The British Royal Family and Jewish Refugees

In honor of the recent platinum jubilee celebrated by Queen Elizabeth II, David Herman briefly surveys the numerous interactions between those Jews who fled Central Europe for England after the Nazis’ rise to power and the House of Windsor. Herman cites the observation of the historian Anthony Grenville that these refugees “developed a surprising degree of regard for the British royal family.” One story, not about Queen Elizabeth but about her mother, stands out:

Gretel Salinger . . . was invited to a garden party held at Buckingham Palace in 1945 for those who had done notable war work. She spoke to the queen (later the queen mother): “‘Where have you come from?’ [the queen asked]. I ought to have said: ‘From Paddington,’ but what did I say? I said: ‘I come from Germany.’ She looked at me and said: ‘And you are invited here to this party?’ I said: ‘Yes, Your Majesty. I have worked very hard during the war and I have collected millions [sic] of pounds for the war effort.’ ‘Oh,’ she said, ‘You mean you are a refugee from Germany.’ ‘Of course, Your Majesty.’ ‘That’s different, my dear child. I’m glad you have escaped and made your way here.’

“Where I took my courage from I still cannot say, but I said: ‘Yes, Your Majesty, but may I tell you what happened to my family?’ She said: ‘Yes.’ ‘All my family have been killed in Auschwitz.’ She made a gesture, [as if] shielding herself. She said: ‘If only I hadn’t asked you.’ I said: ‘On the contrary, Your Majesty, ‘this is my kaddish, the prayer we Jews have for the dead, that I could tell their fate to my queen.’ She took both my hands and she pressed them and said: ‘My darling child, I hope nothing else bad will happen to you and that you will enjoy your life and God bless you.’ I stood there crying, crying.”

Read more at AJR Journal

More about: Anglo-Jewry, Holocaust, Queen Elizabeth II, Refugees, United Kingdom

What a Strategic Victory in Gaza Can and Can’t Achieve

On Tuesday, the Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant met in Washington with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Gallant says that he told the former that only “a decisive victory will bring this war to an end.” Shay Shabtai tries to outline what exactly this would entail, arguing that the IDF can and must attain a “strategic” victory, as opposed to merely a tactical or operational one. Yet even after a such a victory Israelis can’t expect to start beating their rifles into plowshares:

Strategic victory is the removal of the enemy’s ability to pose a military threat in the operational arena for many years to come. . . . This means the Israeli military will continue to fight guerrilla and terrorist operatives in the Strip alongside extensive activity by a local civilian government with an effective police force and international and regional economic and civil backing. This should lead in the coming years to the stabilization of the Gaza Strip without Hamas control over it.

In such a scenario, it will be possible to ensure relative quiet for a decade or more. However, it will not be possible to ensure quiet beyond that, since the absence of a fundamental change in the situation on the ground is likely to lead to a long-term erosion of security quiet and the re-creation of challenges to Israel. This is what happened in the West Bank after a decade of relative quiet, and in relatively stable Iraq after the withdrawal of the United States at the end of 2011.

Read more at BESA Center

More about: Gaza War 2023, Hamas, IDF