Alabama-Israel: The 1943 Resolution

The 1943 Resolution

The state of Alabama has a long history of strong support for the state of Israel. In 1943, Alabama led the nation as the first state in America to officially call for the establishment of the Jewish state and homeland. The unanimous joint resolution passed both state houses five years before Israel was reborn as a nation, urging both the United States and the United Nations to action. This call came in the midst of World War II, when the axis powers were not only waging world war against America and Europe, but also seeking the mass murder and systematic extermination of the Jews of Europe.

Alabama State Archive

Original Hand-Written Resolution from the Alabama Senate



Alabama State Archive

Typed Resolution from the Alabama House



1943 - Unanimous Joint Resolution (Act 144, SJR 4, 1943 Regular Session)

Calling for the Establishment of the Jewish State and Homeland

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Representatives concurring, that:

WHEREAS, The policy of the Axis powers to exterminate the Jews of Europe through mass murder cries out for action by the United Nations representing the civilized world and emphasizes the urgent need for a Jewish homeland and

WHEREAS, On November 2, 1917 the British Government issued the Balfour Declaration viewing with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish People and offering to facilitate such an endeavor and

WHEREAS, On June 30, 1922 a resolution was adopted by a joint session of the Congress of the United States which approved the Balfour Declaration and it was included in the Anglo-American treaty of December 3, 1924,

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Alabama that the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine and facilities for its further development for receiving the maximum number of Jewish refugees who have been uprooted from their homes be commended to the considered judgment of the United Nations, not only as an act of justice to the Jewish people and the righting of an ancient wrong, but as an integral part of the new democratic world order in which every people shall have the right to self-government and self-determination in accordance with the principles for which we are now waging war and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the President of the United States, to Senators Wagner and McNary, Co-Chairmen of the American Palestine Committee, and to the British Embassy in Washington for transmission to the proper authorities in London.

Approved June 10, 1943.

