Jewish Organisations in Various Countries Should Join Together for Defence of Threatened Jewish Righ

We Jews are again compelled to take up the fight for equal citizenship rights in a number of countries, Government Councillor J. Kreppel writes in the “Wahrheit” here. The political and economic reaction is seriously threatening the principle of Jewish emancipation. The rise of Hitlerism in Germany and its repercussions in Austria and other countries, together with recent events in several East-European, Central European and South-East European States show that Jewish organisations like the Alliance Israelite Universelle, the Anglo-Jewish Association, the Central Union of German Citizens of Jewish Faith, the American Jewish Committee, the Union of Roumanian Jews, and the rest, must rise to the new task and intensify their work. The present-day anti-Jewish movement is inter-State, and Cuza in Roumania openly admits partnership with Hitler in Germany; the Arabs in Palestine use the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” in their anti-Jewish campaign, and National Socialist organisations are being formed in all sorts

of countries. In face of this it is not enough to maintain an isolated activity on the part of the existing Jewish organisations, each strictly confined to its own country. We must proceed to set up a central organisation of all the Jewish defensive organisations with a united leadership. Our enemies believe that there is a “Secret Jewish Power, and they are constantly talking of its destructive tendencies, and non-Jews generally are inclined to believe in this fairy tale, insofar as they take the view that Jews who are everywhere exposed to threats and persecution ought to have a protective organisation covering all countries. There is no reason why we should not have such an organisation. The existing Jewish defensive organisations constitute a nucleus, and if they link up we shall have our organisation. They should each appoint representatives to a Central Committee, which would have its seat in Geneva, with a representative accredited to the League of Nations. Co-operation with the League of Nations would protect, our organisation from the reproach that Jews are seeking to interfere in the internal affairs of any particular country, for its activity would be largely conducted under the control of the League of Nations, and it would be clear that its intention is solely to protect Jewish rights against aggression, and that there is no desire to exceed the functions of a defensive body.