I have read some of the comments here about the Zionist movement amongst worldwide Judaism. It seems far fetched however that a single movement could gather so much political power amongst the Jews themselves, and amongst the governments of Europe and America.
For example, how is it that Zionists had the power to stop the deportation of Jews from Germany to Spain, and then to America and the British Colonies? If the Nazis really wanted to do so, and even moreseo the British and American governments also wanted this to happen, how were Zionists able to prevent it? Why did any deportations have to be directed according to the Zionists concerns?
Secondly, how is it that only the Zionists had the ability to raise the $50,000 needed to bribe Nazi officials and keep them from deporting jews to death camps? How is it, that amongst all the jews in the world who would most likely have been eager to donate some money to help their breathren, that the Zionists could stop such funds from being allocated? It seems hard to believe that the 8-10 million- ish non-European Jews would not be interested in providing $50,000 to save potentially millions of their brethren. (granted such moneys had to be collected in secret). So how is it that Zionists were able to prevent that which the common Jew worldwide would have likely been happy to donate for?
I imagine that the Zionist movement would have to hold a large amount of political clout to be able to dictate whether such events would occurr. Are there any materials or documents that back up your argument, and prove that the Zionists actually had the worldwide political power to affectuate the issues you claim they are responsible for?
You have to realize that although the Zionists in the pre-War era may not have been the majority of Jewry, they were the most advanced in modern politics and the best organized. Other movements and views existed on a small scale, but the vast majority of Jews were not part of any large political organization. They had been uprooted from Europe to the U.S. and other countries not long before, and they saw the Zionist and Joint organizations as the only major players on the world scene who were ostensibly working to benefit Jews. So they gave their money to them. With control of most of the Jewish funds of the world, the Zionists and the Joint were the organizations to which the European Jews turned to supply money to bribe Nazi officials. Furthermore, there were no organizations well-enough organized to raise that much money among the Jewish masses of America at that time.
Since they were the only recognized Jewish political organizations, it was them that the Americans and British took into account when formulating their immigration policies. And the Zionists discouraged immigration to anywhere except Palestine.