The British Government may issue a White Paper on terrorism in Palestine as a result of the assassination in Cairo of Lord Moyne, British Resident Minister for the Middle East, by two Palestine terrorists, it was indicated today by Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden reporting to the House of Commons on the details of the assassination.
Mr. Eden quoted the confession made by the assailants, in which they said they had been sent to Cairo by the Stern Gang, and described the circumstances of the murder. “The investigation continues vigorously with full cooperation of the Palestine police,” he said. (A Jewish Telegraphic Agency cable from Jerusalem today said that among the police officials who came from Palestine to Cairo to interrogate the assailants are two British Jews who speak Hebrew.)
Meanwhile, Dr. Chaim Weizmann, president of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, called at 10 Downing Street, Prime Minister Churchill’s residence, and left a letter for the Prime Minister expressing the indignation of Jews throughout the world at the assassination of Lord Moyne. “Political crimes of this nature,” the letter said, “are a special abomination in that they make it possible to implicate whole communities in the guilt of a few. I can assure you that Palestine Jewry will, as its representative bodies have declared, go to the utmost limit of its power and cut out, root and branch, this evil in its midst.”
Eden’s report drew a number of statements from members of Commons. Lord Winterton asked whether the British Government would publish a White Paper on terrorism in Palestine “especially in view of the malicious rumors that His Majesty’s Government hesitates to publish such paper lest it might create anti-Semitism and do mischief of British relations with the United States.”
“Eden replied that all facts about the terror in Palestine are being published in the press, but added that he would discuss the possibility of issuing a White Paper with the Colonial Office. He disclosed that representatives of the Jewish Agency yesterday visited the Colonial Office and promised full cooperation in the fight against terroristic activities in Palestine.
GOVERNMENT, NOT JEWISH AGENCY, RESPONSIBLE FOR CURBING TERROR, EDEN SAYS
Queried by Emanuel Shinwell, Labor Party leader, as to whether the government thought it advisable to place full responsibility on the Jewish Agency for curbing the terror, Eden said that “the Jewish Agency cannot assume primary responsibility, which, of course, is that of the governmental authority in Palestine, but the Colonial Secretary has already called on it for cooperation.
Geoffrey Mander, Liberal, pointed out that Jews throughout the world have condemned the murder, while Eleanor Rathbone, Independent, asked that full publicity be given to the fact that the Agency and all responsible Zionist groups are opposed to the Stern gang. Replying, the Foreign Minister said that the government hopes that the Jewish groups will not only issue statements deploring the terror but will actively cooperate in checking it. He agreed with James McGovern, Independent Labor, that the terrorists were warring against even the Jewish bodies in Palestine.
An editorial in the Daily Mail points out that “it would be as illogical to blame Jews as a whole for these outrages as it would have been to indict all of Arabia for the Arab terrorism of former years. The Palestine problem,” it continued, “has been obscured by the war. We must know and understand its causes if Palestine is not to blaze up in civil strife.” It pointed to the 20,000 Jewish volunteers from Palestine in the armed forces as an indication of the Jewish community’s cooperation.
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.
