The assertions made by the Moslem Grand Mufti in his interview with Reuter’s news agency, were directly contradicted by Rabbi Chaim Sonnenfeld, aged Jewish scholar, a resident of Palestine for the past forty years and known for his relentless opposition to modern Zionism, in a statement he submitted to the High Commissioner of Palestine.
Rabbi Sonnenfeld, who is held in reverence by many Palestine Arabs for his piety and learning, expressed his deep disappointment to the High Commissioner when he was received Friday afternoon at the Government House. “I am disappointed that after the continuous promises of the government that nothing would happen, on which promises the Jews of Palestine relied, the horrible and unprecedented attacks occurred in Jerusalem and throughout Palestine,” he said.
“We do not demand or desire re (Continued on Page 8)
venge, but we do insist that the severest punishment be meted out to the perpetrators of the recent crimes. We yearn for the restoration of peace and order, but we demand that the investigations of the crimes be conducted by neutral British officials.”
The aged Rabbi protested to the High Commissioner against the wholesale arrests of Jews in Haifa and elsewhere, whose only guilt is that they defended themselves after the massacre had occurred in Hebron, where “men great in the law and pious in deeds, aristocrats of the spirit, were butchered, killed and tortured, without receiving the slightest help from any quarter,” he said.
“Your Excellency understands that there were in Hebron young men, among them many Americans who, had they not relied upon the authorities, would have defended themselves and would not have been mown as hay by the scythe wielded by the beasts of prey,” Rabbi Sonnenfeld declared.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
