Norman Bentwich

Norman de Mattos Bentwich (28 February 1883 – 8 April 1971) was a British barrister and legal academic. He was the British-appointed attorney-general of Mandatory Palestine and a lifelong Zionist.

Biography Early life Norman Bentwich was the oldest son of British Zionist Herbert Bentwich. He attended St Paul's School in London and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was said to be the "favourite pupil" of John Westlake.

Bentwich was a delegate at the annual Zionist Congresses from 1907 to 1912. He paid his first visit to Palestine in 1908.

Mandatory Palestine administration

During the British military administration of Palestine, Bentwich served as senior judicial officer, which continued in the civil administration after 1920 as legal secretary.

Bentwich played a major role in the development of Palestinian law. According to Likhovski, he "concentrated his efforts on providing Palestine with a set of modern commercial laws that he believed would facilitate economic development and thus attract more Jewish immigration." In August 1931 his appointment as attorney-general was terminated by the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, who cited "the peculiar racial and political conditions of Palestine, and the difficulties with which the Administration has in consequence to bear." His assailant was sentenced to 15 years' hard labour, despite Bentwich personally advocating for him.

Hebrew University From 1932 to 1951 Bentwich served as the Chair of International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His first lecture, on "Jerusalem, City of Peace", was disrupted by Jewish students who considered him too conciliatory towards the Arabs. Several of the ringleaders, one of them Avraham Stern, were suspended. and wrote a book, Ahad Ha'am and His Philosophy, in 1927. He was one of the Jewish members of Palestine Administration who in 1929 joined Brit Shalom, a society founded to find rapprochement between Jews and Arabs in Palestine.

Later He was later president of the Jewish Historical Society of England.

Kindertransport In November 1938, the Government of the United Kingdom decided to let Jewish children under the age of 17 from Nazi countries enter the United Kingdom for a temporary stay. Various organisations started working together in the Refugee Children's Movement (RCM) to take care of these children. Bentwich took part and was sent to Holland to set up help for Jewish refugee children.

On 2 December, Dutch humanitarian Geertruida Wijsmuller-Meijer received a request to come to the newly established Dutch Children's Committee in Amsterdam. During this visit, she met Bentwich who asked her to travel to Vienna to meet a certain Dr. Eichner, which they believed was the name of the then largely unknown Adolf Eichmann. This man ran the Nazi agency for Jewish emigration. Wijsmuller left for Vienna the same day.

During the Second World War, Bentwich was commissioned into the Royal Air Force and on 24 February 1942 was promoted to flight lieutenant. On 16 December 1942, as Pilot Officer N. De M. Bentwich OBE MC (RAF/115215), he was cashiered by sentence of a General Court Martial, but this was not reported in the London Gazette until 23 February 1943. The unusual circumstances of this are explained in Bentwich’s book Wanderer in War, 1939-45 (1946). By misfortune, he had dropped an important secret document in the street, and his superiors decided to make an example of him as a warning to others. However, he was then able to join the Ministry of Information, working for Sir Wyndham Deedes, Regional Officer for Greater London. This work took him to the large East End bomb shelters, where steps were taken to transform them into community centres. He also travelled to Ethiopia, on a legal assignment for the Emperor.

Bentwich lived the last twenty years of his life in London, where his wife, Helen Bentwich, had a political career as a member of London County Council. Among his other roles, he served as president of the North Western Reform Synagogue in Alyth Gardens, Temple Fortune, from 1958 until his death.

Academic and legal career Called to the bar (Lincoln's Inn), 1908 Ministry of Justice, Cairo, 1912–1915 Major, Camel Transport, 1916–1918 Legal secretary to military administration, Palestine, 1918–22 First attorney-general in mandatory government of Palestine, 1922–30 Recalled to Colonial Office, 1930–31 Professor of International Relations, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1932 and 1945–1951 Director of League of Nations High Commission for Refugees from Germany, 1933–1935 British Ministry of Information and Air Ministry, 1939–45 Co-editor of the Jewish Review, 1910–1913 and 1932–1934 Lecturer at Hague Academy of International Law, 1929, 1934 and 1955 Vice-president, Jewish Committee for Relief Abroad Chairman, National Peace Council, 1944–1946 Chairman, United Restitution Organization, 1948–1971 Foreign Office Committee on Restitution in British Zone of Germany, 1951 President, Jewish Historical Society, 1960–1962 Chairman, Friends of Hebrew University President of North Western Reform Synagogue, Alyth Gardens, London 1958–71

Published works

Philo-Judaeus of Alexandria, Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia, 1910. The Declaration of London, with an introduction and notes and appendices, E. Wilson, London, 1911. Students leading cases and statutes on international law, Sweet & Maxwell, London, 1913. Josephus, Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia, 1914. Palestine of the Jews: past, present and future, London, 1919. Hellenism, The Jewish publication society of America, Philadelphia, 1919. Ahad Ha'am and his philosophy, Keren Hayesod (Palestine Foundation Fund) and the Keren Kayemeth Le-Israel, Jerusalem, 1927. The Mandates System, Longmans, London, 1930. England in Palestine, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Ltd., London, 1932. A Wanderer in the Promised Land, The Soncino Press, 1932 Palestine, Benn, London, 1934. Fulfilment in the Promised land, 1917–1937, Soncino Press, London, 1938. Solomon Schechter: A Biography, Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia, 1938 Wanderer Between Two Worlds – An Autobiography, Kegan Paul Trench Trubner, London, 1941. Judaea lives again, V. Gollancz, London, 1943. A Wanderer in War, V. Gollancz, London, 1946 Israel, Ernest Bend, 1952. For Zion's Sake. A Biography of Judah L. Magnes. First Chancellor and First President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jewish Publication Society, 1954. Israel And Her Neighbours: A Short Historical Geography, Rider And Company, London, 1955. The Jews in our Times, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1960. Israel Resurgent, Ernest Benn, London, 1960. My 77 years : an account of my life and times, 1883–1960, Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia, 1961. Mandate Memories (with Helen Bentwich), The Hogarth Press, London, 1965. Israel : two fateful years, 1967–69, Elec, London, 1970. Jewish Youth Comes Home: The Story of the Youth Aliyah, 1933-1943, Hyperion Press, 1976.