Protests against the attempt of the Palestine government to obtain control of the news sources to and from Palestine, are voiced in the current numbers of the “New Palestine,” the Rochester “Jewish Ledger,” the Pittsburgh “Jewish Criterion,” the Detroit “Jewish Chronicle, the Philadelphia “Jewish Exponent,” the Worcester “Jewish Civic Leader,” the “American Jewish World” of Minneapolis,” and the New York Y. M. H. A. “Bulletin.”
In an editorial entitled “Is Impartiality Wanted,” the “New Palestine,” the official organ of the Zionist Organization of America, points out that the “interference of the government with newspaper despatches, action whose parallel can be found only in such countries as Russia and Italy, indicates that the same motive that serves the Soviet or Fascisti inspires the Palestine government. Is the Palestine government willing to give the world an opportunity to judge the recent events impartially? The answer would seem to be in the negative. This is emphasized by the action of the Palestine administration in trying to invalidate the franchise of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in Palestine. The administration apparently feels that disclosures of some of its acts may have unfortunate repercussion…”
The “Ledger” says: “News that the government in Palestine is attempting to suppress the Palestine Telegraphic Agency through which the Jewish Telegraphic Agency receives its despatches about the Homeland, is causing the greatest concern among Jewish publications throughout the world… If Britain really wishes to examine impartially the evidence now before the Commission and if she is not afraid to let the world know how Palestine is being governed, why should she object to publicity…. We solemnly protest against this threatened danger to the freedom of the press and we ask that all efforts to enforce it be abandoned.”
“Controlling the news” is how the “Criterion” speaks of the efforts of the Palestine government to get control of Palestinan news sources. “We are astonished at this attitude on the part of the British government through its representative in Palestine. The very fact that an attempt is being made to control the news service, indicates that the news we are likely to get from the Holy Land will be prejudiced…. So far as we are concerned we have seen nothing unduly prejudicial to the British cause or unduly in favor of the Jews in the news that has come to us over the Palestine Telegraphic Agency cable service…. We sincerely trust that the Secretary of State for the colonies will reconsider the cancellation of the concession of the Palestine Telegraphic Agency….”
Asking the question “Is Palestine news to be suppressed?” the “Chronicle” says: “… We are surprised that a power like Great Britain with her traditions for justice, should attempt on the very heels of the injuries in flicted upon us (Jews in Palestine) during the recent riots to add insul by depriving us of our only means of keeping informed on the events in the Jewish settlements. Surely even the most biased Englishman will admit that government-censored news is not the sort of news people crave for, particularly when the government is facing charges of guilt in the riots, and news disseminated by an agency controlled by the Palestine government would be censored news.
“The Jewish Telegraphic Agency and its Palestine branch are today the strongest bonds between the various Jewries throughout the world, and the breaking of links in this chain are certain to do us great harm. The unity of the Jewish people depends upon the manner in which Jews everywhere are informed of the status and well-being of their fellow-Jews wherever they may be. This unity must not be tampered with, and it is to the interest of our people that the only Jewish news agency in the world remain outside the control of any Jewish party or any outside government. The news disseminated must be free from such control, else it will become internally colored and externally checked; and if it should become possible for Great Britain to control news from Palestine, we run the danger of similar control in Roumania, Hungary and Poland, and then we shall be left in the dark as to Jewish conditions throughout the world.
“Our news agencies are so important to us that we must guard jealously against their disruption. At the same time we dare hope that the Palestine administration will do nothing which will deprive us of such elementary right as that of brother keeping in touch with brother through the medium of news wires.
“Jewry throughout the world will resent,” says the Philadelphia “Jewish Exponent,” the action of the Palestine government in its endeavor to throttle the Palestine news service of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in order that the former might obtain control of the channels disseminating news from that country….
“The service being rendered by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency is recognized and appreciated wherever Jews reside. For the manner in which it has handled the Palestine situation in recent months it has earned universal approbation. Jews and Christians like, interested in the affairs of Palestine, wish the news of that country to come to them without governmental taint or bias. Any attempt on the part of the Palestine administration to in terfere with the dissemination of news must be construed as a desire to coneal facts. This is unworthy of the mandatory power and will not be tolerated by the enlightened public pinion.”
Speaking of “Muzzling the Press,” he Worcester “Jewish Civic Leader” says: “The Jewish Telegraphic Agency was the most important single factor in making known to the world the actual course of events during the massacres. Its news reports were the determining factor in arousing the protest of the world. If it is to be punished now, because as a news agency it disseminated information of events during a crisis, then our belief in the helpful attitude of the British government must fall with it.
“It is wholly without reason to assume that there will be unprejudiced and unbiased news service under government control….”
Criticizing the action of the Palestine government as “An Illogical Move,” the Y. M. H. A. “Bulletin” says: “It is not necessary here to once again point out the mistake made by the Palestinian government in attempting to censor news of the country. The futility of adopting such a course has been often demonstrated in the past. It is our purpose here, however to register a protest against this action not only because it directly concerns the Jews of the entire world, but because it represents a direct affront to one of the foremost pillars of modern civilization, the unhampered functioning of the press.”
And the “American Jewish World” says: “The Palestine Government chaffing under criticism that its laxity and vacillation were largely responsible for the recent massacres of Jews in the Holy Land, has now gone to extremes in an attempt to obtain control of all news from that country.
“The action taken by the Government was not only unusual to an almost unbelievable degree, but ill-advised. Through pressure exerted by the Colonial Office, it at first succeeded in obtaining the dismissal of Gershon Agronsky, a most excellent reporter, as correspondent of the London “Times” for Palestine. Mr. Agronsky also represented the Palestine Telegraphic Agency. The London “Times” has since reconsidered the matter, and it is reported has re-engaged Mr. Agronsky.
“It is not difficult to see what motivated the Colonial Office. Mr. Agronsky, as a capable, observing reporter, has given to the world the story of the Palestine massacres, and has not hesitated to place the blame where it belonged. The truth, as Mr. Agronsky saw and found it, was most embarrassing to the Palestine Government officials. But the Government did not stop there. Its latest move was to cancel the concession held by the Palestine Telegraphic Agency for the sending of news dispatches. It appears to be the intention of the Government to replace this service with a news service that it can control and regulate.
“The Palestine Telegraphic Agency is more than the Jewish Telegraphic (Continued on Page 12)
Agency link in Palestine; it is a world news service, the news gathering agency for Reuters in Palestine.
“The whole thing smacks of pettiness and vindictiveness. It is poor politics, because in that effort itself, is revealed a sense of guilt and an announcement to the world that the Government is not strong enough to stand criticism. A government that is honest has nothing to fear. We understand that the matter will come up to Lord Passfield, Secretary of State for the Colonies for reconsideration. Lord Passfield has opportunity to nullify a most unbecoming act of his Government, committed, not in the light of sober judgment and consideration, but in the heat of temper and passion. It will go a long way to restore confidence of World Jewry in the intentions of Great Britain to live up to the Balfour Declaration and the terms of the Mandate.
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.
