The Reaction of British Jewry to Suez, 1956 / by Raphael Langham

Introduction1Paper presented to the Society in November 2006

The motto of our Society is Z'char Y'mat Olam; remember the days of old... To most of us here this evening the events of 1956 are a memory and not really history. This evening I'm going to jog your memories, but I'm doubtful if I'll be telling anything much new to many of you.
1956 was a memorable year:-
* My Fair Lady opened on Broadway and Lugano hosted the first ever Eurovision song contest.
* Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier and Marilyn Monroe married Arthur Miller.
* Laker took 19 wickets against Australia in the fourth test at Old Trafford and England won the Ashes.
* Khrushchev and Bulganin visited Britain and Commander Crabbe mysteriously disappeared in Portsmouth harbour where their ship was moored.
* Fidel Castro and Che Guevara landed in Cuba.
* The Hungarians revolted against communist rule and the Russians sent tanks into Budapest.
* Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal and Israel, France and Britain invaded Egypt.
* The Nobel Peace prize was not awarded.
Tonight I shall talk about just one of those events. Tempted as I might be to talk about cricket which was a success story for England, you've come here to hear about Suez, which was not. We have been saturated by television programs and newspaper articles and even two new books about Suez. Most of them deal with the lead up to the war, the war itself and the consequences. I am going to concentrate this evening on the reaction, particularly that of the British Jewish community, as after all we are the Jewish Historical Society of England, and it is the only area relating to Suez that does not appear to have been fully researched.
I will start with a brief history of the canal to put the events in some perspective and then describe what happened in October/November 1956 and why. I will then discuss the reaction to these events in Britain and in particular of the British Jewish community, who perhaps for the first time ever were concerned for a few days that the issue of dual loyalty might be about to erupt. Finally, I will conclude with some comments on the aftermath.

History of the Canal

The first Suez Canal was built about 3500 years ago by Pharaoh Sesostris. It stretched from the Nile to the Bitter Lakes and then down to the ancient port of Clysma, which we know today as Suez. There is no reference in Bereshit or Shemot to this canal, although the time frame fits. It wasn't very deep or wide but could accommodate the small sailing ships then in use. It lasted for more than 2000 years until the Moslem conquest, but most of the time it was out of use due to silting from the desert sands. Other canals were also built in the area and there is a legend that

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