Representatives of 34 countries, including the United States, this morning signed an agreement to create a federation of Zionists which will unite all General Zionists (Centrists) throughout the world. The first signatorites to the agreement were Judge Julian W. Mack of the United States and Dr. Leo Motzkin, chairman of the Congress presidium and of the Zionist Actions Committee. The agreement creates a united front of General Zionists which does not become operative until after the Congress.
While political negotiations of a complicated nature were in process throughout the night in most of the rooms of Mustermesse Hall, the largest room was being given over to the proceedings of the Congress Court which tried Meer Grossman, English Revisionist and vicepresident of the Revisionist organization, for having given out to the press the contents of the White Paper of October, 1930, before that document was officially released.
The Zionist Executive contended that this action constituted a violation of confidence, breaking party discipline and the misuse of an official document. The accusation against Grossman was made by Felix Rosenblueth and Lazarus Barth, members of the Zionist Executive. Grossman’s defenders were Vladimir Jabotinsky, Revisionist chieftain, and Richard Lichtheim, German Revisionist. Dr. Chaim Weizmann appeared as an important witness.
The trial, which lasted six hours, was concluded early this morning and the decision of the Congress Court, the highest instance of appeal in Zionist matters, will be given tonight. In a long speech in his own behalf, Grossman explained that he felt it is his duty to publish the contents of the White Paper prematurely for two reasons; first, because this would have given the British government an opportunity to deny the contents of the premature report and thus cancel or modify the White Paper; secondly, because he wanted to reach the general press first with a Jewish digest of the White Paper in order to preceed the British digest which sought to give the matter an innocent character.
In upholding Grossman’s action, Jabotinsky declared that Grossman was right because in time of pogrom danger every Jew should do his best for protection and the White Paper was a pogrom on the Jews. It was the issuance of the White Paper which led to the resignation of Dr. Weizmann as president of the Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency, of Felix M. Warburg as chairman of the Administrative Committee of the Jewish Agency, and of the late Lord Melchett as chairman of the Council of the Jewish Agency.
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.
