Anglo-jewish Association to Cooperate with Other Jewish Groups

The Anglo-Jewish Association will continue its efforts to arrive at a form of cooperation with the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and still hopes to be able to cooperate on specific issues with other Jewish groups on national and international bases, R. N. Carvalho, president of the AJA, declared here last night at the semi-annual general meeting of the organization.

The AJA is not interested in prestige, he stressed, and it would do everything possible to “procure cooperation short of losing its individuality and tradition.” There was still no reason to despair of unity, he asserted, and he would continue to look for fresh approaches and new ways of persuading the Board of Deputies that the AJA meant what it said and “did not intend to cut the ground from under the Board’s feet.”

Mr. Carvalho reaffirmed AJA opposition to the formation of a permanent international Jewish organization, insisting that the greatest value lay in working together on specific issues. To support his contention, he cited the success of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. “Both nationally and internationally, especially in the United Nations, ” he added, “there is an urgent need for all Jewish organizations to show goodwill and a degree of unselfishness for the benefit of Jewish causes.

“Unfortunately, the almost hysterical chasing after publicity and prestige is responsible for so much harm. If only certain Jewish bodies were not more concerned with these achievements than with the Jewish problems themselves, “he said, “it might be possible to have regular conferences both at home and abroad” leading to united action of Jewish bodies. The AJA, he assured his listeners, “will continue to strive for this goal.”