation forbidding the dealings of Czechoslovak arms factories about further shipments to Syria. Jiří Dufek and Vladimír Šlosar point out an interesting detail, that the regulation only concerns Syria and in case of other previous destinations of arms export in Arabia the tactics is rather evasive, and the contracts signed earlier were fulfilled. 65 Jan Masaryk and Klement Gottwald reason this decision and the choice of the side in the Middle East conflict not only politically, but also economically – although to support Arab countries might have been less complicated, Israel was not only willing to pay for much more arms shipments, but also paid in US dollars or British pounds, which were valuable and needed currencies at the moment.

In January 1948, Secretary D was established to manage the arms sales, although Zbrojovka a Škoda didn't want to accept it at first. After February 1948, when the factories were nationalized, the contracts were made with companies Kovo and Omnipol. The general strategy of Middle East export was concluded at a meeting of Clementis (by this time the Minister of Foreign Affairs), the general secretary of his ministry and Gottwald on the 11th of March 1948. They decided Czechoslovakia will not supply Turkey, Iran, Greece, China and Spain with arms. They also stated a condition: all weapons must be ordered by the official government and every transaction must be approved by the Ministry of National Defense. By that time, Palestine was already an exception.66 The whole action soon got a secret label – DI, standing for “Důvěrné Israel” (Confidential Israel).

The arms sales are often mistakenly presented as a matter of the year 1948, but the truth is that they continued (and basically started) after February 1948, after the official end of war in Israel, and they ended only in the last third of year 1950. The final termination of the shipments was a regulation issued on 14th of July 1950 by the Ministry of National Defense,

64 Ibid, p. 42. 65 Dufek, Jiří; Šlosar, Vladimír. Československá materiálně technická pomoc Izraeli. In Československo a Izrael 1947 - 1953 : Studie. Brno : Doplněk, 1993, p. 115. 66 Kaplan, Karel. Československo a Izrael v letech 1947 – 1953. In Československo a Izrael 1947 - 1953 : Studie. Brno : Doplněk, 1993, p. 40.

22 that forbade export of arms to Israel, and the arms factories only finished the previously made orders.67

4.3 Specifications of the military aid

During the year 1948, although the numbers are likely inaccurate due to lack of records, 34,500 Mauser P-18 guns with 20,000 bayonets and almost 50 million bullets, 5,515 Spandau MG-34 light machine guns with 10,000 ammo belts, 500 ZB-26 light machine guns, 900 ZB- 37 heavy machine guns and 500 CZ vz. 27 pistols with ammunition were sold to Israel. These first shipments of infantry weapons were easy to give up for Czechoslovakia, as they were either from the pre-war era or from the original production during the war years and early after.68 In 1948, the Czechoslovak army was already adapting to the Soviet standards and there was not much use for them, especially as some of them were incomplete or of limited amount.

In September 1949, when Israel was not in active war anymore, IDF became interested in more modern and customized types of weapons. On the 4th of November 1949, the Ministry of National Defense gave permission to contract for Zbrojovka, that included 200,000 P-18 guns (with custom construction modifications), 100 ZB-37 heavy machine guns and 1,500 – 4,000 ZB-26 light machine guns.69 It is hard to tell if this order was fully produced, but one hint in the direction of positive answer is given by Laurent Rucker, who cites David Ben Gurion noting that they received 40,000 guns and 2,500 machine guns, and that it was approximately one fourth of all the shipments in year 1950.70

Regarding the heavy machinery, Israel was permitted to buy much less than it originally asked for; Czechoslovakia wasn't willing to provide anti-tank cannons, anti-aircraft cannons and anti-aircraft machine guns. They signed contracts for mortars and howitzers, but many models turned out to be incomplete or not in the promised state, and in January 1949 the representatives of Czechoslovakia did not approve selling any heavy machinery at all. Israel was also interested in tanks, but the negotiations were canceled because the price was too high. Much more successful was the negotiation about fighter planes. The result of several meetings with the aircraft factories, headquarters of air force and Ministry of National

67 Ibid, p. 44. 68 Dufek, Jiří; Šlosar, Vladimír. Československá materiálně technická pomoc Izraeli. In Československo a Izrael 1947 - 1953 : Studie. Brno : Doplněk. 1993, p. 130. 69 Ibid, p. 132. 70 Rucker, Laurent. Stalin, Izrael a Židé. Praha : Rybka Publihers, 1997, p. 125.

