Roosevelt Intervention Asked for Jewish Force Under British or Allied Command

An appeal to President Roosevelt to secure “for the Jews in Palestine and for stateless Jews legally free to join with them” the right to organize a Jewish force under British command or under Allied command of the United Nations, was voiced here today in a resolution adopted at a mass meeting in Carnegie Hall arranged by the American Emergency Committee for Zionist Affairs.

The meeting, presided over by Dr. Stephen S. Wise, was addressed by David Ben-Gurion, chairman of the executive of the Jewish Agency, by U.S. Senator Claude Pepper of Florida, Dr. Frank Kingdon and Congressman John Edward Sheridan of Pennsylvania. All speakers urged that Britain permit the formation of a Jewish military force to fight under British command and under its own flag and insignia. Mr. Ben-Gurion reported on the negotiations between Jewish leaders and the British Government regarding such a force.

The resolution adopted at the meeting emphasizes dissatisfaction with the British refusal to permit the Jews of Palestine to establish a force of their own to fight with the United Nations against the Axis on the Middle Eastern and other fronts, and appeals to President Roosevelt for intervention “in the name of the victory all free peoples are uniting to achieve.” The resolution reads:

FULL TEXT OF THE ZIONIST APPEAL TO PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT

“We, assembled in mass meeting at Carnegie Hall, fervently working and praying for the victory of America and the United Nations – the victory of truth, justice and freedom – express our grave concern over the continued refusal of the British Government to grant to the Jews of Palestine their rightful place and status as allies in our common struggle. The Holy Land, whence sprang humanity’s noblest ideals, has been fated to constitute one of the most vital strategic areas in humanity’s gravest trial. The Jews of Palestine stand eagerly prepared to give their energies, their resources, their lives to the service of the democratic cause and for the defense of the homeland they have reclaimed by their heroic toil. Today they are being denied the opportunity of full participation in the battle for civilization.

“We declare that the Jews of Palestine must be granted not only the opportunity to participate fully but the right to participate equally. They must be admitted to the war against barbarism not grudgingly, but in the full exercise of their right and status of a free people on its own soil. They, who have been so cruelly persecuted by Nazi tyranny, they who bled for freedom, demand a place on the firing line to play their part in the defeat of Nazism in their own name, under the inspiration of the ancient emblems of the Jewish people and in the dynamic recognition of the equality and freedom of all peoples.

“We therefore respectfully urge our beloved and revered President to use his good offices in conformity with the spirit and traditions of this country to help secure for the Jews of Palestine and for stateless Jews legally free to join with them, the right to organize a Jewish fighting force under British command or the Allied command of the United Nations. We urge such equal opportunity and recognition for the Jews of Palestine in the name of the victory all free peoples are uniting to achieve and the ideals to which they are dedicated.”

Dr. Stephen S. Wise, in his speech, pointed out that “the Jews of Palestine are prepared to make Palestine invulnerable,” but ask that they “be enabled to fight as Jews, to die as Jews in defense of the Jewish Homeland and in defense of any and every place where the British army may choose to use the Jews of Palestine.”