What If Israel Was Somewhere Else? (Historic Proposals for a Jewish State) 

*Are there any other proposals for the creation of certain countries that ended up not happening?* Also, click here tiege.com/generalknowledge to get 30% off your first Tiege Hanley box plus a FREE gift! Let me know what gift you chose in the comments below!

One more Jewish resettlement plan was the Slattery report. It was a proposal by the U.S. Department of the Interior to resettle European Jews fleeing the Nazis in Alaska. It would both be a safe haven for Jews and also, for the Americans, populate and develope the then still underdeveloped territory. If I remember of all the places listed only 3 towns supported the idea. Wasn't a Jewish state but I felt it was worth mentioning.

Insane how they literally thought they could give away one of so many countries belonging to other people. Makes you realise this isn’t a just an Arab or Muslim issue. The ‘conflict’ would’ve happened in which ever place that was chosen to be Israel.

Madagascar plan seems basically like Attack on titan plot, and there are many german and jewish names in the series, most prominantly; Levi Ackerman.. [Spoilers below if you haven't watched] Like the plan, The island in the series is based on madagascar and is basically ment to serve as a giant ghetto to protect the 'superior marley race', from the 'monsterous eldians' who made a pact with the devil and used it in order to 'eat innocent marleans'. Also the series's technology is literally based on WWI and WWII technology with things such as tanks, planes and cameras recently being made.

What's amazing is how the Eurapean Powers constantly decided that the Jews could settle in lands where the natives are not given a say on the matter as well. They don't seem to want to find a solution within Europe itself even though that's where the problems are. They'd rather make it a different people's problem. It's no wonder as to why even Israel is so controversial today, especially by the imidiate neighbours. The British really didn't care and botched the situation so hard and with the worst part being that there is probably no going back.

Tasmania is literally: Paradise. It is an incredibly beautiful state and island, with some of the most unique biodiversity in the world. The south west of Tasmania is encompassed in the world heritage site of South West National Park. It would be unsuitable for a massive population of any group, because of the need to protect it's natural beauty.

Fun fact: the "Uganda Scheme" is mentioned in Israel's history books. History teachers tackle their students with: "What if?" and "Give me 3 reasons in favor of the scheme and 3 against.", etc.

I believe in 1946 Ho Chi Minh and David Ben Gurion randomly met in Paris while each on their own business, and the former suggested giving land for the Jewish state in Vietnam, in case the whole Holy Land thing didn't work out. It was just a random remark, not a fully-formed plan, but I often think what the world would be like if it happened.

Imagine giving away land that has it's inhabitants. Sick people

It amuses me that these proposals are always within the most remote or barren locations.

This is the calmest comment section on a video about Israel that I have ever seen 💀

I’m Tasmanian and have heard of the South West Israeli homeland plan. In those days the amount of infrastructure that would’ve been needed in what was then known as the “empty quarter” would be enormous! Still today it is uninhabited, rugged, very wet and World Heritage listed wilderness.

As a Ugandan I’m glad they weren’t placed on our territory. That’s our territory not theirs

I'm glad that you made this video. Such informative proposals which some of the public never heard of.

You forgot about the Kimberly plan. A proposal to establish a Jewish state in Northern Australia in a relatively lightly populated region. The Australian government rejected it.

I think it would've made more sense to put a Jewish homeland in Belgium, its not like anyone would care if we got rid of Belgium

My great grandfather was active in the movement for the creation of a Jewish state before the Holocaust. He felt that it would be impossible to create a homeland in Palestine as there were already too many people living there. His opinion was that it should instead be in Suriname.

Patagonia was also mentioned by Theodore Hertzl. The idea of having a country with to coasts from Chile and Argentina and the control of the antartic ocean and claimes for Antartica in the future. Also, this was used to be called in Argentina and Chile as ¨Plan Andinia¨.

Pretty fascinating! I was familiar with the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in Russia, and I knew there were other propositions for Jewish settlement, but I never looked much into it.

Ethiopia was not part of Italy as it won the war and was never colonised

A not so fun but interesting fact, I'm born and raised in Britain. But my Father is Palestinian and he legitimately thought that the Holocaust was Jewish Propaganda to get Arabs to sympathise with the Jews/Israelis, he now doesn't think this. But it took a full blown first hand account from my Grandad who fought in the war, lost a brother in said war and was fighting in Italy for most of it and saw the after effects of the camps. This was in the 80s, but it still amazes me how fucked up that situation would be and how that was probably a very, very bad day for all those involved.

Learned so much today. Huge thanks!

