What was Israel's stance of the usage of Nazi cientists in U.S. projects?

by Awesomenatorzz

The USA brought German scientists, engineers and technicians to the U.S in Operation Paperclip. What was Israel's stance, reaction, etc to this?

Yamureska

Israel was extremely dependent on American Goodwill, and had absolutely no say in the matter. They could really only go along, even if certain members of the Israeli government protested.

When Adolf Eichmann was captured by the Israelis in 1960, the US and the Germans' immediate concern was to ensure that Eichmann would not implicate the many former Nazis openly working in the West German Government. To make sure of this, the Germans froze arms transfers/purchases from Israel until after the Eichmann trial. Israel was suffering a shortage of foreign currency reserves at the time (So much for "the Jews" running the banks), and had no choice but to comply. Accordingly, the Israelis refused to accept evidence from the East Germans that implicated High ranking Nazis in the German Government. To show that the US agreed with the Germans, the US voted in favour of a UN security council resolution that condemned Israel for abducting Eichmann from Argentina.

Outside of that, the Israelis also worked with Ex Nazis when it came to business. For example, the Arms transfers and other deals discussed above were arranged by Hans Globke, one of the lawyers who created the Anti Jewish Nuremberg laws. Globke was Konrad Adenauer's National security adviser and very well connected with NATO, so implicating him was especially a no-no.

When it came to working with Ex Nazis and the Germans after WW2, Ben Gurion's reasoning was as follows. Before Israel, the Jews had nothing and were at the mercy of Germans. With Israel, they were able to manufacture and provide products that the Germans needed for their economic recovery. Ben Gurion saw that as a form of justice and the tables turning. On the other side, Menachim Begin and a lot of Holocaust survivors did not support either the West Germans or Israel opening relations with West Germany. Begin's Political career began when he led Holocaust survivors to protest against compensation for victims of Nazism, claiming that no amount of money could make up for the suffering inflicted on them.

To summarize, this quote from Mossad Chief Isser Harrel sums up Israel's attitude: "my responsibility is to the living Jews of Israel, not the dead".

References

https://www.spiegel.de/consent-a-?targetUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.spiegel.de%2Finternational%2Fgermany%2Ffrom-dictatorship-to-democracy-the-role-ex-nazis-played-in-early-west-germany-a-810207.html&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

Tom Segev, the Seventh Million. Israelis and the Holocaust.

Bettina Stagneth, Eichmann before Jerusalem