By Katherine Smith, PhD

Exodus, the movie, adapted from the 1958 book by Leon Uris, was inspired by the 1948 book by Ruth Gerber Destination Palestine.[1]

Leon Uris (1924-2003) was a well-respected novelist and the author of several screenplays, but it was not until the 1958 publication of Exodus that he became one of America's most popular writers. Exodus would become one of the most widely published and read novels of the 20th Century.

Exodus was a commissioned novel (to improve Israel’s image) by Edward Gottleib, a man who is considered by many to be the founder of public relations in the United States. The book dealt with a highly controversial event in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the creation of the Modern State of Israel. The film rights were sold before the novel was finished. [2]

Exodus considered historical fiction is really fictional historical propaganda because it shaped the dispositions and beliefs of Americans on the subject of Zionism and Israel for the last 50 years. Uris, an ardent Zionist, would agree that was his purpose.

The novel, loosely based on fact, is as anti-British and anti-Arab as the anti-Semitism the book so loudly decries and was written from an extreme Zionist position.

The “Genesis” of Exodus

Uris painted a general history of European anti-Semitism with an emphasis on the Holocaust to justify what has become known as The Return of the Jews to their “rightful” historical homeland in 1947 and the creation of the Modern State of Israel in 1948.

The Return was the stated purpose of a Jewish political movement that arose in Europe in the late 19^th century known as Zionism.

A “Jewish state” is a violation of the teachings of Orthodox Judaism

The Zionist leaders were well aware of Jewish history and that America's traditional churches in the 19th Century would never allow a Jewish occupation of Jesus' homeland. The Jews, according to the Christian New Testament, persecuted and crucified Jesus Christ.

Therefore a con artist by the name of Cyrus Scofield, and his “Book,” the Scofield Reference Bible from Oxford University Press, were used to change America; its religious orientations, dispositions and beliefs.

Scofield, after being released from prison was introduced to Samuel Untermeyer, the President of the Koren Hayesod, and the Zionist movement in America. Untermeyer, an attorney, was instrumental in the financing of Scofield’s Reference bible. The Zionist-Created Scofield 'Bible'

The Scofield bible has hundreds of easy-to-read footnotes in the margins and at the bottom of the pages that misleadingly weave parts of the Old and New Testaments together as though the same people wrote them at the same time. The most convincing evidence of Zionism influence on Scofield are the notes themselves, below are examples taken from the revised 1967 Edition:

• For a nation to commit the sin of anti-Semitism brings inevitable judgment.
• God made an unconditional promise of blessings through Abram's seed to the nation of Israel to inherit a specific territory forever.

In fact there is no sin of anti-Semitism in the bible and Abraham did not bequeath a “specific territory” to his descendants.

Scofield's eschatology is antithetical to traditional Christian views. Christian Zionism, Its History, Theology and Politics, Christ Church Vicarage by Stephen Sizer.

It is impossible to overstate the influence of Cyrus Scofield and the Oxford Press on twentieth-century Christian and Jewish sectarian beliefs. With limitless advertising and promotion, the Scofield Bible became the most important instrument for spreading the message of Christian Zionism: that the Modern State of Israel is the fulfillment of biblical prophecy and that the Jews are entitled to Return of to their “rightful” historical homeland, in 1947.

A Synopsis of the Exodus Saga

Following World War II, the Jews, finally liberated from the Nazi concentration camps run by the Germans find themselves in containment camps run by the British.

The world is in shock at what was done to the Jews in the Nazi Germany. But while the world feels guilty for not having stopped Hitler, a former gay prostitute and street cleaner, from taking over the world with H.W. Bush’s father’s money, they aren’t ready to give Palestine to the Jews. [3]

The Zionists, who helped the Nazi devils carry out the final solution, the Entfernung, a nightmare for the Jews, are now pressuring the United Nations to implement the final, final solution (The Return), soon to become a nightmare for the Palestinians. [4]

In 1947, the United Nations is debating a resolution that will give the Palestinian’s land to the Jews.

The Saga of the Exodus allegedly the event that influenced the final vote in the General Assembly of the United Nations. On November 29, 1947, they voted 33-13 in favor of partition (UN resolution 181).

The first part of the movie is about The Return of the Jews to Palestine on a 320-foot American excursion boat, the President Warfield. The Jewish Army of Resistance, the Haganah, purchased the broken down vessel in the United States to move Jews out of Europe on the "underground railroad, to Palestine, on a route they called Aliyah Bet." Secret CIA Documents On Truman & Zionist Terrorism xww.tbrnews.org

The incredible story of Exodus 1947 (using Google maps technology) written by: Tzvi Ben-tzur reveals a number of historical inaccuracies in the book and the movie.

