Agency Council by Unanimous Vote Approves $3,750,000 Palestine Budget for First Year

By a unanimous vote the Council of the Jewish Agency in a session which lasted one hour today approved the budget for the Palestine work for the coming year in the amount of $3,750,000. The budget was previously decided upon at the Sixteenth Zionist Biennial Congress which was held here last week.

In recommending the adoption of the budget Herr Oscar Wasserman, director of the Deutsche Bank. Berlin stated that the budget committee of the Council agreed to the Zionist proposal for this year reserving the right to introduce changes the following year. The committee was anxious, he said. The committee was anxious, he said not to ignore the experience gained by the Zionist administration in Palestine and to secure the continuity of the Palestine work. The budget makes provision for the payment of outstanding debts incurred by the Zionist Executive during the years of economic depression and unemployment. “We have accepted the Zionist budget proposal as our own and will endeavor not only to carry on the work within the limits of this budget, but to raise more, the surplus to be used for new colonization projects. Herr Wassermann appealed to Zionists and non-Zionists alike to help in the raising of the sum required.

Two hundred and nine delegates, 104 non-Zionists and 205 Zionists, were seated on the recommendation of Dr. Cyrus Adler of Philadelphia, who reported in behalf of the credentials committee. There was no difficulty presented in regard to the Zionist members and their alternates as they had properly certified credentials. Certain informalties were noted by the credentials committee in the credentials of some non-Zionist delegates, which resulted from the lack of definite rules governing the selection of the non-Zionists. The committee therefore recommended to the Administrative Committee of the Jewish Agency Council which is to be created, to promulgate regulations for the selection of the non-Zionist members without interfering with the autonomy of any country, leaving to each country to choose its own method of selection. The question which was raised in regard to the delegates elected in Palestine to the non-Zionist section of the Council, these delegates being Zionists, the committee found beyond its jurisdiction, since these delegates were in possession of credentials showing that they were properly elected to their posts by the National Council of Palestine Jews.

The injection of a discussion of international political problems was barred by a ruling of the presiding chairman. Dr. Leo Moczkin. The ruling was made when Dr. William Filderman, president of the Union of Roumanian Jews of Bucharest, protested against references made by Mr. Fischer of Budapest, Hungary, to the Hungarian frontier question. The Jewish Agency Council meeting is no political platform for the discussion of international political problems, the chairman stated.