Were there many authorities who held that the oaths prohibit only a military takeover of the land?

Yes, you’re correct that those poskim held that only conquest is forbidden, not massive peaceful immigration.  Regarding the Avnei Nezer, as I explain on page 213 of my book, he later conceded that mass immigration, even without war, is forbidden. He at first suggests that it would be allowed but then retracts that position due to the Gemara in Yuma 9b. The case where the Avnei Nezer permits mass immigration is when the ruling power gives permission for all Jews to come, a very unlikely scenario that hasn’t happened since the time of Cyrus.

Even the authorities you mentioned would agree that founding a state peacefully would be a violation of the oath against forcing the end of exile. In any case, the current state was not founded peacefully, so this is an academic point.

2 responses to “Were there many authorities who held that the oaths prohibit only a military takeover of the land?”

  1. R’ Yaakov Emden and the Ahavas Yonasan seem to forbid peaceful mass immigration also, no?

    The Avnei Nezer in Siman 456: https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=1345&st=&pgnum=508

    “וכבודו העיר שבספר אהבת יונתן כתב דאפילו ברשות אסור”

    I recall in the Sefer it says that R’ Yaakov Emden held the same as the Maharal about mass Aliyah. In any case, he definitely was at the very least opposed to the whole Jewish population, or a large sum of Klal Yisroel, making Aliyah before Keitz Geulaseinu.

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    1. It’s true the Ahavas Yonasan in Vaeschanan forbids peaceful immigration, but this post referred to his comments on Shoftim. Click the words “Ahavas Yonasan” in the post to read my page on that.

      I don’t know where R’ Yaakov Emden says what you are quoting. Perhaps you mean R’ Avraham Loewenstamm of Emden.

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