The Journey to the homeland started when 4,554 Holocaust survivors board the President Warfield in Marseille, France, on July 11, 1947 (not Cyprus). They sailed toward what they hoped would be a new home in Palestine. The ship arrived in the port of Haifa the first time, on July 19, 1947.

Shortly before it was to enter the port of Haifa, British Navy vessels rammed the Exodus at sea. During the resulting shipboard riot, in which passengers and crew defended themselves with cans of soup and potatoes, British sailors killed two passengers and an American crew member.

When the Exodus finally docked in Haifa, the Jewish refugees were denied entry by British authorities.

The lone American journalist to board the Exodus, Ruth Gruber, described it as, "a black, shabby, broken steamer . . . The ship looked like a matchbox that had been splintered by a nutcracker. In the torn square hole . . . we could see a muddle of bedding, possessions, plumbing, broken pipes, overflowing toilets, half-naked men, women looking for children."

The refugees were placed on three squalid British transport vessels, HMS Ocean Vigour, HMT Runnymede Park, and HMS Empire Rival - to be taken back to France, not to Cyprus.

After three weeks, because the Jews refused to disembark in France, they were sent to detention camps in Germany -- an act of such symbolic cruelty that it provoked international outrage. [5] The subsequent global condemnation of Britain’s heartlessness, according to historians, was a crucial factor in the final vote at the United Nations to partition Palestine. The Exodus became known as the "Mayflower of the Middle East" and "the ship that launched a nation."

At first glance the omissions seem to be related to the length of the movie because Uris wanted a concise, geographically focused script (the movie runs three and a half hours). However you would expect Uris to highlight the forced return of the refugees to Germany (through France) rather than make up a Cyprus story.

Exodus recently aired on Turner Classic Movies. Watching the classic I realize something isn’t right.

Nurse Katherine "Kitty" Fremont (Eva Marie Saint) is an American volunteer at the Karaolos Internment camp on Cyprus, where thousands of Jews - Holocaust survivors - are being held, as they have no homeland to return to. They sit in anticipation of the day they will be liberated.

The sympathy generated from the Internment (containment) camps worked and on November 29, 1947 the General Assembly liberates the Palestinian’s land and gives it to the Jews.

The Jews in the movie celebrate the emotional, historical and momentous occasion because they can finally disembark from the ship (The Return) and set foot in the homeland. The first time they arrived, July 19, 1947 their ship was rammed and they were forced to return to France, not to Cyprus, on the, HMS Ocean Vigour, HMT Runnymede Park, and HMS Empire Rival.

From the time the celebration of The Return, there is at least ½ hour of drama before Lee J. Cobb (Paul Newman’s father in the movie) is celebrating the final vote at the United Nations that took place November 29, 1947.

One-half hour of drama didn’t seem right, so I went to the world-wide-web to find the month, day and year the British finally allowed the refugees to return to their “rightful” homeland.

The date the Jews finally get off the ship in Haifa (for the second time) is almost impossible to find.

FYI: The Virtual Jewish Library, A Division of the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, is the most comprehensive resource for information about all facets of Jewish life: Judaism, Jews in the Diaspora, the history of Anti-Semitism, the rise of Zionism and Zionist thought, biographies of prominent Zionists, The Holocaust, Israel and Jerusalem, Israel's Wars, and Jewish holidays. The Timeline for the History of Judaism and the Cyber encyclopedia of Jewish history and culture at The Virtual Jewish Library covers everything from ancient times, to the Modern State of Israel & the Diaspora includes the first time they arrived in Haifa, July 19, 1947, but does not include the emotional, historical and momentous date when the holocaust survivors arrive the second time and are finally allowed to return to their “rightful” homeland the second time.

[I challenge you to find month, day and year the Jews return to the homeland]
To find the month, day and year the British finally allowed the refugees to return to their “rightful” homeland Google

“What is the date the Jews arrived in Haifa” (1) (Click the number in parenthesis to open the Google results in a new window)

Result #8 looks promising: “two ships carrying a total of 1300 Jewish refugees that arrived at Haifa.”

[From http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/brits.html]
British Rule in Palestine (1918-47) (same as www.jewwatch.com/jew-terrorists-timeline-1945-1948.html)

August 12, 1946 - Haifa. Two ships carrying a total of 1,300 Jewish refugees arrived at Haifa. The port area was isolated on August 11 by British military and naval units. The first deportation ship sailed for Cyprus with 500 Jews on board.

