# An alternative to Israel that probably would have worked **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 17, 2025, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-alternative-to-israel-that-probably-would-have-worked/1023135 "2025-09-17T20:13:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-alternative-to-israel-that-probably-would-have-worked/1023135/1 "2025-09-17T20:13:53Z")
It’s too late now, but back in 1948, it would have been a good idea. Instead of dumping the world’s Jews in a little scrap of land next to a lot of Muslims who had recently lived there, the wise leaders of the victors of WW Two should have given them Montana. Montana, at that time had, what, 2000 people living there? The whole place could have been bought from the Montanans for a paltry sum, compared to all the expense and woe of maintaining “peace” in Israel. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-alternative-to-israel-that-probably-would-have-worked/1023135/2 "2025-09-17T20:24:22Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > The whole place could have been bought from the Montanans for a paltry sum, compared to all the expense and woe of maintaining “peace” in Israel. If we’re giving away Montana, it would be an obscenity to give it to anyone but the Native Americans from whom it was originally stolen, and I’m sure there that there would be blood spilled if that happened ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-alternative-to-israel-that-probably-would-have-worked/1023135/3 "2025-09-17T20:27:10Z")
Sure - would make sense for rational people. But not for folk who believe they have some divine right to a specific piece of real estate. Who knows - if we had given them Montana, or one of the Dakotas, maybe they woulda been content enough. They might have wanted to hold out for something with sea access, so they mighta preferred a chunk of California, Texas, Georgia, or Maine… ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-alternative-to-israel-that-probably-would-have-worked/1023135/4 "2025-09-17T20:27:58Z")
People considered Alaska. > **[Slattery Report | The report](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slattery_Report#The_report)** > > In November 1938, two weeks after Kristallnacht, Ickes proposed the use of Alaska as a "haven for Jewish refugees from Germany and other areas in Europe where the Jews are subjected to oppressive restrictions". Resettlement in Alaska would allow the refugees to bypass normal immigration quotas, because Alaska was a territory and not a state. That summer Ickes had toured the Territory of Alaska and met with local officials to discuss improving the local economy and bolstering security in a territo... There is a SF novel that takes place in that alternate timeline > **[The Yiddish Policemen's Union](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yiddish_Policemen's_Union)** > > The Yiddish Policemen's Union is a 2007 novel by American author Michael Chabon. The novel is a detective story set in an alternative history version of the present day, based on the premise that during World War II, a temporary settlement for Jewish refugees was established in Sitka, Alaska, in 1941, and that the fledgling State of Israel was destroyed three months after its founding in 1948. The novel is set in Sitka, which it depicts as a large, Yiddish-speaking metropolis. > The Yiddish Poli... ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-alternative-to-israel-that-probably-would-have-worked/1023135/5 "2025-09-17T20:29:04Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > it would be an obscenity to give it to anyone but the Native Americans from whom it was originally stolen, In terms of “what ifs”, I’ve long thought it woulda been less objectionable if, as the US expanded, each state was required to identify a contiguous 1/10 of its area which was given to the various Native Americans into perpetuity. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-alternative-to-israel-that-probably-would-have-worked/1023135/6 "2025-09-17T20:46:13Z")
So would the plan be to uproot the half million Jews already living in Palestine in 1945 and ship them off to Billings? ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-alternative-to-israel-that-probably-would-have-worked/1023135/7 "2025-09-17T20:47:51Z")
Then we would have had a few more Trail of Tears - one for each new state. You think the native peoples would have been given prime property in each state, or allowed to stay put where they were? I thought Israel was the destined place for the Jews of Europe due to historical claims of the land and significant religious sites, as well as an exiting population. I agree settling people in a less-contested land would have been better for all involved over the long term, but TPTB at the time likely wanted expediency of solution. How about today? The people of Gaza are suffering and their civilization is in tatters - is anyone proposing now to resettle the Palestinians from Gaza to anywhere else? Would Montana or Alaska welcome them? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-alternative-to-israel-that-probably-would-have-worked/1023135/8 "2025-09-17T20:51:48Z")