23 Defense, were contracts for 25 Avia S-199 planes (modified German Messerschmitt Bf 109s with Jumo 211 engines instead of original Daimler Benz 605 engines) and 50 Spitfires Mk. IX. A contract for additional 9 Spitfires was signed in November 1949, but there is no evidence that they made it to Israel.71 The Spitfires, originally from UK, were sold mostly because of their used condition and because by that time an embargo was issued by the Western states, that prevented purchase of ammunition and components necessary for maintenance.

Another form of help was training of the future Israeli army soldiers in Czechoslovakia. The pilots were trained in České Budějovice, Olomouc a Hradec Králové, among others the future president of Israel Ezer Weizmann, mechanics were trained in Liberec, armour divisions in Mikulov and paratroopers in Stráž pod Ralskem. And a Jewish brigade was formed from the Czechoslovak volunteers of Jewish nationality in Libava.72 Projects for similar brigades were suggested also in other countries of the Eastern block, but they did not succeed.

4.4 The transports of the shipments

Another complicated matter to solve was how to manage the transportation of the arms shipments. Even though the transports via air, railway or sea were secret, masked and camouflaged as much as was possible, it was difficult to find a safe route from Czechoslovakia to Israel. The first routes through Western Europe proved to be too dangerous and unreliable. Later, the most used and safest route led through and Yugoslavia, as the Israeli government had made and agreement with these two states. From Yugoslavia, the transports went directly to Israel or by a ship to some African port. Almost all the transport was provided by the company Intrasped, that became Metrans after the 1st of January 1949.73

71 Dufek, Jiří; Šlosar, Vladimír. Československá materiálně technická pomoc Izraeli. In Československo a Izrael 1947 - 1953 : Studie. Brno : Doplněk. 1993, p., 133 – 151. 72 Kučera, Vladimír. ČT24.cz. 19 November 2007. Historie.cs (eu): Přítel Izrael. Available at: http://www.ct24.cz/textove-prepisy/historie-cs-eu/6627-pritel-izrael/ . 73 Dufek and Šlosar mention an example of one of the first deliveries, shipped on the 31st of March 1948 by Intrasped from Praha-Ruzyně. 130 crates of weapons and ammunition, weighing over 7 tons, were boarded to a plane of Northern Airlines and labeled as “scrap iron”. The plane had no announced course, the route and the place of landing was given only during the flight by a representative of Jewish Agency aboard. When the plane returned the other day, the crew was summoned to the American embassy where they were questioned by American diplomats about the delivery. But as soon as they learned that it was for Palestine, not Greece, they lost their interest. The British embassy, on the other hand, expressed interest in one civil member of the crew, who was a British citizen. The Czechoslovak bodies arranged that he left the airport and returned to Britain some other way. (Dufek, Jiří; Šlosar, Vladimír. Československá materiálně technická pomoc Izraeli. In Československo a Izrael 1947 - 1953 : Studie. Brno : Doplněk.,1993, p. 124).

24 Very important part of the Czechoslovak military aid is considered to be the air-bridge from Žatec to Beit Daras airport and later to Ekron – the Operation Balak.74 Minister of National Defense decided at the beginning of May 1948 to provide the military airport Žatec for the deliveries to Israel. The airport started functioning as a base for airplanes carrying the weapons, bought or rented by Hagana, with the international label of Panama, flown by crews and pilots of various nationalities – American, Polish, German, French, South African and later Israeli.

The first task of the airport was to secure the transport of 10 fighter Avia S-199 planes. The cargo aircraft that started the whole transport action was a DC-4 Skymaster that carried one S- 199 disassembled to parts. It flew on the 20th of May 1948 (6 days after the establishment of State Israel and the start of war), followed by one or two flights daily. Five mechanics worked in Israel, where they put the components together. These fighter planes were used in attack on the 29th of May 1948 against the Egyptian troops and stopped them only 30 km from Tel Aviv.

