34 mahatma gandhi and the jewish national homea private statement from Gandhi on Palestine. And third, a number of
Jewish individuals from Palestine and elsewhere approached him for
sympathy and support for the Zionist cause. They include such fi gures as
Margin Buber, Judah Magnes, Sidney Silverman, Hayim Greenberg, and
Louis Fischer.^39
Otherwise, none of the leading lights of Zionism are known to have
established any direct and personal contact with the Indian leader. In-
deed, in July 1937, Weizmann, who had been marginalized by the rise
of David Ben- Gurion, sought the counsel of Kallenbach in writing to
Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.^40 This suggestion came more than fi fteen
years after the Mahatma expressed his opposition to Jewish claims in
Palestine. There is no evidence to suggest that the Mahatma had received
any letters from Weizmann. Some individuals did approach him, solicit-
ing support for a Jewish national home. But in the aftermath of the
Harijan article of 1938, the Zionist- Mahatma contacts almost ceased.
Belated attempts to cultivate Mahatma Gandhi were not fruitful, and
the disappointment of the Zionist leadership was clear. Olsvanger, who
came to India with the explicit purpose of securing the support of the
Indian nationalists, quickly dismissed the Mahatma as a “sham saint and
simpleton.”^41 Within weeks of Olsvanger’s arrival, even Shertok devel-
oped second thoughts about the Mahatma, remarking:
Olsvanger writes that Gandhi’s position and infl uence in the Nation-
alist movement is not what it used to be and that therefore it would be
imprudent to try and get a public defi nition of attitude on his part as
this might provoke a repudiation from the offi cial leaders who, while
inclined to see our point of view, would be extremely reluctant to do
or say anything which might alienate Mohammedan sympathies of
which they are much in need.^42In a sense, the Zionist leadership wrote the Mahatma’s po liti cal obituary
as early as 1936. As history would have it, even half a century after his as-
sassination, the Mahatma’s views on Palestine occupy a prominent place
in rationalizing India’s Middle East policy.
The Zionists were not alone in expressing skepticism about the
Mahatma. A few Indian leaders felt that, given the rigid positions ad-
opted by se nior leaders like Gandhi and Nehru, there was a need for an
alternate Zionist strategy. One such person was Sardar K. M. Panikkar,