Editing History of Israel (section)

===World War II and the Holocaust===
{{Further|Aliyah Bet|History of the Jews during World War II|The Holocaust|Italian bombing of Mandatory Palestine in World War II}}
{{See also|Einsatzgruppe Egypt}}
[[File:JB HQ.jpg|thumb|left|[[Jewish Brigade]] headquarters under both [[Union Flag]] and [[Flag of Israel|Jewish flag]]]]
During the [[Second World War]], the Jewish Agency worked to establish a Jewish army that would fight alongside the British forces. Churchill supported the plan but British Military and government opposition led to its rejection. The British demanded that the number of Jewish recruits match the number of Arab recruits.<ref>''Palestine: Retreat from the Mandate, The making of British Policy, 1936–1945'' by Michael Cohen, New York 1979, p. 103</ref>

In June 1940, Italy declared war on the British Commonwealth and sided with Germany. Within a month, Italian planes [[Italian bombing of Mandatory Palestine in World War II|bombed Tel Aviv and Haifa]], inflicting multiple casualties.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/this-day-in-jewish-history/1.545939 |title=This Day in Jewish History 1940: Italy Bombs Tel Aviv During WWII |first=David B. |last=Green |date=9 September 2013 |newspaper=[[Haaretz]] |location=Tel Aviv |access-date=29 August 2019 |archive-date=2 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002225652/http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/this-day-in-jewish-history/1.545939 |url-status=live }}</ref> In May 1941, the [[Palmach]] was established to defend the [[Yishuv]] against the planned [[Axis powers|Axis]] invasion through [[North African Campaign|North Africa]]. The British refusal to provide arms to the Jews, even when Rommel's forces were [[200 days of dread|advancing through Egypt]] in June 1942 (intent on occupying Palestine), and the 1939 White Paper led to the emergence of a Zionist leadership in Palestine that believed conflict with Britain was inevitable.<ref>''Palestine: Retreat from the Mandate, The making of British Policy, 1936–1945'' by Michael Cohen, New York 1979 pp. 122–130</ref> Despite this, the Jewish Agency called on Palestine's Jewish youth to volunteer for the British Army (both men and women). 30,000 Palestinian Jews and 12,000 Palestinian Arabs enlisted in the British armed forces during the war.<ref>{{cite book |last=Niewyk |first=Donald L. |title=The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_QQ7AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA247 |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2000 |page=247 |isbn=0231112009 |access-date=4 April 2018 |archive-date=14 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200114050020/https://books.google.com/books?id=_QQ7AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA247 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=When Palestinian Arabs and Jews fought the Nazis side by side|url=https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5524975,00.html|newspaper=Ynetnews|date=2019-06-16|access-date=3 August 2020|archive-date=26 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201126152237/https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5524975,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In June 1944 the British agreed to create a [[Jewish Brigade]] that would fight in Italy.

Approximately 1.5 million Jews around the world served in every branch of the allied armies, mainly in the Soviet and US armies. 200,000 Jews died serving in the Soviet army alone.<ref>[http://www.yadvashem.org/holocaust/about/combat-resistance/jewish-soldiers "Jewish Soldiers in the Allied Armies"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923164827/http://www.yadvashem.org/holocaust/about/combat-resistance/jewish-soldiers |date=23 September 2017 }}. [[Yad Vashem]].</ref>