Žatec was also the temporary base for three aircrafts B-17G from Miami and there they were re-modified to bombers. On the 14th of July 1948, they departed to launch a bomb attack on Cairo and one of them managed to hit the palace of the Egyptian king Farúk. In direct consequence, 2 squadrons of Egyptian royal air force REAF returned to defend the capital and the air force on Israel front was weakened.75 Not only planes, but also guns, machine guns, bombs, components and sometimes even diplomats, specialists and pilots were transported via this air-bridge. Altogether, 92 or 93 flights carried more than 300 tons of military material from Czechoslovakia to Israel.

The Žatec action, however helpful to Israel, soon became a public secret. The crews of the planes from various countries attracted prostitutes to the town and the sales of various goods rose. It didn't take long until the news made its way into various journals around the world. In a report sent from Israel to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Czechoslovak republic, the Jewish press is said to bring news of a United Press article from the 2nd of July 1948 about “ officers reporting to Americans of a connection between Žatec and Palestine, for aerial transport of arms. The planes fly under the number 54 and under the flag

74 Sacahrov, Eliyahu. Out of the Limelight : Events, Operations, Missions and Personalities in Israeli History. Jerusalem : Gefen Publishing House, 2004, p. 148. 75 Dufek, Jiří; Šlosar, Vladimír. Československá materiálně technická pomoc Izraeli. In Československo a Izrael 1947 - 1953 : Studie. Brno : Doplněk. 1993, p. 127.

25 of Panama.”76 The said officers were probably forced to flee from Czechoslovakia after the coup d'état in February 1948.77

America was also interested in the three above-mentioned planes from Miami, as they left USA illegally. In a note from the 8th of July 1948 they asked for information. The second note from the 28th of July was more pressing. USA asked for the names of the crew, to take away their passports and transport them to USA. As the Ministry of Foreign Affairs could not have fulfilled their request without admitting the existence of the air bridge, the decision was made to close the Žatec airport basically overnight – which was successfully done on the 11th of August 1948. The honest reply to American embassy was that the persons in question are not in Czechoslovakia any more78. According to a report at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the 18th of November 1948, a trial with persons responsible for the affair of shippings of American planes through Czechoslovakia to Israel started in Miami, USA.79

Some deliveries at the beginning were also transported via the Ruzyně airport near Prague, and after closing the Žatec airport, the new choice of an airport of this purpose were Kunovice. This time, the rules and measures to keep the action, which started on the 2nd of September 1948, secret, were much more strict.

4.5 The international reaction on arms sales

Although the threat of international problems due to a UN arms embargo breach seemed serious, there have been no real consequences for Czechoslovakia. The whole arms sales were tolerated by USSR and they served Moscow's purpose for the time being as well, thus Czechoslovakia was protected by this power on the international scene. USA, on the other hand, didn't protest except for the above-mentioned notes, that concerned American citizens in particular. The support of Israel didn't cross their interest.

76 AMVZ, Teritoriální odbory – obyčejné, 1945 – 59, Palestina, box 2, no. 1081/B/PP/48 from August 4 1948: Věc: Dodávky čs. zbraní do Palestiny – zprávy z tisku (Subject: Czechoslovak arms shipments to Palestine – reports in news). 77 Dufek, Jiří; Šlosar, Vladimír. Československá materiálně technická pomoc Izraeli. In Československo a Izrael 1947 - 1953 : Studie. Brno : Doplněk. 1993, p. 127. 78 Kaplan, Karel. Československo a Izrael v letech 1947 – 1953. In Československo a Izrael 1947 - 1953 : Studie. Brno : Doplněk, 1993, p. 52. 79 AMVZ Teritoriální odbory – obyčejné, 1945 – 59, Palestina, box 2, no. 19768/RP/48 from the 18th November 1948.

26 On the other side of the barricade stood the United Kingdom. There have been frequent attacks in British press80, but no stronger steps were taken. A newspaper Libertatea in Bucharest dated January 13th 1949 mentions a note from UK sent to Czechoslovakia which was supposed to be provocative and accusing of providing military material to Israel, but as I wasn't able to find the actual note in Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, nor any references to it in the available literature, it cannot be concluded whether UK reacted in a diplomatic way. The very same article, that was sent from Jerusalem to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs along with other reports of weapon shipments in press, claims that this action by UK is merely a maneuver to cover the transfers of English military units and shipments to Egypt.81 On the other hand, UK might have been motivated not to accuse Czechoslovakia of breaking the embargo openly in UN General Assembly, because there was a chance that they would face the same accusation.