August 13, 1946 - Three Jews were killed and seven wounded when British troops were compelled to fire on a crowd of about 1,000 persons trying to break into the port area of Haifa. Two Royal Navy ships with 1,300 illegal Jewish immigrants on board sailed for Cyprus. Another ship with 600 illegal immigrants was captured and confined in the Haifa harbor. .

March 12, 1947 - British military units captured most of the 800 Jews whose motor ship "Susanne" ran the British blockade and was beached north of Gaza on this date. A British naval escort brought the "Ben Hecht," the Hebrew Committee of National Liberation's first known immigrant ship, into Haifa, and its 599 passengers were shipped to Cyprus. The British arrested the crew, which included 18 US. seamen.

July 29, 1947 - The 4,429 Exodus 1947 illegal immigrants who sailed from Sete, France, July 11 for Palestine only to be shipped back by the British aboard three transports, refused to debark as the vessels anchored off Port de Douc, France. Only a few who were aboard went ashore. The French government informed the refugees that they do not have to debark but will be welcomed if they do. The transports are the "Runnymede Park," "Ocean Vigour" and "Empire Valour".

The Jewish Virtual Library does not have the month, day and year the British finally allowed the refugees to Return to their “rightful” homeland.

I rephrased my question:

“What is the date the Jews arrived in Haifa from Cyprus” (2)

Note results 1 & 2 The British Pathe are muted video newsreel film clips that have no dates.The description reads:

The biggest ever Jewish refugee ship 'Exodus' 1947, arrives at Haifa. Israel.

Various shots people and troops on quay at Haifa. Various shots British troops taking off stretcher cases. Various shots soldiers checking people's papers on the dock. Various shots the ship steaming to the quayside at Haifa.

I review the results, especially #4, Haifa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, but they are all a bust.

Next I try a search without a question:

1947 + The Jews arrived in Haifa (3)

Result #1

SS Exodus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Exodus 1947 after British takeover (note damage to makeshift barricades). .... Later towed to Shemen Beach, Haifa, it was raised in 1963 and scrapped by an .... Almost simultaneously, 600000 Jews arrived in the new state from Arab ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Exodus - Cached – Similar

Wikipedia might have the answer (but I won’t trust it) but notice when you read the Excerpt from SS Exodus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, it isn’t there.]

Final destination - A telegram written by Jewish leaders of the camps on 20 October 1947 makes clear the wishes and determination of the refugees to find a home in Palestine. "Nothing will deter us from Palestine. Which jail we go to is up to you (the British). We did not ask you to reduce our rations; we did not ask you to put us in Poppendorf and Am Stau."

The illegal would-be immigrants to Palestine were housed in Nissen huts and tents at Poppendorf and Am Stau (near Lübeck) but inclement weather made the tentage unsuitable. The DPs were then moved in November 1947 to Sengwarden near Wilhelmshaven and Emden. For many of the illegal immigrants this was only a transit point as the Brichah managed to smuggle most into the U.S. zone via which they reached Israel before the Israeli declaration of independence.

Of the 4,500 would-be immigrants to Palestine there were only 1,800 remaining in the two “Exodus” camps by April 1948.

Within a year, over half of the original Exodus 1947 passengers had made other attempts at emigrating to Palestine and were detained without trial in prison camps on Cyprus. Britain continued to hold the detainees in Cyprus until January 1949 when it formally recognized the State of Israel and all surviving passengers made aliyah. [End of excerpt]

Wikipedia is no help, so I try the Catholic Chronology, Result #4:

Chronology A - 1947-1965

Dec 14, 2007 ... Elias Friedman, a Jewish South African Carmelite monk arrives to join the Carmelites in Haifa . On December 14, the establishment of the...xww.catholic.co.il/index.php?option=com...1947... - Cached

[Excerpt from Chronology A - 1947-1965]
Friday, 14 December 2007 00:51

Chronology and dates:
Early Years until 1965 (From the establishment of the State of Israel until 1965)

1947 - Father Joseph Stiassny (Fathers of Sion) arrives in the country (Mandatory Palestine) and joins the Ratisbonne Monastery.

1948 - The establishment of the State of Israel on May 15. Before and after the establishment of the State, waves of immigration bring hundreds of thousands of Jews from all over the Diaspora. Among these are thousands of Jews who belong to different Christian communities or Jews married to Christians or Jews who define themselves as believers in Jesus.

