Editing Napoleon and the Jews (section)

===Napoleon's proclamation to the Jews of Africa and Asia===
[[Image:Detail de la proclamation de Bonapart.jpg|thumb|Excerpt of Napoleon's proclamation to the Jews, as published in the ''Gazette Nationale'']]
During Napoleon's [[Siege of Acre (1799)|siege of Acre]] in 1799, ''[[Le Moniteur Universel|Gazette Nationale]],'' the main French newspaper during the French Revolution, published on 3 [[Prairial]], ([[French Republican calendar|French Republican Calendar Year 7]], equivalent to 22 May 1799) a short statement that: 
<blockquote>"Bonaparte has published a proclamation in which he invites all the Jews of Asia and Africa to gather under his flag in order to re-establish the ancient [[Jerusalem]]. He has already given arms to a great number, and their battalions threaten [[Aleppo]]."<ref>{{cite web |author=Weider |first=Ben |year=1997 |title=Napoléon et les Juifs |url=http://www.napoleonicsociety.com/french/pdf/NapoleonJuifs.pdf |access-date=23 January 2011 |work=Congrès de la Société Internationale Napoléonienne, Alexandrie, Italie; 21-26 Juin 1997 |publisher=Napoleonic Society |language=fr |quote=Bonaparte, Commandant en chef des Armées de la République Française en Afrique et en Asie, aux héritiers légitimes de la Palestin}}</ref></blockquote>

The [[French campaign in Egypt and Syria]] was eventually defeated by a combined Anglo-Ottoman force and he never carried out his alleged plan. Historian Nathan Schur in ''Napoleon and the Holy Land'' (2006) believes that Napoleon intended the proclamation for propaganda and to build support for his campaign among the Jews in those regions. Ronald Schechter believes that the newspaper was reporting a rumour, as there is no documentation that Napoleon contemplated such a policy.<ref>{{cite book |author=Schechter |first=Ronald |url=https://archive.org/details/obstinatehebrews00sche |title=Obstinate Hebrews: Representations of Jews in France, 1715–1815 |publisher=University of California Press |year=2003 |isbn=9780520235571 |page= |url-access=limited}}</ref> The proclamation might have been intended to gain support from [[Haim Farhi]], the Jewish advisor to [[Jazzar Pasha|Ahmed al Jazzar]], the Muslim ruler of [[Acre, Israel|Acre]], and to bring him over to Napoleon's side. Farhi commanded the defence of Acre on the field.{{Citation needed|date=September 2015}}

The idea itself may have originated from [[Corbet family|Thomas Corbet]] (1773–1804), an [[Anglo-Irish people|Anglo-Irish]] Protestant emigree who, as a member of the [[Society of United Irishmen]], was an ally of the Republican regime, engaged in revolutionary activities against the [[Dublin Castle administration]] and served in the [[French Army]].<ref name="corb">{{cite news |date=3 March 2017 |title=New exhibition shows letter advising Jewish state in Israel |work=Ynet News |url=https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4943093,00.html}}</ref><ref name="dem"/> His brother, [[William Corbet]] also served as a general in the French Army. In February 1799, he authored a letter to the [[French Directory]], then under the leadership of Napoleon's patron [[Paul Barras]].<ref name="corb"/> In the letter he stated "I recommend you, Napoleon, to call on the Jewish people to join your conquest in the East, to your mission to conquer the land of Israel" saying, "Their riches do not console them for their hardships. They await with impatience the epoch of their re-establishment as a nation."<ref name="dem">{{cite news |date=29 December 2002 |title=The perils of religious mysticism |work=Irish Democrat |url=https://archive.irishdemocrat.co.uk/features/religious-mysticism/}}</ref> Dr. Milka Levy-Rubin, a curator at the [[National Library of Israel]], has attributed Corbert's motivation to a [[Christian Zionism|Protestant Zionism]] based on [[Premillennialism|premillennialist]] themes.<ref name="corb"/> It is not known what Napoleon's direct response was to the letter, but he made his own proclamation three months later.