Expectedly, the strongest protests came from the Arab nations. The sales themselves were not the first thing they have not been satisfied with regarding Czechoslovakia. Their support of the partition plan was considered “an act of high politics” and sharply criticized on a secret session of the Arab league in 1947.82 Arabs went even further to threaten the countries to change their supportive stance. There have been three explosions in front of the consular buildings of the Polish, Swedish and American consulates in Jerusalem. Also the Czechoslovak and Yugoslavian consul were warned against a bomb attack in protest against their decision to vote for the partition. The Czechoslovak consul František Nečas sent a message to Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the 17th of October 1947, assuring them that all the necessary measures to be protected are made and he didn't even move out of his flat in the consulate building, as it is in the protected area. He writes: “For an illustration it is to be added that since the bomb attack at the consulate of Poland, my Arabian maidservants refuse to sleep in the house, because a rumour has spread that Czechoslovak consulate was next.”83 From then on, the relations of Czechoslovakia and Arab states were getting worse, and the arms sales to Israel led to very sharp reactions, even to frozen relations with some of them.84

80 Kučera, Vladimír. ČT24.cz. 19 November 2007. Historie.cs (eu): Přítel Izrael. Available at: http://www.ct24.cz/textove-prepisy/historie-cs-eu/6627-pritel-izrael/ . 81 AMVZ, Teritoriální odbory – obyčejné, 1945 – 59, Palestina, box 2, no. 28470 from the 19th of January 1949. 82 AMVZ, Teritoriální odbory – obyčejné, 1945 – 59, Palestina, box 2, no. 3552/B/47 from the 9th December 1947. Věc: Arabská liga – postoj Československa k rozdělení Palestiny (Subject: Arab League – stance of Czechoslovakia towards the partition of Palestine). 83 AMVZ, Teritoriální odbory – obyčejné, 1945 – 59, Palestina, box 2, no. 312/dův/47 from the 17th October 1947. Věc: útoky arabských teroristů na konzuláty v Jeruzalémě (Subject: Attacks of Arab terrorists on the consulates in Jerusalem). 84 Kaplan, Karel. Československo a Izrael v letech 1947 – 1953. In Československo a Izrael 1947 - 1953 : Studie. Brno : Doplněk, 1993, p. 55.

27 5. The change towards cold relations

What appeared to be a start of a promising relationship between two young states, deteriorated a few years later. The first negative hints appeared even in years 1948 and 1949. Behind this change were the external influences of the international system, the Soviet interests in Middle East and their politics towards Israel. Since the communist coup d'état in February 1948, the decisions of Czechoslovak foreign policy were fully under control of the USSR. Although USSR strongly supported the arms sales and the communist government continued in the shipments and encouraged them, they soon changed their stance towards Zionism and evaluated the support of Israel as no longer beneficial. The emigration of Jews to Israel and the arms sales were interpreted as a Zionist conspiracy and were the base of a trial with the “treasonous conspiracy center” around Rudolf Slánský in 1953.85

Without a doubt, Czechoslovakia did follow the USSR's shift in orientation. It wasn't an overnight thing by far, the worsening relationship was displayed very softly at the beginning, by refusing contracts or request from the Israeli side, an example being repeated request for emigration permits that the government had promised, but avoided to keep.86

The changing relation of communists with Zionism was being displayed gradually as well. At first, they sought only to gain control over the Jewish emigration, founding the “Commission of Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia for Jewish issues” in the second half of year 1947 that was supposed to take over the tasks of Palestine Agency and the Israeli embassy and “fight the right-wing Zionism”, but it wasn't successful in either.87 After February 1948, they could afford rougher measures. The first demonstration were the arrests of three Zionist leaders in January 1949.88 The attacks were at first strongest against the Irgun group, but later they weren't respecting the left-right spectrum any more and the persecution of Jewish leaders ended up with arresting Mordechai Oren from , left-

