The Jews of Palestine after the British Pushed out the Turks and Germans in 1917-1918

The Jews of Palestine after the British Pushed out the Turks and Germans in 1917-1918

Posted: 27 Feb 2014 

Turkish troops in the Jezreel Valley preparing to move against the British at the Suez Canal in 1914 (Library of Congress)



Recruiting poster for Jewish soldiers, 1918 (Library of Congress)

World War I, the "war to end all wars," included major battles in the Middle East that raged from the Suez Canal to Damascus.  The orders of battle and the casualties on both sides compared in scope to the better-known war on the Western Front in Europe.  Israel Daily Picture has featured in the past manyphotographs taken on both sides of the Eastern Front by the American Colony Photographic Department.

We have also featured photos and essays on the Jewish soldiers from Britain, Australia, the United States and Canada in the Jewish Legion.

Understandably, the British Imperial War Museums contain thousands of photographs from battles around the world, and we have featured several of the pictures from the IWM, as well as from the Australian and New Zealand Army sites.

Israeli tour guides, Tamar HaYardeni and Yishai Solomon, recently pointed us to the numerous photographs of the Jewish inhabitants of Palestine who the British soldiers met and photographed.

Recruits for the 40th (Palestine) Battalion, Royal Fusiliers in Jerusalem,  1,000 were recruited. Summer 1918. (Imperial War Museums)

Within months of capturing Jerusalem in December 1917, the British Army launched a recruitment drive in Palestine itself.  The IWM photos here show recruits from Jerusalem and Jaffa on their way to an army training camp in mid-1918.

It appears that many of the recruits were Jewish -- Orthodox men in Jerusalem and secular men in Jaffa.

Recruits in Jerusalem, 1918 (Imperial War Museums)

Assembling recruits for the 40th (Palestinian) Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, at Jaffa, before their departure to  Helmieh for training. Summer 1918 (Imperial War Museums)

'Brave German Woman' Rebukes Islam's Lie

By Dale Hurd

CBN News Sr. Reporter

Friday, February 07, 2014 

SPEYER, Germany -- Islam continues to grow in power and influence across Europe. But at a recent concert in Germany, one Christian woman decided to stand up to it.

"The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace" by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins was supposed to be an interfaith event to bring Christianity and Islam together.

But when the Muslim imam began his call to prayer during the concert, he was interrupted by a small woman in the balcony proclaiming that "Jesus Christ alone is Lord of Germany," and shouting, "I break this curse."

She also invoked the name of Martin Luther and warned the audience that what was happening was "a lie."

The video went viral.

'Brave German Woman'

The mysterious Christian lady became known on the Internet simply as the "brave German woman."

It happened on Nov. 10, 2013 at the Memorial Church of the Reformation in the Rhineland city of Speyer, built to honor Martin Luther.

It isn't just any church. It's a monument to the Protestant Reformation and a memorial to the spiritual transformation of Germany.

It was at this spiritual landmark that a Muslim imam was invited to give the call to prayer. When the brave German woman, whose real name is Heidi Mund, heard about the event, she prayed.

"I was asking Jesus, 'Lord, shall I go there?' So, when I have to drive one and half hours, you know, I think, 'Is it worth it to go or can others go?' So, this is human laziness, yeah?" Mund recalled.
She grabbed her German flag emblazoned with the words "Jesus Christ is Lord" and headed for the concert, still not sure what she would do when she got there.

"Until the imam started with his shouting, I did not really know what to do. I was just prepared for what God wants me to do," she told CBN News.

Then the Muslim call to prayer began, and Heidi said she felt something rising up inside her.

A Holy Anger

"I would call it a holy anger," she recounted. "And then I rose with my flag and I was calling and proclaiming that Jesus Christ is Lord over Germany."

"My purpose was, I broke this curse because [Muslims] say, 'Only Allah is the Lord. He is God, the only God.' And I broke this curse in this church and I broke it over my country," she continued.

And she repeated the words of Martin Luther in 1521 after he refused to recant his faith in scripture alone: "Here I stand. I can do no other" and "Save the church of Martin Luther!"

Video shows another concert-goer trying to calm her by saying, "This is a concert for peace."

