cially Gandhi and Nehru. Both Olsvanger^93 and the Zionist activist Olga
Feinberg,^94 who was working for the Women’s International Zionist
Or ga ni za tion, addressed a number of public meetings in India and spoke
about the situation in Palestine and the yishuv.
The vocal support for Israel expressed by the Hindu right wing can
create the wrong and misleading impression that the Zionists confi ned
their activities to anti- Muslim sections of India. For example, some
Indian leaders off ered to fi ght for the Jews.^95 Over the years, the Hindu
Mahasabha, Jan Sangh, its later successor the BJP, and similar other groups,
organizations, and individuals associated with this segment of the In-
dian public adopted an overtly pro- Israel stand. This might give the im-
pression that the Zionists approached India within a narrow commu-
nal framework. However, the Zionists also invested considerable po liti cal
capital in India’s Muslim community and leadership. As discussed else-
where, Weizmann’s fi rst known po liti cal contact was not with the INC
leadership but with Muslim leaders. His meeting with Shaukat Ali took
place in January 1931, many years before his meeting with Nehru. Like-
wise, Olsvanger forged personal relations with a number of Muslim lead-
ers of the British Raj, including Khan Abdul Ghaff ar Khan,^96 Muhammed
Iqbal,^97 and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.^98 Ghaff ar Khan was an infl uen-
tial leader of the Baloch community that eventually became part of Paki-
stan; Iqbal wrote the song that was adopted as the national anthem of
Pakistan. Azad emerged as Nehru’s principal adviser on India’s Middle
East policy and, according to Michael Brecher, sabotaged Nehru’s plans
to normalize relations with Israel in early 1952.
Olsvanger’s interactions with Muslim leaders led to an unusual devel-
opment. In September 1936, he was asked by the Central Khilafat Commit-
tee to speak at its meeting in New Delhi. Declining this unique off er, he
argued that in the absence of an Arab speaker from Palestine, “I somehow
feel that my addressing the Congress would mean... to take advantage of
the absence of a possible opponent and that would surely be not fair. If a
Palestinian Arab would be present, both he and I could speak and reply
to each other before an impartially listening audience.”^99 Similarly, in
December 1937, another Zionist fi gure, Richard Freund, met Asaf Ali.^100
A de cade later, Asaf Ali represented India at the crucial First Special
Session of the UN General Assembly that led to the formation of the
UNSCOP.
Another area where the Zionists had a signifi cant edge over the Arab
nationalists was their widespread academic interests. This partially
the congress party and the yishuv 63