VERY RARE ITEM RELATED TO THE HISTORICAL MOMENT "The U.S. Navy Saved Jews of Eretz Yisrael more than 100 Years Ago"
RATHER GOOD CONDITION, FOR DETAILS SEE PICTURES
The U.S. Navy Saved Jews of Eretz Yisrael more than 100 Years Ago
One hundred years ago the Jews of Palestine suffered terribly from hunger, disease and oppression. The territory was ruled with an iron fist by the Ottoman (Turkish) army. The Middle East teetered on the brink of World War I, and in 1914 Turkey abolished the “capitulation” agreements with European powers which granted them elements of sovereignty over their subjects in the Ottoman Empire. For many Jews of Eretz Yisrael their French, British and Russian protectors were gone. The financial assistance they received from their European Jewish brethren evaporated.
Realizing the difficulty in bringing money into Palestine past corrupt Turkish officials, Morgenthau also appealed to Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan for assistance. It came in the form of U.S. Navy ships.
Credit: NavSource Naval History
On October 6, 1914 the U.S. Navy’s USS North Carolina landed in the Jaffa harbor and delivered $50,000 to the U.S. consul general for distribution to the Jewish community. The USS North Carolina, Vulcan, Des Moines and Tennessee plied the eastern Mediterranean between Beirut and Cairo. Some of the ships delivered money, food and aid to the Jews of Eretz Yisrael until the United States entered the war in 1917.