In the summer of 1916, after the costly failure of his assault on the French at the battle of Verdun, General Erich von Falkenhayn was removed from his position as chief of staff of the German army. His dismissal did not spell the end of his military career, however: he was dispatched first to Romania and from there to the Middle East, where he was to lead a large Ottoman force to prevent the British from seizing Palestine. (Even before World War I, the Ottoman army had become largely dependent on German military advisers.) There, along with his subordinate Kress von Kressenstein, it seems that Falkenhayn saved the Jews of the Land of Israel from a fate similar to that of the Armenians. Lenny Ben-David examines the evidence:
The Turkish governor of Syria and Palestine, Jamal Pasha, . . . was a ruthless ruler and one of the “Young Turk” leaders accused of carrying out the expulsion and massacre of hundreds of thousands of Armenians across the Ottoman-controlled regions during World War I.
Zionists were particularly suspected of leading opposition to Ottoman rule, and leaders—such as David Ben-Gurion—were arrested, harassed, or exiled. Many were relative newcomers from Russia, an enemy state. Meanwhile, over the horizon, 1,000 Jewish volunteers for the British army, including some from Palestine, formed the Zion Mule Corps in 1915, later known as the Jewish Legion. . . . Jamal was reportedly furious, and his fury turned murderous when a Jewish spy cell aiding the British, “NILI,” was discovered in the Jewish town of Zichron Yaakov in 1917.
Jamal sought to expel the Jews of Jerusalem and beyond. Expulsions of Jews from Jaffa and Tel Aviv areas had already taken place in late 1914 and again in early 1917.
Early on, Kress opposed Jamal’s genocidal intentions. When Falkenhayn arrived in Palestine in 1917, he also argued against Jamal Pasha’s plans. Both appealed to their political leaders in Germany, even the emperor of Germany. . . . Several accounts confirm that German officers and diplomats protected the Jews.
Read more on Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs: https://jcpa.org/the-german-officers-who-prevented-the-massacre-of-the-jews-of-palestine-in-world-war-i