The Jewish Agency will reopen its recruiting offices for the purpose of enlisting volunteers for the British armed forces, it was decided today by the Zionist Actions Committee now in session here.
The recruiting offices of the Agency have been closed since May 1, but recently the Palestine civil and military authorities appealed to the population of Palestine to continue to join the armed services, indicating that the planned Allied invasion of Europe may take place from various points. Consultations between British military authorities and members of the Jewish Agency on the subject of renewed recruitment have taken place in Jerusalem, London and at British military headquarters in Cairo.
At today’s session of the Actions Committee, supreme Zionist body between meetings of the World Zionist Congress, Moshe Shertok, head of the political department of the Jewish Agency, reported on the results of these consultations. He enumerated the proposals made by the Jewish representatives to the military authorities and urged the session to endorse them. It is understood that David Ben-Gurion, chairman of the executive of the Jewish Agency, expressed his opposition to these proposals.
After an all-day session devoted exclusively to discussion of the recruitment question, the Actions Committee decided by vote of 24 to 4 to ask the Jewish Agency to reopen its recruiting offices. The session also was told that the civil and military authorities have expressed their appreciation of Jewish enlistments.
At a press conference following the Actions Committee meeting, Mr. Shertok expressed the opinion that opening of an Agency recruiting office “will add moral weight to the Agency, because recruiting without our support has failed.”
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.