In 1940, historian [[Franz Kobler]] claimed to have found a detailed version of the proclamation from a German translation.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kobler |first=Franz |title=Napoleon and the restoration of the Jews to Palestine |publisher=The New Judaea |year=1940}}</ref> Kobler's claim was published in ''The New Judaea,'' the official periodical of the [[World Zionist Organization]].<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1949 |title=The Menorah Journal |journal=Intercollegiate Menorah Association |location=New York |volume=37 |pages=388}}</ref> The Kobler version suggests that Napoleon was inviting Jews across the Mideast and North Africa to create a [[Homeland for the Jewish people|Jewish homeland]].<ref name="Schwarzfuchs">{{cite web |author=Schwarzfuchs |first=Simon |date=1979 |title=Napoleon, the Jews and the Sanhedrin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ISBN0197100236 |publisher=[[Routledge]]}}</ref> It includes phrases such as "Rightful heirs of [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]]!" and "your political existence as a nation among the nations." These concepts have been more commonly associated with the [[Zionism|Zionist]] movement, which developed in the late 19th century.<ref name="Schwarzfuchs"/>

Historians such as Henry Laurens, Ronald Schechter, and Jeremy Popkin believe that the German document, which has never been found, was a forgery, as Simon Schwarzfuchs asserted in his 1979 book.<ref>{{cite book |author=Schwarzfuchs |first=Simon |title=Napoleon, the Jews and the Sanhedrin |publisher=Routledge |year=1979 |pages=24–26}}</ref><ref>[[Henry Laurens (scholar)|Laurens, Henry]], ''Orientales I, Autour de l'expédition d'Égypte'', pp.123–143, CNRS Éd (2004), {{ISBN|2-271-06193-8}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Schechter |first=Ronald |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9udsEHFtikkC&dq=%22franz+kobler%22+napoleon+1799&pg=PA287 |title=Obstinate Hebrews: Representations of Jews in France, 1715-1815 |date=2003-04-14 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-92935-7 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IJnddi0UdjIC&q=%22Simon+Schwarzfuchs%22+%22franz+kobler%22&pg=PA273|title=Enlightenment in the Colony|isbn=978-1400827664|last1=Mufti|first1=Aamir R.|date=10 January 2009|publisher=Princeton University Press }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | author = Jeremy D. Popkin | journal = Jewish Social Studies | title = Zionism and the Enlightenment: The "Letter of a Jew to His Brethren" | volume = 43 | year = 1981 | pages = 113–120 | quote = The supposed German manuscript original has never surfaced, and the authenticity of this text is dubious at best. ... The French press of the period is full of spurious flews reports... }}</ref>

Rabbi Aharon Ben-Levi of Jerusalem also added his voice to the proclamation, calling on the Jews to enlist in Napoleon's army "to return to [[Zion]] as in the days of [[Ezra]] and [[Nehemiah]]" and [[Third Temple|rebuild the Temple]]. According to [[Mordechai Gichon]], a military historian and archaeologist from [[Tel Aviv University]], who summarised 40 years of research on the subject, Napoleon had an idea to establish a national home for the Jews in the [[Land of Israel]], "Napoleon believed the Jews would repay his favours by serving French interests in the region," Gichon claimed. "After returning to France, all he was interested in when it came to the Jews was how to use them to reinforce the French nation," Gichon says. "Therefore, he tried to conceal the Zionist chapter of his past." On the other hand, Ze'ev Sternhell believes the entire story is nothing more than an oddity. "Napoleon's big contribution came, in fact, in form of promoting the incorporation of the Jews into French society."<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 2004 |title=Herzl Hinted at Napoleon's Zionist Past' |newspaper=Haaretz Daily Newspaper |url=https://www.haaretz.com/1.4827319}}</ref>