Search JTA's historical archive dating back to 1923

Britain Criticizes U.S. for Failure to Withdraw Tax Exemption from Bergson Group

May 20, 1947
See Original Daily Bulletin From This Date
Advertisement

Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs Christopher Mayhew told the House of Commons today that the State Department has not replied as ?et to repeated notes from the British Embassy in Washington on the activities of the American League for a Free Palestine.

Mayhew said that the British Government was closely following the activities of the League, but told Tom Driberg, Laborite, that he could not go along with Dri?berg’s assertion that in granting tax exemption to the League, the U.S. Treasury was indirectly subsidizing the assassination of British soldiers in Palestine.

(According to headquarters of the League in New York, it was granted tax exemption on Dec. 9, 1944, and its status has never been questioned by the Treasury. A State Department spokesman today said that the Department had not yet replied to a three month old note from British Ambassador Lord Inverchapel protesting the activities of several American organizations soliciting funds allegedly for underground activities in Palestine. He said the matter was still under active consideration.)

Scotland Yard has denied a report published in the Daily Express that the Coast Guard was preparing a secret plan to halt Palestinian extremists from entering the country in an attempt to bomb and terrorize the population. A Yard spokesman termed “utter tommyrot” the story which alleged that the extremists were disappointed in the failure of their “European agents” in blasting important public buildings in England and were taking matters into their own hands.

Recommended from JTA

Advertisement