Which of the great European powers offered the best chance for the Jews to realise their own homeland wasn’t clear.

The Ottoman Empire was there, and the Holy Lands were part of that Empire. Any Jewish homeland inside the Ottoman Empire wouldn’t be a free independent country.

Theodor Herzl, the head of the Zionist movement (the movement to win a homeland for the Jews) had travelled to the courts of Europe to plead his cause – the creation of a home for the Jews – that’s what Zionism means.

Kaiser Wilhelm, a man of dubious mental stability and no wisdom (as his starting World War I would prove beyond a shadow of a doubt), received Herzl and his cause favourably.

Strong anti-semitic views flourished in Germany at this time (but we hadn’t seen nothing yet – Hitler would take that to a whole new level). But the Kaiser’s unusual views on Jews, of the kind always involved with anti-Semitism, encouraged him to support Herzl’s ambition for a home for the Jews.

The Kaiser recorded:

…. considering the immense and extremely dangerous power which International Jewish capital represents, it would be a huge advantage to Germany if the Hebrews looked up to it in gratitude.

The Kaiser told Herzl that he would intercede with the Sultan on behalf of Herzl, music to Herzl’s ears. He asked Herzl what he wanted. Since the Holy Lands were part of the Ottoman Empire, that really meant that there was no hope of an independent Jewish homeland. So Herzl said he wanted a chartered company, under German protection. That was a novel idea.

The Kaiser invited Herzl to meet him in Jerusalem.

The Kaiser was true to his word. When he met with the Sultan he put Herzl’s request. The Sultan, Abdulhhamed (also rendered Abdul Hamid), rejected the idea but he was realistic about the likely outcome of the determination of the Jews for their own homeland, ultimately being successful, not the first time he had expressed this opinion. He said to his daughter:

The Jews may spare their millions. When my empire is divided, perhaps they will get Palestine for nothing. But only our corpse can be divided.

So there was a certain warm, fuzzy feeling, in the Jewish community about the Germans and where their support may lead for the Jews.

Tag words: Ottoman Empire; Holy Lands; Theodor Herzl; Zionist movement; Kaiser Wilhelm; Sultan Abdulhhamed; Sultan Abdul Hamid; General Baron Friedrich Kress von Kressenstein; Ahmet Jemal; the Husseinis; David Ben-Gurion; Pan Arabists; Christians; World War I; Abdullah ibn Hussein; Sherif of Sherifs; Emir of Mecca; Marshall Lord Kitchener; Your Country Needs You; Hashemite; Sir Henry McMahon; al-Fatah; Al-Ahd; Three Pashas; TE Lawrence; Gertrude Bell; the Imp; Saladin; Abu Ubayda; British Foreign Office; Ronald Storrs; Simon Sebag Montefiore; Jerusalem: The Biography; Secret Despatches from Arabia; Seven Pillars of Wisdom; Aqaba; Jesus Christ; Zion Mule Corps; Aaron Aaronshohn; Yosef Lishansky; Sarah Aaronshohn; Avshalom Feinberg;

DZ Season 058 Part 12. Israel. Lawrence of Arabia and Friends.

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