85 Whether accidentally or there was a purpose behind it, Clementis suggested the topic of Überall's request to allow emigration of 20 000 Jews to the programme of a government session on the 21st of December 1948, but it was later withdrawn without a reason and the agreement of ministries from the 1st of December 1948 was enough to begin with the action. This information was later used to support the statement that the emigration was allowed and realized without the approval of the government and it was used against the convicted in the trial. AMZV, Teritoriální odbory – tajné, fond Israel, box 1, folder 6, no. 419.481/54-AO/2 from the 25th of May 1954, referent: Barušek, Emigrace do Izraele od roku 1948 (“Emigration to Israel since year 1948”). 86 Kaplan, Karel. Československo a Izrael v letech 1947 – 1953. In Československo a Izrael 1947 - 1953 : Studie. Brno : Doplněk, 1993, p. 35. 87 Ibid, p. 19. 88 AMZV, Teritoriální odbory – obyčejné, 1945 – 59, Izrael, box 6, no. 61633/RP/49 from the 26th of January 1949

28 wing party with clear orientation on USSR, and Šimon Orenstein from the business department of the Israeli embassy.89 The Israel sent numerous notes in an attempt to intervene against the trial with these two Israeli citizens, but wasn't successful. They were declared guilty, just like many other employees of the Palestinian Agency and the Israeli embassy.90

On the scale of the international system, USSR was waiting on the demonstration of Israel's foreign policy orientation. The results of the Israeli parliamentary elections on the 25th of January 1949 were very much awaited. The Communist party ended up with a disappointing 3.51 % of votes. Kraus, who sends a report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, considers the victory of Ben Gurion's party , the social democracy, as a great victory of the left wing, and a defeat of “fascist forces organized in the so-called Movement of freedom founded by Irgun”.91 But the real evaluation of the elections was negative, as it was Mapai, not Mapam (less neutral and more orientated on cooperation with USSR) forming the government.

The official foreign policy of Israel in 1948 followed the principle of “non-identification” with either of the blocs at the beginning of the .92 Ben Gurion and Moshe Sharett knew very well that the young state can't be economically independent of the Western block, but on the other hand there were thousands of Jews living in the USSR and its satellites. The attempt wasn't successful, though; Moscow took very coldly the news of a 100 million USD loan to Israel, and of the training of Israeli army officers in America.93 They considered it to be a proof of Israel's intentions as regards their foreign policy and a “choice of side”, at the same time neglecting the attempts of Israel to negotiate trade contracts with USSR to balance the loan.

This “betrayal” led to reconsidering the allies in Middle East. As the support of Israel resulted in negative relations with the Arab states, USSR needed to win their favor back. To explain its shift in policy as regards Israel, it interpreted the cooperation with Israel as the actions of Zionist conspiracies that were not in accordance with the law and initiated a with the leaders.94

89 Kaplan, Karel. Československo a Izrael v letech 1947 – 1953. In Československo a Izrael 1947 - 1953 : Studie. Brno : Doplněk, 1993, p. 20. 90 Baláž, Anton. Transporty nádeje. Bratislava : Marenčin PT, 2010, p. 174. 91 AMZV, Teritoriální odbory – obyčejné, 1945 – 59, Izrael, box 6, folder “politic issues”, unmarked letter on the result of the Israeli parliamentary elections signed by Kraus from the 28th January 1949. 92 Shlaim, Avi. Israel between East and West, 1948-1956. International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. November 2004, 36, 4, p. 657-673. Also available at : http://users.ox.ac.uk/~ssfc0005/Israel%20between %20East%20and%20West%201948-56.html . 93 Kaplan, Karel. Československo a Izrael v letech 1947 – 1953. In Československo a Izrael 1947 - 1953 : Studie. Brno : Doplněk, 1993, p. 84. 94 Baláž, Anton. Transporty nádeje. Bratislava : Marenčin PT, 2010, p. 120.

29 The final demonstration of the change in foreign policy of Czechoslovakia was the arms supply contract with Egypt from 1955.95 On the 2nd of January 1956, the report from Poláček at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs cites the speech of David Ben Gurion in the parliament: “The Czechoslovak-Egyptian transaction changed the balance of power against Israel. The sole purpose of the Soviet weapons for Egypt is to be used against Israel. The responsibility for the explosion will fall not only upon Egypt, but upon all the countries that are supplying them with weapons.”96

In the upcoming years, relations between Israel and the Czechoslovak republic were very cold, freezing entirely in 1967 after the Six-Day War. It was only the velvet revolution in November 1989 that tore down the Iron Curtain and enabled the representatives of Czechoslovakia to act upon their own will and re-establish the friendship with Israel.

