As Germany drifted in the 1930s toward Kristallnacht and the Nuremberg laws, the danger to Jews grew more and more apparent. In other countries, Jewish organizations, and non-Jewish organizations as well, urged their governments to give Jews refuge in their territory. One might have expected Zionist organizations to take up this demand on Western governments. But the Zionist movement did just the opposite. It discouraged Jewish migration to Western countries. Instead, it worked to channel European Jews to Palestine to the exclusion of other destinations. The Zionist movement took this stance on the basis of the principle that the only way to protect Jews in the long run was to gain territory for a Jewish state. The Zionist Organization regarded the dispersal of Jews to various countries that might accept them as a serious threat to its goals. For the Zionists, Palestine had to be the only destination for emigrating Jews.

The Zionist position became clear at a meeting of Western leaders in Evian, France, in 1938. US President Franklin Roosevelt called the meeting to encourage Western countries to take in anyone from Germany or Austria who felt threatened “by reason of the treatment to which they are subjected on account of their political opinions, religious beliefs or racial origin.” Some thirty nations attended. The British delegation avoided mentioning Palestine as a possible destination, Britain being painfully cognizant of the conflict that Jewish migration to Palestine was creating. That omission drew criticism from Zionists as the meeting proceeded. Britain finally averted to Palestine on the final day of the meeting, saying that Palestine could not be the venue for resettling European Jewish refugees. Representing Britain, Lord Winterton (Edward Tournour) noted, “It has been represented in some quarters that the whole question, at least of the Jewish refugees, could be solved if only the gates of Palestine were thrown open to Jewish immigrants without restriction of any kind.” That was an obvious reference to the Zionist view. But Lord Winterton explained that “Palestine is not a large country,” and “there are special considerations arising out of the terms of the mandate.” That was a reference to the need to protect the existing population of Palestine.