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Christian Zionism

British Christians lament 'Forsaken Promise'

Film screened at pre-state detention facility exposes Britain's betrayal


By Stan Goodenough
April 30, 2006

Late last week, two days after Israel?s Holocaust Memorial Day, a group of British Christians visited the site of a pre-state British internment camp at Atlit, south of Haifa.

During a daylong program they:

  • Attended the premier screening of ?The Forsaken Promise? ? a film documenting Britain?s betrayal of Europe?s Jews before, during and after the Holocaust;

  • Unveiled a monument to thousands of Jews who perished directly because of the Royal Navy?s blockade that prevented them from reaching their Promised Land;

  • Confessed their nation?s shameful treatment of the Jews to representatives of the nation of Israel.

Seated in a darkened bungalow ? one of the camp huts that for 10 years imprisoned Jews who sought to escape antisemitic tyranny and genocide by entering their ancient homeland ? the gathering sat mesmerized by the three-hour film that damningly told the tale of British perfidy and betrayal.

For, after initially promising to encourage and facilitate the creation of the Jewish national home, Great Britain had reneged, and fought tooth and nail to prevent the establishment of that state.

In the process, and at the very moment that Hitler stood poised to unleash genocide upon Europe?s Jews, the British government issued a White Paper that slammed shut the doors of immigration in the face of desperate Jewish refugees.

By so doing, Britain became responsible for sealing the fate of an untold number of the Holocaust?s victims.

If that were not damning enough, the post-war government of Clement Atlee treated the remnant that survived the camps with callous cruelty.

Unmoved by the plight of hundreds of thousands of ravaged people, Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin doggedly maintained the blockade, imprisoning emaciated and tormented Jews, and sending thousands more back to the horror house from which they had fled, and where two-thirds of their family members had been destroyed.

When Britain?s abuse gave rise to global anger and disgust, Whitehall abandoned the mandate it had been given in sacred trust, throwing the issue of establishing a Jewish state back into the plenum of the United Nations.

As Britain prepared to remove its forces, it openly aided the Arabs in their preparations to wipe out the Jewish presence as soon as the army had left. England?s treachery towards the Jews was complete.

After the screening, the producer of ?The Forsaken Promise? Hugh Kitson, publicly expressed his sorrow and shame for what England had done. His confession moved to tears Israelis in the audience, among them a Holocaust survivor and former British detainee, as well as a member of the underground Irgun movement that eventually fought and drove the British out.

At a ceremony attended by the British Christians and a small crowd of Israelis ? including former chief rabbi and Atlit detainee Meir Lau, and captain of the Exodus ?illegal? immigrant ship, Yossi Harel ? a monument was unveiled in memory of the 3000 Jews who gave their lives trying to break the British blockade.

Resembling billowing sea waves, the monument was sponsored by ?Love Never Fails,? a network of British Christian ministries that share a calling to bless Israel and the Church.

Both Jews and Christians laid wreaths and red flowers, a number of the British standing with heads bowed in shame and sadness at what their nation had done.

A plaque in the bungalow where the film was screened reads in English and Hebrew:

"In sorrow and shame, we recognize the complete betrayal of the British Mandate for Palestine as represented by the Atlit Detention Camp. ?Father, forgive us,? we pray."

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