Historian Norman Finkelstein wrote about Ben Gurion’s opposition to saving Jews from antisemitic violence: “In June 1938, shortly before Allied representatives met in Evian, France, to seek ways of rescuing Jews, Ben-Gurion frankly voiced his concern to colleagues. He said he “did not know if the conference will open the gates of other countries. . . . But I am afraid it might cause tremendous harm to Zionism. . . . Our main task is to reduce the damage, the danger to the Jewish state project… and the more we emphasize the terrible distress of the Jewish masses in Germany, Poland, and Rumania, the more damage we shall cause.’ So be silent, Ben-Gurion cautioned his comrades. And in the silence, Evian failed.’’