The problem with this is, what Jews would agree to it? Israel wasn’t chosen randomly, it had historical significance. It is also an extremely valuable piece of land, just in terms of its sheer geography and location, even if we took religion out of the equation. Why would Jews agree to go to Montana? The Levant region = the crossroads of the Middle East, Africa, Arabia and Europe, and within (relatively) short distance travel to those places. Access to both the Red Sea and Mediterranean. Montana = no ocean access, isolated, cut off, access to only USA and Canada. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-alternative-to-israel-that-probably-would-have-worked/1023135/9 "2025-09-17T20:58:03Z")
Also, in addition to the Jews whose ancestors never left that region, a ton of European Jews had already settled there, running away from Russian pogroms and whatnot. The 1948 proclamation was not really about “dumping Jews” there, it was about giving sovereignty to the Jews already there. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-alternative-to-israel-that-probably-would-have-worked/1023135/10 "2025-09-17T20:59:59Z")
Why Montana? Why not ship them off to Madagascar? Hmm, wait, I think someone already thought of that… > **[Madagascar Plan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madagascar_Plan)** > > The Madagascar Plan (German: Madagaskarplan) was a plan proposed by the Nazi German government to forcibly relocate the Jewish population of Europe to the island of Madagascar. Franz Rademacher, head of the Jewish Department of the German Foreign Office, proposed the idea in June 1940, shortly before the Fall of France. The proposal called for the handing over of control of Madagascar, then a French colony, to Germany as part of the eventual peace terms. > The idea of re-settling Polish Jews t... Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-alternative-to-israel-that-probably-would-have-worked/1023135/11 "2025-09-17T21:04:17Z")
Coincidentally (or maybe not) Montana is in the same latitude as the Russian [Jewish Autonomous Oblast](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Autonomous_Oblast). If these darn displaced peoples would just settle for the places almost everyone else refuses to live… ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-alternative-to-israel-that-probably-would-have-worked/1023135/12 "2025-09-17T21:06:43Z")
As Lenny Bruce observed: > If you live in Butte, Montana, you’re going to be goyish even if you’re Jewish. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-alternative-to-israel-that-probably-would-have-worked/1023135/13 "2025-09-17T21:13:17Z")
Do I remember correctly that Uganda was also considered? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-alternative-to-israel-that-probably-would-have-worked/1023135/14 "2025-09-17T21:30:20Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > It’s too late now, but back in 1948, it would have been a good idea. Instead of dumping the world’s Jews in a little scrap of land next to a lot of Muslims who had recently lived there, the wise leaders of the victors of WW Two should have given them Montana. This talk of a more powerful nation or political movement unilaterally electing to ‘relocate’ or ‘evacuate’ an ethnic group as a ‘solution’ to strife regardless of their own volition [has a familiar ring to it](https://youtu.be/PLnvgjrvoKQ?si=EvdtnRry5OptKhPh). Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-alternative-to-israel-that-probably-would-have-worked/1023135/15 "2025-09-17T21:31:31Z")
Not that anyone would have aske my opinion in the 40s… But I think they should have carved off a big chunk (30%? More?) of Germany and made _that_ New Israel. I mean, take that and suck it, Nazis. You took away our homes, our very lives? Right back at ya! Move along to the Russian Sektor. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-alternative-to-israel-that-probably-would-have-worked/1023135/16 "2025-09-17T21:32:45Z")
There’s no possible way that could have gone bad. Idi Amin was such an understanding guy. And cannibal (alleged) > **[Expulsion of Asians from Uganda](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expulsion_of_Asians_from_Uganda)** > > This article is part of a series aboutIdi Amin > Military career > President of Uganda(1971–1979) > Opposition and overthrow > In early August 1972, the [President of Uganda](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_Uganda) [Idi Amin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idi_Amin) ordered the expulsion of his country’s [Indian minority](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indians_in_Uganda), giving them 90 days to leave the country. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-alternative-to-israel-that-probably-would-have-worked/1023135/17 "2025-09-17T21:43:51Z")
I’m not saying it would have been all milk and honey. After all, the US had a lot of folks back in '48 who didn’t like Jews. Despite the Holocaust, it had been a tough sell to get involved in Europe’s war. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-alternative-to-israel-that-probably-would-have-worked/1023135/18 "2025-09-17T21:44:36Z")
Besides what other people have already said, do you really think the United States would have allowed Montana to secede from the Union? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-alternative-to-israel-that-probably-would-have-worked/1023135/19 "2025-09-17T21:57:57Z")
Do you understand the part where the location really mattered to them? ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-alternative-to-israel-that-probably-would-have-worked/1023135/20 "2025-09-17T21:58:08Z")
**Alessan,** I have to admit, that’s a sticking point I hadn’t thought of. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-alternative-to-israel-that-probably-would-have-worked/1023135.md?page=2)