Eichmann always characterized himself as a Zionist, so to suggest Zionist sympathies within the SS & Party at large is hardly shocking. The imperative was to make first Germany, then Europe Judenrein. So why not Zionism. This was the impetus behind the Haavara agreements: for Jews to emigrate out of Europe, while taking as much of their wealth as possible.
The implication here, however, seems to be there were Jewish Zionists in the SS. Not so. Jews, as Jews, would be ineligible. While there was a Muslim SS division, the Handschar, it consisted of European—Bosnian & Albanian—Muslims. Arabs would also be ineligible.
The Nazis favored Jewish emigration to Palestine until the mid thirties when the idea of an excessively powerful Jewish presence there turned them against it. A few years later, the Grand Mufti, al-Husseini, would obtain a promise from Hitler to allow no more Jews to immigrate to Palestine. A promise the Fuhrer kept.
The medallion you show was struck by Goebbels to commemorate von Mildenstein's tour of Palestine. It hardly demonstrates that Zionism = Nazism. Do we really intend to allow Goebbels the last word here?
I've read Allison Weir's books. She is not the best source on this subject. While it's likely, though not certain, that Zionist underground in Iraq was responsible for several bombings, (this from Avi Shlaim, who is a good source), charging them with the expulsion of the large & ancient Jewish community of Iraq flies in the face of warnings Iraqi & Egyptian delegates to the UN offered of possible repercussions during the debate over the partition of Palestine several years earlier.
Further, while it's understandable that the Yishuv would desire young men (& women) not only to build the state, but to man the armed forces in the face of growing Arab threats from within & without Palestine, they did not prevent the immigration of the elderly, or children. The quote from Ben-Gurion is accurate, but so what? It was hypothetical.
Zionism, while problematic from a western liberal point of view, is not Nazism. Or even particularly similar. Before jumping aboard the wagon to condemn it, consider Joel Brand, an emissary sent by Eichmann in '44 to negotiate a Blut fur wahren, blood for material, agreement with the Allies in which the Nazis promised to allow 100,000 Hungarian Jews bound for Auschwitz to be set free in exchange for material of value. Brand hoped to meet with Chaim Weizmann & at least open negotiations, during which Eichmann promised to suspend transport to Auschwitz. He knew the Allies weren't going to send the Nazis war material, but with the Red Army approaching Hungary, every day the transports were stalled could save thousands of lives. Brand was taken into custody by the British & kept incommunicado for months. He never met with Weizmann. At one point a British official told him: Whatever will we do with 100,000 Jews, old chap?
That alone is why, in spite of growing horror & despair at Netanyahu & his government's actions & policies, I remain a Zionist.