The Catholic Chronology doesn’t have the date either but looking at the next four results, the first one is Photographs of Jewish refugees on the ship "Exodus 1947":

View Photographs - Photograph - Jewish refugees on the ship "Exodus 1947" at Haifa port. British soldiers will return the passengers to Europe. Palestine, July 19, 1947. Photograph ...xww.ushmm.org/wlc/en/gallery_ph.php?ModuleId=10005459 - Cached

The Pictures with captions are from the Encyclopedia of the Holocaust website, http://www.ushmm.org

The title of the page:

Postwar Refugee Crisis And The Establishment Of The State Of Israel — Photograph

Eleven photographs are related to Haifa but the date the Jews arrive in Haifa, the second time, isn’t there. (4)

Click here to look at the caption of a photo from another page in the Encyclopedia.

The Photo goes with a story about the ship, "EXODUS 1947."

The story does not include the date but the Caption in the photo reads:

As UN official Emil Sandstroem (bottom right, white hat) looks on, British soldiers remove Jewish refugees from the ship "Exodus 1947." The passengers are deported back to Europe. Haifa, Palestine, July 20, 1947. — Central Zionist Archives

Ok, the Holocaust Encyclopedia doesn’t have the date (is that possible?) what about the reenactment result #7?

French Jews to Arrive at Haifa Port on November 1st at 8am Reenacting Historic Sailing of "The Exodus" October 31, 2007 / 19 Cheshvan 5768

November 1, must be the date, but notice the wording below is ambiguous.

[Excerpt from French Jews to Arrive at Haifa Port on November 1st at 8am ...

60 years after it was deported from the shores of "Eretz Israel", there will be a reenactment of the voyage of the “Exodus” ship on the initiative of the Appel Unifie Juif de France

The last paragraph is suspicious:

The “Exodus” ship left southern France on July 11th 1947 carrying 4,500 Holocaust survivors. The British, refusing to let the ship land, boarded the ship by force and forced the refugees onto deportation boats headed for a displaced persons camp in Germany. Three shipmates who were part of the illegal immigration operation were killed in the skirmish with the British authorities and dozens were wounded. After a protracted stay in the displaced persons camp, the Exodus passengers made aliyah to newly-founded Israel

Results 2-4 are no help, and they don’t even mention the Nov 1, 1947 date.

Next I search:

November 1, 1947 + Haifa

What happened on 14 August 1947? The partition of India. What was the hit song on November 14 1947? Nov. 1, 1947, alleged that the ... which was burned and sunk by British warships before Haifa on November 25 As Haifa' port, Jaffa's port was developed just before WW II to receive steamers and .... al-Yarmouk**, Elementary school founded on November 1st, 1947. As soon as the UN Partition Plan was agreed upon, in November 1947,assigning Haifa to the Jewish state, sniping, terrorist attacks, and conflict broke out

Still nothing, maybe I need to add the name of the ship:

November 1, 1947 + Exodus 1947

[PDF] A New Look at Truman and "Exodus 1947 - ...israelcfr.com/documents/issue7_cohen.pdf

File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - Quick View towed by the British Navy into Haifa harbor at 16:00 on the same day.1 ... Resolution of November 29, 1947 owed much to the world's conscience over the ...israelcfr.com/documents/issue7_cohen.pdf

[Here is the Excerpt from A New Look at Truman and “Exodus 1947” by Michael J. Cohen]

Such a revision would also impinge on another commonly held view—that the UN Partition Resolution of November 29, 1947 owed much to the world’s conscience over the Jewish people’s fate during World War II, and the failure of the West to mount any military effort to save Jews.

Still the date is nowhere to be found, so I give up on November 1 and Google:

November 1947 + Exodus 1947

When I accidentally read the entire Wapedia - Wiki: SS Exodus result
Exodus 1947 was a ship that carried Jewish emigrants, that left France on July 11, 1947, ..... The DPs were then moved in November 1947 to Sengwarden near ...
wapedia.mobi/en/Exodus_(ship) - Cached - Similar

and I discover the original name of the ship was the SS President Warfield so I try:

November 1947 + SS President Warfield

Robert Sylk The Exodus, 1947, The Ship that Launched a Nation, was purchased by the Sylk family for the ... The ship was formally the packet steamer SS President Warfield, ... On November 9, 1946, the Sylk family under the name of the Potomec Ship ... www.robertsylk.com/history.php - Cached - Similar

I am still on the bridge to nowhere but now I notice the SS Warfield is also The Ship that Launched a Nation.

Result #5 for: 1947 + The Ship that Launched a Nation + Haifa (5) is from the Jewish magazine, but the date isn’t there either.