95 Yegar, Moshe. Československo, sionizmus, Izrael. Praha : Victoria Publishing and East publishing, 1997, p. 169. 96 AMZV, Teritoriální odbory – obyčejné, 1945 – 59, Izrael, box 6, no. 100457/56/A0/2.

30 6. How Israel perceives the help of Czechoslovakia today

“Israel, a small country without weapons or ammunition could win the war, and by winning it it gained our independence and our own state. That would not have been possible without the help of Czechoslovakia.97” These are the words of Arie Arazi, former Israeli ambassador in Prague. More than 20 years earlier, in 1968, David Ben Gurion said the very similar words: “They saved our country. I don't doubt it. The Czech weapons were the most important help that we got. They saved us and I doubt very much that we would have survived the first month without them.” 98

Those are not the only proofs that the help of Czechoslovakia was greatly appreciated by Israel and it was not forgotten. In January 1948, Eduard Beneš, Klement Gottwald and Jan Masaryk earned a honorable mention in the Golden Book of the Jewish National Fund.99 T. G. Masaryk is known and well-respected and his name often labels the streets or squares in many Israeli cities, including Jerusalem and Tel Aviv – and it did so even during the years when his name was almost forbidden in his own country. When former president of Czechoslovakia Václav Havel, at that time imprisoned, heard the news of cultural and documentary center of T. G. Masaryk being built in Kfar Masaryk, he wrote a message commenting on it that he managed to smuggle out and later it got to members of Kfar Masaryk: “I consider it absurd, but also symbolic, that the Czechoslovakia of today has not one library or museum devoted to Masaryk. And yet they exist – in Israel.”100

After 1989, re-establishment of the relations with Israel was one of the major aims of Czech foreign policy.101 It was successfully done on the 9th of February 1990, the Israeli embassy in Prague was opened on the 17th of August 1990 and so was re-opened the Czech embassy in Israel.102 Since then, Czechoslovakia continues to support Israel and its interests on the grounds of UN and especially as a mediator in the European Union. On the 7th of April 2011, the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Czech Republic for the first time and met the Czech prime minister Petr Nečas and president Václav Klaus. Petr Nečas expressed

97 Kučera, Vladimír. ČT24.cz. 19 November 2007. Historie.cs (eu): Přítel Izrael. Available at: http://www.ct24.cz/textove-prepisy/historie-cs-eu/6627-pritel-izrael/ . 98 Rucker, Laurent. Stalin, Izrael a Židé. Praha : Rybka Publishers, 1997, p. 95. 99 Kaplan, Karel. Československo a Izrael v letech 1947 – 1953. In Československo a Izrael 1947 - 1953 : Studie. Brno : Doplněk, 1993, p. 11. 100Yegar, Moshe. Československo, sionizmus, Izrael. Praha : Victoria Publishing and East publishing, 1997, p. 45. 101Fingerland, Jan. Rozhlas.cz. 13 February 2010. Česká republika a Izrael. Available at: http://www.rozhlas.cz/komentare/portal/_zprava/694277 . 102Čejka, Marek. Izrael a Palestina. Brno: Barrister & Principal, 2008, p. 266.

31 support to the policy of Netanyahu concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and said that the deepening of cooperation between EU and Israel should not be connected to the peace process.103

The relations between the countries are warm, with few problems or disagreements, and the diplomatic and military aid remains one of their firmest foundations. Miloš Pojar, the former Czech ambassador in Israel, says that the Israelis mention it often and are thankful for it, and on the other hand don't remind of the arms shipments to Arab countries – and if they do, they say it wasn't the will of Czechoslovak people, but the regime that was forced on them.104

103 Wirnitzer, Jan. IDNES.cz. 7 April 2011. Šalom, pozdravil Netanjahu Česko. A na Izrael se snesly rakety z Gazy. Available at : http://zpravy.idnes.cz/salom-pozdravil-netanjahu-cesko-a-na-izrael-se-snesly-rakety-z- gazy-1fv-/domaci.asp?c=A110407_210212_domaci_jw . 104Kučera, Vladimír. ČT24.cz. 19 November 2007. Historie.cs (eu): Přítel Izrael. Available at: http://www.ct24.cz/textove-prepisy/historie-cs-eu/6627-pritel-izrael/ .

