The warning that the British Government assumes a great responsibility before history in not permitting the Jews of Palestine to organize themselves into a Jewish Army for their own defense, was sounded here today by Dr. Norman MacLean, one of the King’s chaplains and former moderator of the Church of Scotland.
In a message made public today, Dr. MacLean recalls the Arab threat that “if the British ever leave Palestine, the Jewish National Home will be converted into a Jewish national cemetery.” The evacuation of Palestine will not mean that the British Empire will not in the end emerge victoriously from the present war, but it may mean the end of the Jews in Palestine, the message points out.
“Should this be the end of the Balfour Declaration, then Britain will have to answer a terrible indictment at the bar of history,” Dr. MacLean writes. “To deny men the right to organize their own defense is to connive at their destruction.” By refusing to sanction the establishment of a Jewish Army in Palestine, the promised national home is revealed as neither Jewish, nor national, nor yet a home, the distinguished churchman concludes.
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.
