In short, the Indian leadership, comprising the Congress Party and its
two stalwarts, Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, were not in favor
of Jewish national aspirations in Palestine. While some of their argu-
ments could be challenged, it is undeniable that they were not ready to
endorse the Zionist enterprise in Palestine.
How can one explain and rationalize this pro- Arab and anti- Zionist
stand?
Rationale
Asia in general was indiff erent to the Jewish longing for a his-
toric home. According to one school of thought, this apathy was due to
the absence of the Judeo- Christian heritage in the continent. The history
of the Jewish people and their claims to the Holy Land were alien to
the predominantly non- Christian Asian masses. Even their Western-
educated leaders were less than familiar with Jewish histor y. In the words
of Michael Brecher, Theodore Herzl “did not succeed in his eff orts to
enlist diplomatic support from Zionist aspirations, but Christian leaders
did not question the propriety of his actions or doubt the unique Jewish
link to Palestine.... Such sympathy, let alone active support, was un-
thinkable among Asian leaders, because historic Israel, Jewry, and Juda-
ism are little known east of the Arab world.”^46 Others, however, attribute
the Asian reluctance to its suspicion and disapproval of the goals and ob-
jectives of Zionism. For them, serious diff erences with Jewish aspira-
tions in Palestine made the Asian leaders wary of Zionism’s colonial de-
sires. The Asian reluctance to endorse the Zionist aspiration has to be
located within the context of the “incompatibility between the anticolo-
nial upsurge in Asia and the methods and goals of the Zionist move-
ment.” Furthermore, as M. S. Agwani points out, the Eu ro pe an Judeo-
Christian heritage “did not prevent the sustained persecution of Jews, a
circumstance to which Asian history aff ords no parallel.”^47
Both arguments are strong but incomplete. The Judeo- Christian heri-
tage signifi cantly facilitated the formation of the Jewish state. A host of
“gentile Zionists” actively contributed to the Jewish- homeland project in
Palestine.^48 Reasons for their support diff ered. For some Christians, a
Jewish homeland was the fulfi llment of the prophecy; for others, it was
an atonement for their prolonged persecution of the “chosen people.” Sup-
port for Zionism was also seen as an “honorable” solution to the age- old
the congress party and the yishuv 53