A small group (about 200 activists), dedicated to resisting the British administration in Palestine, broke away from the Etzel (which advocated support for Britain during the war) and formed the "Lehi" ([[Stern Gang]]), led by [[Avraham Stern]].<ref>Nachman Ben-Yehuda. ''The Masada Myth: Collective Memory and Mythmaking in Israel''. Madison, Wisconsin, USA: Wisconsin University Press, 1995, pp. 322.</ref> In 1942, the [[USSR]] released the Revisionist Zionist leader [[Menachem Begin]] from the [[Gulag]] and he went to Palestine, taking command of the Etzel organization with a policy of increased conflict against the British.<ref>{{cite book |last=Haber |first=Eitan |author-link=Eitan Haber |title=Menachem Begin: The Legend and the Man |publisher=Delacorte Press |location=New York |year=1978 |isbn=0-440-05553-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/menahembegin00eita}} <!-- Chapter 7: "Menahem Begin arrived in Palestine in May 1942" --></ref> At about the same time [[Yitzhak Shamir]] escaped from the [[Irgun and Lehi internment in Africa|camp in Eritrea]] where the British were holding Lehi activists without trial, taking command of the Lehi (Stern Gang).<ref>{{cite book | last = Golan | first = Zev | title = Stern: The Man and His Gang | publisher=Yair Publications | date = November 2011  | page = 94 }}</ref>

Jews in the Middle East were also affected by the war. Most of North Africa came under Nazi control and many Jews were used as slaves.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007312|title=Jews in North Africa: Oppression and Resistance|website=www.ushmm.org|access-date=28 October 2011|archive-date=9 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150909121954/http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007312|url-status=live}}</ref> The 1941 [[1941 Iraqi coup d'état|pro-Axis coup in Iraq]] was accompanied by [[Farhud|massacres]] of Jews. The Jewish Agency put together plans for a last stand in the event of Rommel invading Palestine (the Nazis planned to exterminate Palestine's Jews).<ref>''Nazi Palestine: The Plans for the Extermination of the Jews in Palestine'' by Mallman and Cuppers, 2010</ref>

Between 1939 and 1945, the Nazis, [[Responsibility for the Holocaust|aided by local forces]], led systematic efforts to kill every person of Jewish extraction in Europe (The [[Holocaust]]), causing the deaths of approximately 6 million Jews. A quarter of those killed were children. The Polish and German Jewish communities, which played an important role in defining the pre-1945 Jewish world, mostly ceased to exist. In the United States and Palestine, Jews of European origin became disconnected from their families and roots. As the Holocaust mainly affected [[Ashkenazi Jews]], [[Sephardi Jews|Sepharadi]] and [[Mizrahi Jews]], who had been a minority, became a much more significant factor in the Jewish world. Those Jews who survived in central Europe, were [[Displaced persons camp|displaced persons]] (refugees); an [[Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry]], established to examine the Palestine issue, surveyed their ambitions and found that over 95% wanted to migrate to Palestine.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://archive.jta.org/article/1946/02/03/2743526/unrra-polls-displaced-jews-on-emigration-plans-first-vote-shows-palestine-is-favored |title=Unrra Polls Displaced Jews on Emigration Plans; First Vote Shows Palestine is Favored |publisher=JTA |date=3 February 1946 |access-date=4 December 2012 |archive-date=31 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211231030026/https://www.jta.org/archive/unrra-polls-displaced-jews-on-emigration-plans-first-vote-shows-palestine-is-favored |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/educational_materials/shapira_survivors.asp |title=Survivors of the Holocaust – Educational Materials – Education & E-Learning |publisher=Yad Vashem |access-date=4 December 2012 |archive-date=23 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111223192615/http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/educational_materials/shapira_survivors.asp |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Between National Socialism and Soviet Communism: Displaced Persons in Postwar Germany by Anna Holian Michigan 2011 pp 181–2</ref>

In the Zionist movement the moderate Pro-British (and British citizen) Weizmann, whose son died flying in the [[Royal Air Force|RAF]], was undermined by Britain's anti-Zionist policies.<ref>''Palestine: Retreat from the Mandate, The making of British Policy, 1936–1945'' by Michael Cohen, New York 1979 pp. 125–135</ref> Leadership of the movement passed to the Jewish Agency in Palestine, now led by the anti-British Socialist-Zionist party ([[Mapai]]) led by [[David Ben-Gurion]].<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Brenner | first1 = Michael | last2 = Frisch | first2 = Shelley | title = Zionism: A Brief History | publisher=Markus Wiener Publishers | date = April 2003  | page = 184 }}</ref>