I’ve was thinking about this a few days ago, thank you for boiling it down for me

Britain should have given them the british Isles to establish Israel with London as a capital

What I am going to mention here is something I saw on TV only once, during the the late 1970s or early 80s. Maybe somebody else might remember it. In the late 1940s, when the re-establishment of Israel was being discussed, a very prominent Arab, I forget whom, when told of the Holocaust, said "Germany committed a terrible crime!!!! Let Germany pay for it!!!!! Germany should be made to give a large part of its territory to the Jews!!!! The Jews will have a safe and secure homeland of their own then!!!!" But no one listened to him.

I'm a Judaic Studies major in my university. I found this video to be informative and interesting, filling out further historical context that I had not previously heard! Thanks for being informative, neutral, and cognitive of the topic

As an Aussie, I never knew about the Port Davey plan. Fascinating to learn. Thanks GK!

Im from Grand Island! We were taught some of that history way back in 4th grade! The only thing I recall being differemt was that they attempted to establish a settlement but a horrible winter that year made them leave. Not too surprising if you know anything about Buffalo's weather, tho we rarely get those horrendous storms in the north towns

From what I heard about the Fugu Plan, the main reasoning was weaken Chinese trade influence by having somebody friendly to them do commercial activities instead plus they'd likely have ties to other countries economically. From an amoral perspective, the idea wasn't bad but never got to a serious planning stage. It was basically no more than one of many policy proposals to stay in control in Manchuria.

This was extremely interesting as I knew about the British proposal in Uganda and the autonomous area in the Soviet Union, but never knew anything at all about the other options. The Grand Island, New York idea was something I found intriguing as I'm originally from Rochester, New York, a short 2 hour drive from that area.

The madagascar plan was first devised by the Polish in the 1920s, but was later adopted by Germany years later

Coming back to this because it feels very relevant right now. Feel like they may have been best off creating a state where there wasn’t an existing state simply on ground that a Jewish state existed there 2700+ years prior.

As a Ugandan, I’m starting to think that we might have dodged a literal bullet.

The video quality has increased significantly over the last videos. Keep up like this!

I love your videos! Please keep going like that, the quality of your videos is just insane! ^^

Video correction: there was another Jewish state in the Second Temple period under the Hasmoneans.

The video actually starts at 5:10

You state that there wasn't a Jewish state from after the kingdom split, but there was the hasmonean kingdom during the middle of the second temple era, which was totally independent for about 80 years! With no Greek or Roman control.

8:47 Soviet Onion had me laughing so much 🤣 Nice video, though!

Imagine if you had the Tasmanian state of Israel next to Australia 😅

I live in Tasmania, had to do a double take at the thumbnail lol.

2:04 you forgot about the Hasmonean dynasty

I live 8 km (5 miles) from "Ararat City." I've heard about that proposal before. Later on, there was a similar suggestion, also not taken especially seriously by anybody, to put the United Nations on Navy Island, the smaller island to the northwest of Grand Island. It would have been accessible from the USA or Canada.

What a curious video! Love this channel, congrats!

As a Buffalonian, I've never been so surprised to see Grand Island pop up in world history

One of your best videos to date. Dear lord, this was a good one

Os teus vídeos são legitimamente impressionantes, imagino que uma conversa sobre geopolítica e estado do mundo o seja também! Excelente trabalho! Um extra ser de um tugão! 🔥

Very interesting. Thank you for your time. Cheers

Two you missed, the Andinia Plan in Argentina and Chile around 1880 and the Kimberley Plan in Australia in the 1930s.

So every European power wanted to get rid of them

Great video! Keep up the content! :)

Funny how they never suggested a place in Europe, perhaps Germany...

Why didn't Brits and other colonial powers did not seek to create one in Europe? Made sense since most Jews in modern-day and age are of European origin.

Great vid, I was a little surprised that Aregentina wasn't in the vid, though. Theodor Hertzl also proposed Argentina as a Jewish state location in Der Judenstaat, before working on the Uganda plan (1896 to be exact).

In Soviet Union, you get land for autonomy... in Siberia!

I think the Prussian territory of Koninsberg or Kalinigrad before partition would have been an apt compensation considering Germanys direct involvement and getting the heart of Prussia. Most likely this would have been a Jewish Soviet Republic which later resembles the Baltic states post 1991.

One of the most informative videos I watched since the new year Eve .. and most importantly it's talking about HISTORICAL FACTS .. not POLITICAL OPINIONS .. .. Almost exactly as what you'll find in Wikipedia if you search for : Jewish State Proposals

Do proposals of a Romani state next! While I see a lot of good sources of alternate places for a Jewish state, I can’t find much about proposals of a Romani state.

