Fruitless Fighting: Women’s Struggle to Enlist the ‘Jewish Legion’ in 1918

Abstract

The article deals with the Jewish women’s struggle to volunteer for the British army at the end of World War I in 1918. The leader of the women volunteers’ attempt was Rachel Yanait, ‘Ha-Shomer’ committee member and central political activist in the ‘Poalei Zion’ party. Two main political figures within the Zionist arena, Chaim Weizmann and Zeev Jabotinsky, tried in different ways to assist the fulfillment of the women’s goal to join Jewish men volunteers who were allowed to actively contribute to conquering the Ottoman Empire and liberating Palestine. Beyond the gender aspects of the women’s struggle at the time, the women’s wish to actively join the British army was mixed with several other topics within the Zionist agenda in 1918: the necessity of using power in achieving the Zionist targets and using the period of regime change in order to elaborate the Jewish control over lands throughout the country. The British did not permit the women to fulfill their wish, and enabled only a few of them to participate in medical tasks within their armed forces. Even though the women failed in their struggle, it was a milestone in women’s attempts from the ‘Ha-Shomer’ days through the Mandatory period to join defense activities and assist the Zionist efforts to gain sovereignty over Palestine.