American Zionists Challenge British Statement on Halting of Palestine Immigration

The American Zionist Emergency Council, in a statement issued by Dr. Abba Hillel Silver, today sharply attacked the announcement by the British Government that it was halting Jewish mass-immigration to Palestine.

The statement, which took up the British announcement point by point, charged that the present influx of so called “illegal” immigrants was the result of the fact that Britain had delayed so long in complying with President Truman’s request for the admission of 100,000 Jews.

Granting the British claim that 500,000 Jews had settled in Palestine under the mandate, Dr. Silver pointed out that hundreds of thousands of others perished in Europe because they were barred from the Holy Land. He said that during the war, it was not so much Britain who saved the Jews of Palestine, but the Palestinian Jews who rallied to the cause of the British Empire, although their aid was accepted reluctantly.

The Zionist statement charged further that the White Paper was illegal and, therefore, Britain deserves no credit for allowing 1,500 Jews to enter monthly at present, even though the White Paper quota has been exhausted. It termed the Palestine Government a police state and asserted that Britain’s sole justification for being in Palestine was to carry out the terms of the mandate.

Dr. Silver contracted the British “distress” concerning persecution of Jews in Eastern Europe with their request to the governments in that area to bar the flight of Jews to Palestine.

Declaring that Britain’s purpose is to compel the Jews to submit to a political decision on Palestine which would abrogate Jewish rights, the statement warns that neither the Jews of Palestine, Europe nor America will allow this to occur.