I knew about the Madagascar proposal, but the Uganda one is new to me.

Antartica would have been a better choice.

There was a new proposal earlier this year from an Israeli official to buy an island in Greece for emergencies but got rejected

Great video but please check and possibly fix: A jewish state in the 2nd to 1st century in the same location - had strong ties to Hellenic world (after a successful rebellion by Judeh the Maccabi), and later Rome but independent and actually quite aggressive and conquering, continued to exist until middle 1st century under Roman 'protectorate', Had kings like Johanan Horkenus, Aristoteblus, queen Shlomzion and others.

It's crazy to think about all of the proposed states of Israel. Some wacky; others not so much. Also, I found that map of the Jewish Diaspora (0:05) very informative and in some ways surprising.

Nice video 👏🏻👏🏻

There was a proposal to establish a Jewish homeland in the Sinai Desert. There was also a second proposal for Australia, in which a Jewish homeland would have been established along the north coast of the continent.

Great video like always! Anyways my suggestion is places with shocking population gains or losses

What a great informative video. I'm certain the comment section only contains reasonable, respectful content.

The Australia one is the best of out of all of them including today Jewish state idea. Its the only place I can think of where dispute and fight won't happen.

Very interesting, thanks! P. S. There is a typo around 8:45: "Soviet Onion"

An alt-history scenario that I think is kind of interesting is what if after WW2, instead of Palestine, the Jewish people had been given East Prussia as a new homeland? There's so many things to consider with that scenario. What would they do during the Cold War? What would happen if Russia didn't have Kaliningrad?

The Uganda Scheme was not proposed in Uganda, but in a small area of modern day Kenya called Guas Nagishu.

Interesting. Though there was one more project in 1946. The Saramaccaproject. The plan was to be carried out, the Staten van Suriname (the name of the parliament back then) had already voted in favor. The Dutch government was also in favor. They'd reached written agreement on many points. For example, it was agreed that the immigrants should settle in their own villages where they would have complete religious freedom, that they should commit themselves to learning Dutch and should strive for Dutch citizenship. The only remaining point of contention, the number of Jewish immigrants, was tentatively set at 30,000, with the possibility of more to come later. (Suriname then had about 180,000 inhabitants). The 30,000 Jews would be settled in the Saramacca district, southwest of Groningen, in an area between 60 and 65 km². The cost of this plan was estimated at USD 35 million. Hans Samson, the Surinamese representative of the Freeland League, took care of the translation. Though major objections in Suriname came from the Surinamese Zionist Union. In Zionist circles, including in the US and in the Netherlands, there was strong opposition to the Freeland League's plans because they could thwart the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. The Zionists therefore exerted pressure not to let the plan go ahead. The resistance of the Nationalist Party Suriname (NPS) was of great influence in Suriname itself. This Creole party feared that mass immigration of Jews would eventually lead to political and economic domination by Jews. The objections of the Dutch government were decisive, however. In the beginning he had been positive about the plan, but after a while he turned against it. It was feared that there would be many 'Communist infiltrators' among the Jewish immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe, so that Suriname could become a communist state. In May 1948, Israel declared its independence. The new Surinamese governor, Willem Huender, then indicated in August that it had been decided to suspend the Jewish immigration plans until the international situation would clear up. Despite many attempts by the Freeland League, the plans were never seriously considered on the Dutch and Surinamese sides. However, the Saramacca project has never been officially discontinued.

It wasn’t a proposal but there was a Jewish explorer who visited the Kimberly Region of Australia with the hope that might become the Jewish State, I believe is he also visited Victoria as well. I think there was a Proposal for a Jewish state in Canada somewhere.

Excellent disclaimer at the beginning. Respect goes both way. Peace

There was also plans to make a Jewish state in norther territories and in northern Western Australia (around Kimberly region)

You omitted the actual Jewish state of the Hasmonean Kingdom. It ruled over Judaea, the Galilee, the philistine coastal plain, and much of the Transjordan including the Golan heights

On 6:31 you've circled the wrong area. The Jews were to be resettled in Uasin Gishu, which is in present day Kenya, a huge distance East of the circle. When dealing with East African history, you have to remember that Kenya as a national name only begins to exist in the 1910s, so alot of present day Kenyan territory is named under Uganda. A good example of this is the 1906 Uganda railway being named so, despite most of it spreading between Mombasa and Kisumu, which is Kenyan land. You can actually tell the time period when certain books were written, depending on if they refer to it as "Uganda railway" or " Kenya - Uganda railway".