32 7. Conclusion

In the long and complicated process that led to the establishment of the independent Jewish state, State Israel, Czechoslovak republic played an important part. The good relations between the World Zionist Organization, Jewish Agency and the representatives of the Czech and Slovak nation can be traced back even earlier than the founding of the republic and they were the base of a successful cooperation between the countries after WWII.

The Czechoslovak help to the Jewish nation can be divided into two parts: the diplomatic support of the independent Jewish state and the military aid that enabled the newborn country to win the War of Independence. The positive stance towards the establishment of the Jewish state was openly declared by the representatives of Czechoslovak diplomacy, both because of their personal opinions and the solution that a Jewish state in Palestine provided to the problem of Jewish refugees after WWII. By the time that the decisions about Palestine were made, Czechoslovakia was under the Soviet sphere of influence and its support for Israel can partially be explained as following the foreign policy of USSR, as well. But Czechoslovakia was stepping further and allowing Jewish emigration when all the other countries of the eastern block would not.

The military aid to consisted of exporting infantry arms, heavy machinery and fighter planes to Israel and training experts for the Israeli Defense Force. The weapons in question were often not corresponding with the Soviet standard that the Czechoslovak army was adapting to, or they were not in proper, fully working state. The sales were motivated by the revenues for the arms shipments, as Israel paid high prices in dollars or pounds, and Czechoslovakia was in dire need of the money to regenerate its own economy after the war, the arms industry being an important branch of it. Rather than a selfless, one-sided act of help, the arms sales should be looked upon as a mutually advantageous transaction between a country that needed weapons and a country that needed to sell them.

Last but not least, the breach of the international arms embargo on Middle East has not brought Czechoslovakia any serious harm; except for a few diplomatic notes or protests, no objections were raised in the UN General Assembly, let alone any actual sanctions imposed. The shipments were performed under the silent approval of USSR and they were in accord with the interests of USA in the region.

33 The acts of Czechoslovak republic can hardly be considered and evaluated as acts of one unit – the various factions and individual actors that influenced its internal and foreign policy pursued very different interests regarding the Jewish nation and the founding of the State Israel. The strongest influence, though, was the shift in the foreign policy of USSR, who concluded that Israel is not about to be the loyal ally in the Middle East region and decided to re-establish the relations with Arab countries again. The Czechoslovakia followed and from 1953 supplied the Arab states with arms instead.

Despite the egoistic character of some decisions, it cannot be denied that the Czechoslovak republic largely contributed to the Zionist cause and the arms sales were possibly the difference between existence of the independent State Israel and its defeat. For this, Israel remains grateful, the aid that Czechoslovakia has provided is remembered and the Czech- Israeli relations are, to mutual satisfaction, positive and warm.

34 8. Bibliography and sources

All the online sources are verified to the date of the 2nd of May 2011.

Primary sources:

Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Czech Republic (Archiv ministerstva zahraničních věcí České republiky, AMZV):

Territorial departments – general, 1945 – 59 (Teritoriální odbory – obyčejné): fund Palestine, fund Israel (fond Palestina, fond Izrael) Territorial departments – secret, 1945 – 55 (Teritoriální odbory – tajné): fund Israel (fond Izrael)

UN General Assembly Resolution no. 106 from May 15, 1947. Available at: http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/310&Lang=E . UN General Assembly Resolution no. 181 from November 29, 1947. Available at: http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/RESOLUTION/GEN/NR0/038/88/IMG/NR003888.pdf?OpenElement . UN Security Council resolution no. 46 from April 17, 1948. Available at: http://www.un.org/documents/sc/res/1948/scres48.htm . UN Security Council Resolution no. 48 of April 23, 1948. Available at : http://www.un.org/documents/sc/res/1948/scres48.htm .

United States Department of State Foreign relations of the United States, 1947. The Near East and Africa. Washington DC : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1947. 1377 p. Available at: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/FRUS.FRUS1947v05 .

