Enlargement of the Joint Foreign Committee to include representatives of all leading Jewish organizations was definitely accepted today by the leaders of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, who will make the proposal to this effect at Sunday’s session of their organization. The proposal will undoubtedly be accepted and thus a united Anglo-Jewish front for all political matters will be established. The Joint Foreign Committee was hitherto the group through which the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Anglo-Jewish Association functioned together in foreign matters. With enlargement, the participation of Major H. L. Nathan, M. P., Lord Alfred Melchett and other important representatives of various Jewish bodies is assured.
This compromise was agreed to by the leaders of the Board of Deputies of British Jews in order to avert the threatening serious crisis and the possible overthrow of the present leaders of English Jewry. The final agreement obliges the Board of Deputies to convene the World Jewish Congress for discussing the German situation in the autumn.
While opposition is not expected regarding the enlargement of the composition of the Joint Foreign Committee, a serious controversy is feared over the fact that a group of the Board of Deputies is demanding that the present vague purposes of the world congress be defined concretely in advance of convention.
They demand, first, that the world congress be a public one, or at least that a number of the sessions be open to the public.
Second, they demand that not only Jewish individuals from various countries but also Jewish organizations be invited to participate in the world congress.
Third, they demand that the conference not only discuss but actually decide on measures in connection with the German situation, such as the enforcement of the anti-German boycott.
While leaders of the Board of Deputies may be agreeable to effecting a compromise on the matter of whether or not the sessions should be private, suggesting that delegates themselves, when the conference is convened, decide the question, they strongly oppose the other proposals. All this is expected to arouse animated discussions at Sunday’s session.
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.