8:47 Soviet Onion 🤣 btw love your presentation

You made a mostake at 2:08. After the Macabian revolt there was an established 2nd kingdom of Judea which lasted until 41CE, and then there was the Judean republic of 66CE and the various jewish revolts until the 7th Century

The explanation is really cool 🆒

There was the Kimberley scheme in northern Australia too

"You are not going to solve the Middle East crisis in the comment section of a RU-vid video" that should be one of the terms and conditions to signing into RU-vid… An understanding of that statement😂😂 people can dream

There are more that you didn't mentioned. Prussia offered to Ben gurion after ww2, Sinai peninsula, offered by the British and probably more that I don't remember right now.

I'm a Gnostic and we have been oppressed to the tune of 8 to 10 million killed can we have a homeland ?

One mistake I noticed, there was a another Jewish kingdom, the maccabean dynasty. Another proposal was to create a Jewish state in Suriname.

I genuinely had no idea most of these proposals existed. Although I did know the Nazis planned to ship all undesirables to Australia once the war was over or Australia was conquered.

There's a good alternative-history novel, The Yiddish Policemen's Union (2007), that, quoting Wikipedia, "...is a detective story set in an alternative history version of the present day, based on the premise that during World War II, a temporary settlement for Jewish refugees was established in Sitka, Alaska, in 1941, and that the fledgling State of Israel was destroyed in 1948. The novel is set in Sitka, which it depicts as a large, Yiddish-speaking metropolis." It won the Hugo and the Nebula, the two most prestigious science fiction awards.

The Madagascar Plan was initially a French idea, as Madagascar island was a French colony back then. In 1930's the French wanted to lease the island to Poland in exchange for Poles managing the whole process of resettlement of european Jews over there, and taking responsibility while co-governing the island later. (It was supposed to be a French-Polish condominium). Poland really wanted to join the club of colonial powers and initially didn't mind taking part in this scheme. But, after visiting the island in 1937, the joint Polish-Jewish expedition concluded that there is absolutely no way that Madagaskar will be the new home for european Jews (rough weather conditions, and the space enough to accommodate max. 5000 settlers), so Poland withdrew from the plan. In January 1939 Bonnet proposed to Ribbentrop that Madagascar Plan will be a joint French-German project. That's how the idea of Madagascar plan was picked up by Nazi Germany... and sadly, only here the article on English wikipedia starts! (June 1940, Germany attacks France in WW2, and plans to take over their colonies, including Madagascar.)

The map of the Middle East was redrawn when the Ottoman Empire was dissolved following WWI. This would have been a good time to create a homeland for the Jewish people.

Jim Jones tried to create a "New Jerusalem" in Guyana. J.K. - keep up the good work !

I’m sure the comments on this video are going to be completely rational and respectful of each other’s opinions, the internet is such a wonderful Place 😆

You should read "The Yiddish Policeman's Union" a novel by Michael Chabon. It imagines a Jewish state set up in Alaska.

At 8.43 the map shows the Soviet Onion. This topic was informatively covered on Cunk on Earth

I can explain why the delegation sent to Uganda reported there was too many lions. The vote to establish a Jewish Homeland slimly pasts a vote in the World Zionist Congress. Upon the vote passing those who voted no to the plan stood up and sang the poem Hatikvah which would become the national anthem of Israel. The poem speaks about our home being "The Land of Zion and of Jerusalem" as well as a general yearning to return. Some of the delegates falsified elements of the report of Uganda such as the lions to essentially put the territory then known as Palestine back as the most desired and most viable territory to create a Jewish homeland. Hope this provides some clarification if anyone wondered about the lion thing :)

@General Knowledge you skipped the Hasmonaean dynasty and their state, I think it's important to mention.

The Madagascar plan sounded like the best route to go

An island would have been good.... far far away from other people

I like the variety with this video, only thing I might add would be the suggested settlement of the Jewish people in Patagonia and around the southern end of South America

This long intro is a *wild* change in video style from your usual. It's pretty well done, but it's also a lot more generic and creates a weird transition to the main video. I personally prefer your usual hand-drawn style because it is more unique and personal.

When I explained to my father how small Israeli-Palestine area is, and how large their population relative to the land and the condition of the land, that there is dessert and barrend land. His reaction was "no wonder the conflict is bloody mess". We agreed that religious conflict is only scapegoat and People fight for space and resource there.