Secondary sources:

Baláž, Anton. Transporty nádeje. Bratislava : Marenčin PT, 2010. 229 p. Brož, Ivan. Arabsko-izraelské války. Praha : Epocha, 2005. 358 p. Cohen, Michael Joseph. Truman and Israel. Berkeley : University of Carolina Press, 1990. 324 p. Čejka, Marek. Izrael a Palestina. Brno : Barrister & Principal, 2008. 321 p. Dufek, Jiří; Bulínová, Marie. Československo a Izrael v letech 1945 - 1956 : Dokumenty. Praha : Ústav pro soudobé dějiny AV ČR, 1993. 399 p.

35 Dufek, Jiří; Šlosar, Vladimír. Československá materiálně technická pomoc Izraeli. In Československo a Izrael 1947 - 1953 : Studie. Brno : Doplněk, 1993. p. 110-189. Frankl, Michal."Emancipace od židů" : český antisemitismus na konci 19. století. Praha : Paseka, 2007. 408 p. Grell, Ole Peter; Porter, Roy. Toleration in Enlightment Europe. In Grell, Ole Peter; Porter, Roy. Toleration in Enlightment Europe. Cambridge : University Press, 2000. p. 1-22. Jech, Karel; Kaplan, Karel (eds.). Dekrety prezidenta republiky 1940-1945. Dokumenty. Brno : Doplněk, 2002. p. 216-223. Kaplan, Karel. Československo a Izrael v letech 1947 – 1953. In Československo a Izrael 1947 - 1953 : Studie. Brno : Doplněk, 1993. p. 5-107. Klimek, Antonín; Kubů, Eduard. Československá zahraniční politika 1918-1938. Kapitoly z dějin mezinárodních vztahů. Praha : Institut pro středoevropskou kulturu a politiku, 1995. 115 p. Kovtun, Jiří: Tajuplná vražda. Případ Leopolda Hilsnera. Praha : Sefer, 1994. 574 p. Nálevka, Vladimír. Světová politika ve 20. století (I.). Praha : Nakladatelství Aleš Skřivan ml., 2000. 270 p. Pěkný, Tomáš: Historie Židů v Čechách a na Moravě. Praha : Sefer, 2001. 702 p. Prokš, Petr. Československo a Západ, 1945-1948 : vztahy Československa se Spojenými státy, Velkou Británií a Francií v letech 1945-1948. Praha : ISV, 2001. 327 p. Rucker, Laurent. Stalin, Izrael a Židé. Praha : Rybka Publihers, 1997. 313 p. Sacahrov, Eliyahu. Out of the Limelight : Events, Operations, Missions and Personalities in Israeli History. Jerusalem : Gefen Publishing House, 2004. 252 p. Salner, Peter. Mozaika židovskej Bratislavy. Bratislava : Marenčin PT, 2007, 199 p. Shlaim, Avi. Israel between East and West, 1948-1956. International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. November 2004, 36, 4, p. 657-673. Also available at : http://users.ox.ac.uk/~ssfc0005/Israel%20between%20East%20and%20West%201948-56.html . Yegar, Moshe. Československo, sionizmus, Izrael. Praha : Victoria Publishing and East publishing, 1997. 191 p.

Online sources:

ČT24.cz. 7 May 2008. 1948: Izraeli se splnil dávný sen. Available at: http://www.ct24.cz/kalendarium/14316-izraeli-se-splnil-davny-sen/. Fingerland, Jan. Rozhlas.cz. 13 February 2010. Česká republika a Izrael. Available at: http://www.rozhlas.cz/komentare/portal/_zprava/694277 .

36 Kučera, Vladimír. ČT24.cz. 19 November 2007. Historie.cs (eu): Přítel Izrael. Available at: http://www.ct24.cz/textove-prepisy/historie-cs-eu/6627-pritel-izrael/ . The Hagana - Official Site. Available at: http://www.hagana.co.il . The Hagashama Department WZO. 12 February 2003. Doing Zionism - The Zionist Congresses. Available at: http://www.hagshama.org.il/doingzionism/resources/view.asp?id=1248 . Wirnitzer, Jan. IDNES.cz. 7 April 2011. Šalom, pozdravil Netanjahu Česko. A na Izrael se snesly rakety z Gazy. Available at : http://zpravy.idnes.cz/salom-pozdravil-netanjahu-cesko-a-na- izrael-se-snesly-rakety-z-gazy-1fv-/domaci.asp?c=A110407_210212_domaci_jw .

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