Melchett Tells South African Zionists Jews Can Not Give Up Iota of Palestine Rights

It is impossible to surrender one iota of Jewish rights in Palestine, declared Lord Melchett, president of the English Zionist Federation, speaking at the opening of the South African Keren Hayesod campaign, as chairman of the political committee of the Jewish Agency. Lord Melchett made that statement in discussing the Mandate policy, of which he said that “it is foolish to talk of a reversal of the Mandate policy, which is an integral point in the Treaty of Versailles signed by the Allied nations, the associated powers and the United States.”

Commenting on the well-known energy, sacrifice and generosity of the Jewish community with regard to Palestine, in the up-building work of which he declared South Africa to be the pillar, Lord Melchett said “the Jewish Agency left no excuse for the non-Zionist. The Jews of the world have amalgamated and are taking advantage of the historic Mandate to rebuild their beloved Eretz Israel home to which they are entitled by long centuries. It is a point of honor with every Jew to help.”

Lord Melchett said he could speak in various capacities, but he preferred to address the gathering as a lover of Palestine. “I am a fanatical lover of that beloved country. No one revisiting the haunts of our forefathers can fail to be impressed and be a lover of Eretz Israel.” He declared that “we are the custodian and guardians of the charter of Jewry now and forever.”

Describing the development of Palestine he said the country needed money and people, and he would like the South African Jews to go there to help build a self-reliant community that would be able to look the world in the face and with heads erect in a place “where we can feel ourselves among ourselves in a country from which we came.”