The hope that Palestine will continue to grow in strength, both “economically and spiritually” and offer a haven to additional large numbers of persecuted Jews, was expressed in a message of greeting received here from Governor Herbert H. Lehman of New York on the occasion of the forthcoming 44th Annual Convention of the Zionist Organization of America, which will open its four day session on September 6th at Cincinnati, Ohio.
Extending his greetings to the delegates, the New York Governor, in his message, voices confidence that “the Convention will be of great constructive value in the consideration of post-war problems facing civilization.”
General Jan Christian Smuts, Prime Minister of South Africa, in a cable message addressed to Mr. Edmund I. Kaufmann, President of the Zionist Organization of America, pledged anew his Government “to the destruction of the monstrous Nazi regime that threatens all free men throughout the world,” and stated that he has “followed with deep regret the terrible persecution unparalleled even in darkest ages that has been inflicted upon the Jewish people in Europe.”
Voicing his “warmest greetings” to the American Zionist Convention, General Smuts expressed the hope that the “Conference will prove of great success and of vital significance to the solidarity of Zionism and the realization of its age-long vision of a Jewish National Homeland in Palestine in a reborn world.” General Smuts has been an avowed friend of the Zionist cause for many years.
Joining in the greetings to the American Zionists in behalf of the South African Government and people, Hon. Jan. H. Hofmeyer, Minister of Finance, asserts his belief that the “miracle of survival of the Jewish people is not without a divinely appointed purpose.”
“I look forward,” the Finance Minister cabled, “to great spiritual forces again being released from Palestine as the Home of the Jewish people for the benefit of all humanity. The impending victory of democracies in the present war will provide great opportunity to further the Zionist cause.”
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.