Mund can be heard responding in German, "No it's not! Allahu Akbar is what Muslims scream while murdering people! Don't be fooled! Don't be fooled! This is a lie!"

She was thrown out of the church.

"They should have thrown the imam out and not me because I am a believer in Jesus Christ, but he serves another god. This Allah is not the same god. And this is not the truth."

"This 'allahu akbar,' they use it when they kill people," she argued. "This is, for me, worship to an idol, to their god. And when a Muslim calls 'allahu akbar' in a church, that means this church is not a church anymore, it's a mosque."

Church No Place for Imams?

With Mund at the concert was Kamel, who did not give his full name for safety reasons. Before coming to Germany he lived in the Muslim world.

Kamel told CBN News that an imam has no place in a church.

"Islam is one of the reasons for persecution, Muslims have persecuted me. They don´t want me to tell others that Jesus Christ is my Savior."

Also with Mund was Marion, who has also asked that her last name not be included. She belongs to a group calling itself the White Rose, which took the same name as the World War II anti-Nazi resistance group shown in the film "Sophie Scholl: the Final Days."

"Islam is inhuman, the same as in the Nazi time. For me, personally, there is no difference. We want to show Germany and the world that we will not bow down to the slow Islamization of our country," Marion said.

Afraid of Muslims?

Mund said she knows that her first television interview could place her in danger.

"Many people ask me, 'Are you afraid of the Muslims?' And I can only say, 'No, I'm not afraid of them,'" she told CBN News. "I know my God, the living God of the Bible can protect for me for as long as he wants. When my time is over I will go to him."

An evangelist by gifting, Mund grew up an atheist in communist East Germany. But now, as a believer, her burden and her ministry is for the spiritual rebirth of Germany.

"I feel I have to protect my country and my people. I am only a little woman but I feel I have to protect them," she said.

Reviving a Dead Nation?

Some might associate Germany with the Nazis, but Germany was once a base for world missions, sending missionaries to Africa and Korea and to America.

Mund is trusting God for a miracle in what is a very wealthy and, some would say, spiritually dead nation.

"I know nothing is impossible for my God. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing," she said.

"From a human point of view I feel our country is lost. It's already lost. It's done. Because I see so many changes in the country, in every area," she continued. "But I trust God that he has a 'Plan A' and that my country is not lost and that He will reach us and He will come and change the whole situation."

Click here: Watch CBN News video

Passover items used in WWII found at death camp

Passover items used in WWII found at death camp

By JNS.ORG, Jerusalem Post

03/16/2013

Worn out Haggadah belonging to Jewish prisoners was discovered at Chelmno concentration camp in Poland.

An old Haggadah preserved by Bar Ilan University. Photo: Courtesy

 

The Israel-based Shem Olam Holocaust and Faith Institute on Thursday showcased items that may have been used for Passover rituals at the Chelmno death camp in western Poland. The items were discovered during excavations of the site in pits containing prisoners’ belongings.

One item is a worn out and partially torn Haggadah that was burned by the Nazis. Several portions dealing with the search for chametz (leavened bread) and other sentences managed to survive.

 

Shem Olam was founded in 1996 by Avraham Krieger. It is located in Kfar Haroeh, just north of Netanya. One of the institute’s projects deals with how Jews coped with the day-to-day struggles during the Holocaust.

“The Nazis told Jews who had been deported to Chelmno that they were being relocated to a village faraway in the east; they told them each person could bring only lightweight items with a combined weight of 3 to 4 kilograms (7 to 9 pounds),” Krieger said.

“Because of the limited number of items they were allowed to carry, the Jews brought their most important items, but many brought with them things that belonged to their spiritual life and identity… The mere fact that they added these things shows that they were loyal to their faith, to the holiday and to tradition; they demonstrated that they did not let the Germans break their spirit,” he said.

According to Krieger, “Most of the death camps had no such items left behind, but since Chelmno was the first death camp on Polish soil, the Nazis had yet to have at their disposal a sophisticated apparatus and consequently, some of the property was buried, and survived.”


http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-Features/Passover-items-used-during-WWII-found-at-death-camp