Mrs. Rose Jacobs, American member of the Jewish Agency’s Jerusalem Executive, who returned from Palestine last week, said in an interview today that although Palestine had made all preparations for the war, a long conflict might raise the necessity of American Jewish aid.
“The fate of Palestine is inseparable from the future of the entire Mediterranean area,” Mrs. Jacobs said. “The Yishub is prepared and is doing its best to take care of our needs. It may be able to pull through by itself. But if the war lasts long and supply lines are seriously restricted the day may come when American Jews will have to send help, as they did in the last war.”
The Executive member declared “the Arabs are behaving, for the most part, peacefully now, but there was a demonstration in Jaffa when some Arabs paraded through the street shouting ‘Heil Hitler Heil Duce!’ There were rumors of similar demonstrations in Nablus and elsewhere. The next day the Government issued a stern warning against ‘spreading false rumors,’ threatening severe penalties. It wasn’t clear who was responsible for the demonstration or how much Arab sentiment it represented. There were rumors, too, that the Mufti had returned to Palestine. I have no idea whether there was any basis for these reports.
“One thing is certain–the Jews are 100 per cent loyal to the Allies. The loyalty is much stronger than the Allies themselves seem to realize. No matter what happens they can depend on the support of the Yishub.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
