Palestine Jews Should Expect No Reward for War Contributions Says Government Spokesman

Palestine Jews should not demand any reward for their contributions to the war effort, since no better reward could be expected than a victory over Hitler, Christopher Holme, chief Palestine information officer and censor, writes in the current issue of the Hebrew magazine “Hagalgal, published by the Ministry of Information.

The article has aroused intense interest in Jewish circles, since it is assumed that Holme, as public information officer, is expressing the viewpoint of the Palestine Government. The newspaper Davar writes today that “Jews want to live as full ledged Jews, with all rights, the same as the English. It is not enough for us to live as human beings, because we are not allowed to live as Jews. As Englishmen went out to fight Hitler to live not only as human beings but as Englishmen, so we fought both as Jews and human beings.” The newspaper Hatzofe comments similarly.

(In a recent article on Middle East sensorship, Victor Bienstock, chief of the JTA European staff, wrote that Holme “is pained by the word Jews, and refers to the inhabitants of Palestine as “the Arabs and others.” Bienstock said Holme was also” painted by dispatches describing in any detail the contribution of Palestine Jews to the Allied war effort, and outs them mercilessly.”)

The Arab weekly, Al Widha, welcomes the Holme article, in a lengthy story on Arab-British cooperation. “In Holme,” it says, “we have felt a spirit that is different from that we used to feel in the old politicians.”