Result #9, a 2005 story in the washingtonpost.com: Businessman Louis 'Shorty' Levin; Sold Ship ... has a cryptic sentence with a date

The Exodus was still in the Haifa harbor on Nov. 28, 1947, when the United Nations voted to establish an independent Jewish state.

I notice that Ruth Gruber, the lone American journalist to board the Exodus is referenced in Results 6, 7 and 8. I research the links to see if they have a straightforward sentence.

http://levinejudaica.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=35_65_256&products_id=5648

The links have dates in 1947 but not Nov 28, so I try:

“The Exodus was still in the Haifa harbor on Nov. 28, 1947, when the United Nations voted to establish an independent Jewish state.”

And I find the date on Rense.com from 2007:

Secret CIA Documents On Truman & Zionist Terrorism

November 28, 1947 on the eve of the UN "vote" and titled "The ... if the US supports a Jewish state in Palestine." "Truman helped establish Israel ... Lifeguard" in Haifa harbor as it was discharging 300 Jewish immigrants who had ... of 4300 "Exodus 1947" illegal Jewish refugees from three ships in Hamburg, Germany. ...www.rense.com/general77/truman.htm - Cached - Similar

The article about Truman is interesting but all I can find is another cryptic sentence:

“November 28, 1947 on the eve of the UN "vote" and titled "The Consequences of the Partition of Palestine" (Now Declassified document):

The heck with it, I search November 28, 1947 (6) and on one of the most important dates in History, Google returns:

• How do you make yourself a body without organs
• Linus Pauling Day-by-Day - Special Collections
• In Paris, France, police occupy the editorial offices of the communist newspapers. (Wikipedia)
• My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt,
• Public Health Rep. 1947 November 28; 62 (48): 1681–1708.

I add Haifa to the search criteria

November 28, 1947 + Haifa (7)

Notice the last result (#10) isn’t the date because they are leaving Shanghai:

From the testimony of Nina Admoni - The Righteous Among The ...

On November 28, 1947 we left Shanghai on the SS General William H. Gordon of .... We then took the ship named Shalom and arrived in Haifa on April 14, 1954. ...

I don’t give up and after 30 results:

Key Dates in Israel's History

May 18, 2010 ... 1896 - 1947 | 1948 - 1967 | 1968 - 1973 | 1974 - 1979 .... Suicide bombing of bus traveling from Haifa to Jerusalem, kills 8 ... November 28, 2002, Gunman attacks Likud Party headquarters in Beit Shean, kills 6 ...www.adl.org/israel/advocacy/chronology.asp - Cached - Similar

Key Dates in Israel's History must have the day the Jews arrived in Haifa and has a homeland for the first time since the diaspora began in ancient times, but the only Key date, according to ADL.org in November, is the 29, 1947: the Partition Plan for Palestine is approved (Resolution 181) by the United Nations.

I refuse to give up and go back to Ruth Gruber, the lone American journalist who wrote a book about the ship that launched a nation, and I search:

November 28, 1947 + the ship that launched a nation

Google doesn’t return anything useful, my next attempt:

Ruth Gruber + “Exodus 1947: The Ship That Launched a Nation”

Is getting me nowhere. I recall the movie said the location of the displaced persons camps was in Cyprus (the movie is wrong, they weren’t in Cyprus, they were in Germany) when they left for Palestine, I try:

November 28, 1947 + Cyprus to Haifa

And finally the last result, at the bottom of the page there is confirmation for the 28^th date, “They all arrived in Haifa on Nov. 28th, 1947, when the British freed about 2000 babies and their parents. The Cyprus Camps ...? http://www.palyam.org/English/Arrests/hfCyprus

November 28, 1947 = 11/28/1947:
11 = 11
28 = 2+8 = 10, 1+0 = 1
19 = 1+9 = 10, 1+0 = 1
47 = 4+7 = 11

Six 1’s represent the six points of the Star of David.

A hexagram (Greek) or sexagram (Latin) is a six-pointed geometric star figure used in historical, religious and cultural contexts, for example in Jewish identity, Hinduism, Occultism and Islam.

Many Jews and Christians have been deceived by Jewish Kabbalists who would have them believe that the six-pointed star is a Jewish symbol. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is not a Jewish symbol, but an occult symbol. The six-pointed star is a hexagram - a curse mark - no matter what name it may have: the Star of David, Solomon's Seal, Double Triangle, Shield of David, etc. When the occult practitioner puts a curse on someone, he uses the hexagram!

Katherine Smith PhD, mandrell201@gmail.com