Split in Board of Deputies of British Jews; Ninety-three Members Form Opposition Group

A split within the ranks of the Board of Deputies of British Jews was revealed today when fifty-eight non-Zionist members held a meeting under the chairmanship of Neville Laski, former president, and adopted a resolution severely criticizing the present policy of the board. Speakers at the meeting claimed that the board is being dominated by party politics foreign to its constitution and directed by an outside body for its own purposes.

Thirty-five more members who did not attend the meeting wrote approving letters to the group. The Jewish Chronicle, leading British Jewish publication, today publishes an editorial supporting the dissident group and charging Prof. Selig Brodetsky, president of the board, with being partial to the Zionist elements among the deputies since he is a member of the Jewish Agency executive.

The resolution adopted at today’s meeting says that “the fine tradition lost during recent years will not be regained until independence of the Board of Deputies is regained.”