Beitar naval cadets actively supported Italy’s fascist military campaigns

Evidence

In his History of Hebrew Seamanship, Halperin wrote that the cadets, despite opposition from their superiors, expressed public support for the Italian regime. During the Italian campaign in Ethiopia the Beitarist cadets marched alongside Italian soldiers in a demonstration in support of the war, and it was brought to Halperin’s attention that they collected metal scraps and sent them to the Italian weapon industry. The young Beitarist students felt at home in the Italian facility and identified with the local political culture; in Italy they felt as if they were living a true Beitarist life in an atmosphere of heroism, militarism, and nationalistic pride. — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 527

Categorization

• SEED: Potential essay angle: how much sympathy for fascism existed within Zionist Revisionism’s ranks — the Beitar cadets marching in Ethiopian war demonstrations is a stark, specific illustration.
• XREF: Connects to the broader historical record of European Jewish fascist sympathies in the 1930s and to the tension between Revisionism’s stated goals and its willingness to align with fascist Italy.