The Doctrine of Beitar

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Our current situation in the Land of Israel is precisely this, like a set of known and necessary facts. We are settling this land against the will of the local inhabitants; this local population still outnumbers us; therefore our settlement can develop and strengthen only under the protection of armed forces - just as every other settlement developed in history. The fundamental difference is only that in all other cultural settlements, the settling people provided the armed force themselves, whereas in our case the defense is incumbent upon the "Christian troops," composed of soldiers and officers of another nation. In the event of the most justified "people's resentment" against the Jews, the duty of active operations will befall these soldiers. If there are casualties among the "troops," then on the list of victims published in England will appear the names Peter, and John, and John Speir; and insofar as these soldiers will have to fire into the crowd (whose behavior we know), a very difficult thing for an English soldier, it is an unpleasant duty. This is the sort of fate apportioned to Peter and John. And with that, I pass here in silence over the financial side of the matter: for the English operations are financed by the British taxpayer, and he, as is known, regards expenses of this sort with extreme nervousness.

This system of protectorate-Judaism lies at the foundation of all our conflicts with England as the Mandate government. First of all, it led to the Jewish defense force in the Land of Israel being reduced to the limits of utter helplessness; in particular, its most important part from the standpoint of the danger of riots—the infantry—was reduced, so that in April 1936 it comprised only two cadres. And the necessary result of this situation was the perpetual riots that would break out from time to time, and until now the government has always responded to these riots by halting Jewish immigration. This was a chronic and absolute conclusion from the situation of protectorate-Jews in which we find ourselves. We are dealing here with one of the iron laws of settlement. A people whose defense is incumbent upon the soldiers of another people cannot set conditions. The boundaries within which it will be permitted to settle the land are dictated by the protector-