American Zionist Groups Hail Formation of Jewish Brigade; Congratulate Jewish Agency

Dr. Abba Hillel Silver and Dr. Stephen S. Wise, co-chairmen of the American Zionist Emergency Council, today hailed the British Government’s announcement of the formation of a Jewish Brigade Group as recognition of “the justice of the Jewish claim to fight under their own flag against the oppressors of their people.”

In a formal statement issued here, Dr. Silver and Dr. Wise expressed an “earnest hope that the recognition thus accorded the Jews as a people in the armies of the United Nations will be a preliminary to Jewish representation at the Peace Conference and in the councils of the nations in all matters affecting the future of European Jewry and of Palestine.”

In a cable to the Executive of the Jewish Agency the American Zionist Emergency Council extended congratulations on the success of the Agency’s “untiring efforts for the establishment of a Jewish military force,” and added that “this belated recognition of Palestine Jewry’s splendid contribution to the war effort gives renewed hope and encouragement in the struggle for the realization of our aspirations for the establishment of Palestine as a Jewish Commonwealth.”

The Hebrew Committee of National Liberation cabled congratulations to Lord Strabolgi, chairman of the Committee for a Jewish Army. It also invited Lord Strabolgi to come to the United States.

The New Zionist Organization of America issued a statement recalling that the Jewish army idea was first advocated by Vladimir Jabotinsky. “The announcement by the British War Department that a Jewish brigade to fight on Allied battlefronts is now information, is a strong vindication of the relentless demands for the creation of a Jewish army raised by the New Zionist Organization since the beginning of the war.” the statement said.