Jewish Group in England Opposes Establishment of Jewish State; Informs Parliamentarians

Opposition to the establishment of a Jewish State anywhere was expressed here last night in behalf of the “Jewish Fellowship” at a meeting of the Middle-East Committee, composed of members of the House of Commons, at which the palestine question was discussed. The meeting, which book place under the chairmanship of Gen. Edward Spears, former British Minister in Syria, was attended by thirty members of parliament.

Basil Henriques and Brunel Cohen, leaders of the Jewish Fellowship, told the committee that their organization advocates the largest possible Jewish immigration to palestine that can be effected without bringing about conflict with the Arabs. Asked whether it was not a fast that the Jewish Fellowship represents an extremely small group in the Jewish population, Henriques replied: “Not so small.” to the question of whether the Board of Deputies of British Jews disagrees with the views of the Fellowship, Henriques answered that “the Board of Deputies does not represent British Jewry.”

Capt. Allen Graham, speaking at the meeting, said that “only the immigrants and the descendants of recent immigrants are clamoring for a Jewish State, whereas the old-established Jewish community in Palestine, particularly the Sephardic Jews, are not Zionists.” Gan, Spears suggested that the Jewish Fellowship submit to the Middle-East Committee – its views regarding the White paper.

The Catholie Herald commenting today on the projected formation of the League of Arab Nations and on Churchill’s announcement that no solution of the palestine question will take place until after the war; says that the Arabs are now in a much stronger position than they were, with regard to Jewish immigration into Palestine. “At the same time it must be admitted the position of the Jews who survived German brutality is pitiful and that sympathetic consideration must be given to their claims,” the paper writes, adding that the Arab-Jewish problem will not be easy to solve because of imperial and commercial considerations.