American Labor Leaders Forbid League for Free Palestine to Use Their Names

William Green, president of the American Federation of Labor and a number of other leaders of the American labor movement today announced that they have forbidden the American League for a Free Palestine to use their names as members of the sponsoring committee of the organization which was established by the same group which last week announced the creation of the “Hebrew Committee of National Liberation.”

The announcement, made by Max Zaritsky, Jewish labor leader, also attacked the Hebrew Committee of National Liberation” as being led “by a handful of unidentified individuals.” The League was charged by Mr. Zaritsky with “high-handed, unethical procedure” in what he termed “the unwarranted use of my signature” by that organization.

It was learned here today that the Department of Justice is interested in the status of Peter Bergson, head of the “Hebrew Committee for National Liberation” the formation of which provoked protests last week on the part of major leading Jewish organizations. The Department of Justice claims that Mr. Bergson’s temporary visitor’s visa on which he was admitted to the United States in 1940 expired on July 7, 1941. The Department has also contacted Mr. Bergson for the purpose of establishing whether, because of his political activities in this country, he should not have registered with its foreign agents’ registration section. Mr. Bergson is said to be known to the immigration authorities under the name of Hillel Kook, a son of Rabbi Dov Kook of Palestine. Justice Department records show that he was born in Lithuania and Lived in Palestine for eighteen years.