Iran Holocaust Denial--Rewriting history to suit their political ends

The game of "historical what ifs" is always inconclusive, but there is no other way to examine the merits of the "Holocaust created Israel" story, because it is playing the game of "what if."  There are major reasons why Israel would have been created had there not been a Holocaust.

International commitment - The League of Nations Mandate represented an international commitment to a Jewish national home in Palestine. Is it likely that the League would have abandoned that commitment if the League had survived, in a scenario where there was no Hitler and no war?

Fascism was part of the problem - There is no doubt that Germany and Italy encouraged unrest in Palestine and aided the growth of Palestinian extremism. In an alternative history, the Arabs and Jews of Palestine might have been able to work out an accomodation. Had Britain not been concerned with the possibility of war, it might not have been so responsive to Arab demands in the 1930s and might not have stopped Jewish immigration.

Anti-Semitism was motivating immigration before Hitler - Anti-semitism was endemic to European culture. It had helped motivate the Zionist movement originally and by the early 30s, the rise of repressive regimes in Central and Eastern Europe, combined with economic depression, was motivating increased immigration. In 1931, there were about 4,000 immigrants, in 1932, 12,500 (mostlybefore Hitler) in 1933 37,000 - not necessarily from Germany. Immigration was growing every year. In 1935 there were 66,500 immigrants. They weren't coming because of the Holocaust that would happen in 7 or 8 years, but because conditions were already bad. It is very difficult to imagine Europe without anti-semitism, especially if there had not been a reaction to the Holocaust.

Opportunism of Zionism - Zionist leaders, like any astute leaders, were creative opportunists. They seized every opportunity presented by history and made the most of it. After the fact, it might appear that there could never have been a Balfour declaration without World War I, or there never would've been a second Aliya (the immigration at the end of the 19th century) without pogroms in Russia, or there could never have been a Jewish state without the Holocaust, or that Jerusalem would never have been united had it not been been for the 6-day war. However, history does not lack for catastrophes, especially not catastrophes for the Jewish people. There has been anti-Semitism and there have been wars in Europe and rivalries between the powers for hundreds of years. Zionist and Israeli leaders were able to make use of each event, however, tragic, to advance the cause of a Jewish national home, especially since almost every such event tended to vindicate the Zionist view of history. Herzl and others had been petitioning the Kaiser and other leaders for a Jewish national home for 30 years before the Balfour declaration. Haim Weizmann succeeded because he had found the correct moment in history. When the British mandate reneged on their mandate commitments, the Zionist leadership began to look for other ways to guarantee a Jewish national home. After World War II, they found it. World War II was a disaster for the Jewish people, more than any other people in the world. It vindicated the Zionist view of the place of Jews in Europe in an emphatic and horrible way. But the Zionist leadership were able to make a political issue of the refugees in the DP camps. Had there not been a Holocaust, there would have been a better and less tragic opportunity.

The role of the UN and the USA - It is a fallacy to assume that UN resolution 181 is what created Israel. The British announced that they were leaving Palestine. They would eventually have left in any case, because Britain was closing out all of its colonial holdings, and had been doing so since World War I. One of the problems of the Mandate had been opposition from those who wanted to divest themselves of colonies and oversees commitments. The UN was supposed to make a decision about the disposition of Palestine, but in fact, the partition resolution was a fig-leaf to cover the British abrogation of their
undertaking under the League Mandate. Nobody did anything to enforce partition or internationalization of Jerusalem. The USA pressed for a Jewish state and partition and it recognized the new state, but it did not directly aid Israel in the war.

Scenarios - We can envision various likely scenarios had there not been a Holocaust. None of them indicate that the Holocaust was absolutely necessary for creation of a Jewish state in Palestine, though it might have happened at a different time and in a different way.

Read more:  http://www.mideastweb.org/log/archives/00000349.htm