Ross Fitzgerald’s political history piece in The Australian yesterday (“We almost housed a Jewish state in west”,10/9) is utterly fascinating.

Before reading this article I had no idea that there was a detailed plan in the late 1930s to create a Jewish homeland in the Kimberley region as a sanctuary for tens of thousands of Jewish people fleeing the Nazis.

If this visionary scheme, backed by Western Australian Labor premier John Willcock, had been adopted, what a positive economic and cultural contribution it would have made to Australia. It would certainly have substantially developed pastoral and agricultural industries in the northern and far western areas of the continent, significantly increasing our European population.

The article usefully explains that the vast majority of 60,000 Jews from 1933 to 1961 who migrated here anyway, assimilated into mainstream society, accepted our values and most importantly did not bring their conflicts to Australia.

As Professor Fitzgerald concludes, “the latter is exactly what so many pro-Palestine activists are doing now.”

This crucial contrast is a matter for balanced media coverage and deep regret.

Andrew Hopkins, Galston, NSW