Australian Jewry and the Wailing Wall incident

Journal article

---

In Journal Issue

Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal, 19, 1 (2008)

Author(s) Morris Forbes AbstractDivision within the Australian Jewish community came to the fore with the conflict and crises during the British Mandate of Palestine 1928 to 1931. Much of the Australian Jewish community at the time accepted the broad culture of Zionism but not necessarily its political objectives. The fear was that Zionist sympathies and support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine would jeopardise Jewish social acceptability. This divide was brought sharply into focus when on the Day of Atonement 1928 the British governor of Jerusalem disallowed Jewish worshippers access to the Western Wall. It became a watershed incident, the culmination of several discriminatory actions by the British Mandate authorities. The reactions of Australian Jewish leaders and the Jewish press demonstrated on the one hand, the desire to be seen as loyal citizens to the British Empire, and on the other, the desire to support the development of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
Year2008
Pages9-35