Jon Kimche
Encyclopedia
Jon Kimche was a journalist and historian . A Swiss Jew, he arrived in England at the age of 12, becoming involved in the Independent Labour Party
Independent Labour Party
The Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in Britain established in 1893. The ILP was affiliated to the Labour Party from 1906 to 1932, when it voted to leave...

 as a young man. In 1934–35, he worked with George Orwell
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...

 in a Hampstead bookshop, Booklover’s Corner, and he later managed the ILP's bookshop at 35 Bride Street, near Ludgate Circus. As chair of the ILP Guild of Youth
ILP Guild of Youth
The ILP Guild of Youth was a British socialist youth organization, the youth wing of the Independent Labour Party. The ILP Guild of Youth was founded in 1924. A year after its founding, the ILP Guild of Youth had 171 branches. The launching of the ILP Guild of Youth provoked the Labour Party to...

, he visited Barcelona in 1937, where he again met Orwell.

In the early war years he contributed articles on military strategy to the Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...

, and in 1942, on the recommendation of Michael Foot
Michael Foot
Michael Mackintosh Foot, FRSL, PC was a British Labour Party politician, journalist and author, who was a Member of Parliament from 1945 to 1955 and from 1960 until 1992...

, was hired by Aneurin Bevan
Aneurin Bevan
Aneurin "Nye" Bevan was a British Labour Party politician who was the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1959 until his death in 1960. The son of a coal miner, Bevan was a lifelong champion of social justice and the rights of working people...

 as de facto editor of the left-wing weekly Tribune
Tribune (magazine)
Tribune is a democratic socialist weekly, founded in 1937 published in London. It is independent but supports the Labour Party from the left...

. (Bevan was nominally the editor but had neither the time nor the technical expertise to do the job, and Kimche was both an alien and a member of the ILP rather than the Labour Party, which Tribune supported.) He left Tribune to join Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...

 in 1945 but returned in 1946, though by now his primary interest was in the Middle East — specifically, in the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. He was fired from his Tribune job after disappearing from the office in December 1947 to Istanbul to negotiate safe passage with the Turkish authorities for two ships sailing from Bulgaria with thousands of Jews aboard bound for Palestine.

From this point on, Kimche made a name for himself as a leftist, and critic of the state of Israel and as an analyst of Middle Eastern politics, writing several books and innumerable articles. He was for 15 years editor of the Jewish Observer and Middle East Review and was Middle East correspondent of the Evening Standard until 1973. He was one of the original senior members of the Next Century Foundation
Next Century Foundation
The Next Century Foundation is an elite organisation that operates in various conflict zones across the globe. Originally established in 1990 to provide a forum for off-the-record discussions between Palestinians and Israelis, in addition to maintaining its original focus on the Middle East Peace...

.

Kimche is the author of The Secret Roads: The "Illegal" Migration of People, 1938-1948, Secker and Warburg, 1954. The book details the passages of Jewish refugees throughout Europe en route to Palestine. The Haganah, and in some cases Jewish youth groups, such as the Bricha, accomplished this. Kimche documents this group's activities in arranging for Jewish orphans to arrive from all over Europe to Marseilles in 1947 and board the Exodus, which was bound for Palestine. He also wrote several books with his brother David Kimche
David Kimche
David "Dave" Kimche was a British-born Israeli diplomat, a deputy director of the Mossad and a spymaster. He was also a journalist early in his career...

.

Selected books

  • (1950). Seven fallen pillars: The Middle East, 1915-1950. London: Secker and Warburg.
  • (1954): with David Kimche The secret roads. The "illegal" migrations of a people [i.e. the Jews], 1938-1948. [With plates, including portraits, and a map.]. London.
  • (1960): with David Kimche . Both sides of the hill: Britain and the Palestine War. London: Secker & Warburg.
  • (1960): with David Kimche. A clash of destinies: The Arab-Jewish War and the founding of the State of Israel. New York: Praeger.
  • (1962). Spying for peace: General Guisan and Swiss neutrality.[3rd edition.]. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
  • (1968). The unfought battle. New York: Stein and Day
    Stein and Day
    Stein and Day, Inc. was an American publishing company founded by Sol Stein and his wife Patricia Day in 1962. Stein was both the publisher and the editor-in-chief...

    .
  • (1969): with David Kimche. La premiere guerre d'Israel 1948: 16 cartes. Paris: Arthaud.
  • (1970). The second Arab awakening London: Thames and Hudson.
  • (1973). Palestine or Israel. London: Secker & Warburg.
  • (1973): with John B Christophe . There could have been peace. New York: Dial Press.
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