The Policies and Attitudes of Labor and Non-Labor Governments in Australia Regarding the Establishment of a Jewish State: 1932-1949

While acknowledging certain reservations about Australian Minister of External Affairs Dr. Herbert Evatt's boda fide support for Israel, this essay shows that, in marked contrast with the governments of Lyons and Menzies, which strongly opposed the aspirations of the Jewish people to develop a national home in Palestine and establish their own state there, Evatt and important leaders in the Labor movement were very sympathetic to the Zionist ideal of establishing a Jewish state in Palestine and made a significant contribution to the achievement of that goal.