British Jews have no confidence in Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin, Dr. Selig Brodetsky, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and member of the Jewish Agency executive, declared here today in an interview.
“Britain had done a great harm to its position in the Middle East by its Palestine policy,” he said. “Britain has considerable interests in the Middle East, but there is only one important power there now — Israel. British policy has been based on weakening the new State. The Government will eventually see that that policy has to be changed.”
Commenting on the subject of anti-Semitism in Great Britain, Dr. Brodetsky asserted that the Board of Deputies was continually engaged in a struggle against manifestations of it, which he implied could be traced in part to the Palestine policy of the Foreign Office. “The general feeling is that most anti-Semitism in Britain will disappear after the Palestine problem has been liquidated,” he stated.
Dr. Brodetsky said there were some who considered as many as 50% of the British people were tainted with anti-Semitism, and “of course,” he added, “we must operate on the basis that it is true. We feel, however, that the working classes, who are very strong in England, would never allow anti-Semitism to get a real grip in the country.” But to be prepared for any eventuality, he emphasized, the Board of Deputies had created a defense committee, and November has been set aside for a special defense appeal to raise $1,000,000 to support the committee’s work.
Dr. Brodetsky, who is also chairman of the board of governors of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is visiting the United States at the invitation of Dr. Israel Wechsler, president of the American Friends of the Hebrew University. He will be here a month helping to encourage American participation in the world-wide campaign to raise funds to meet the University’s current budget, which Dr. Brodetsky said amounted to $1,800,000. The University has also launched the erection of a medical school.
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