Why Did American Jews Smuggle Guns Into Palestine?

Following the 1948 U.S. arms embargo on Israel leading up to the Israeli War of Independence, Harry Levine and 18 other American Jews accepted David Ben-Gurion’s plea and began a secret and extremely complicated operation to smuggle weapons overseas to the Haganah. This operation was possibly the most organized global joint effort the Jewish people had ever made.

Big Ideas

1. Jews are responsible for helping other Jews.
2. When it comes to fighting for survival, Jews need to rely on themselves rather than others.
3. Fighting between Jews often does more damage than good.

Essential Questions

1. How far would you go to help the Jewish people?
2. Is defiance against the government ever justifiable?
3. If I am not for myself, who will be for me?  And when I am for myself alone, what am I?  And if not now, then when?