Page 13 - Kol Bogrei Habonim - June 13

LEO AMERY…

A GOOD FRIEND OF ZIONISM

NICK REYNOLD, GIVAT OLGA

I Notwithstanding this personal animosity, Amery
t is interesting to realise that, in the early
was an important member of Churchill's
days of Zionism, there were a number of
non-Jews who strongly supported the idea of
the Jews returning to their homeland in Government from 1940-1945.
During the Boer War, Amery was the chief
Palestine. For such supporters - Smuts, Orde correspondent of The Times in South Africa and
Wingate, Wyndham Deedes - the motivation was it was there that he met and struck-up a
religious. God had promised the Jews their friendship with Lord Milner. This proved to be a
homeland and as good significant meeting
Christians, they believed because during World War
that they had an I Milner invited Amery to
obligation to help it come be a member of the
to pass. For Leo Amery Secretariat of the War
there was no such Cabinet, and the two men
religious element in his worked closely together to
support for Weizmann produce the final draft of
and Zionism. the Balfour Declaration.
One of the main issues in During the early part of
the ongoing struggle the War, Amery was
between Weizmann and serving in Cairo where he
Ben-Gurion centred on met Mark Sykes who was
Weizmann's insistence later to become an
that the future of Zionism enthusiastic Zionist
be bound up in co- supporter. From there he
operation with, and fought in Gallipoli
backing from, the British alongside the Zion Mule
Government. Weizmann concentrated a great Corps and established a relationship with its
deal of his time and energy in building up and commander Colonel Patterson and his deputy
maintaining close contacts in Whitehall. One of Joseph Trumpeldor.
the most important and long-standing of these, On his return to England, Patterson introduced
over a period of more than thirty years, was his Amery to Jabotinsky who was actively seeking
contact with Leo Amery.
to set up a Jewish battalion within the British
Leopold Charles Maurice Stennet (otherwise army. Such a battalion would contribute to the
known as Leo) Amery was born in India in 1873 British war effort but, in Jabotinsky's mind, there
and went to Harrow School where he came was also the idea that it would eventually play a
across Winston Churchill. There was an part in establishing and defending a future
immediate hostility between the two of them Jewish state.
starting during their school days and continuing Amery had become a Member of Parliament in
for the rest of their political lives.
1911 and was an important contact for Patterson

13