Revisiting the Anti-Zionism of Sir Isaac Isaacs, Australia's First Native-Born Governor-General—and a Jew

Abstract

Sir Isaac Isaacs, Australia's first native-born Governor-General (1931–1936) was a leading figure in the controversy on Zionism within the Jewish community in Australia in 1941–1946. Isaacs argued against Extreme or Political Zionism on grounds of prudence and justice. Zionism undermined the British war effort, also leading to conflict within Palestine and beyond. Zionism was unfair to the Arabs of Palestine, also weakening the position of Jews as citizens in jurisdictions where they lived; it ran counter to principles of justice in Judaism. Julius Stone was Isaacs's leading critic: Isaacs lacked sympathy for the plight of Jews in Europe; Jewishness involved nationality, compatible with the right to a Jewish state in Palestine and democratic citizenship elsewhere. Stone was an influence on Dr. Herbert Evatt, the Australian foreign minister who took a pro-Zionist position at the United Nations, whereas Isaacs was not. Isaacs's critique of Zionism remains prescient to many aspects of the contemporary Israel-Palestine conflict but not all.