British Jews Protest Palestine Government’s Stand on Wailing Wall

A vigorous stand was taken by the Anglo-Jewish Association and the Board of Jewish Deputies, the two representative bodies of British Jewry, on the question of the Palestine government’s attitude toward the recent events in Jerusalem growing out of the controversy over the Wailing Wall.

A letter published in today’s issue of the “London Times,” over the signatures of Leonard Montefiore, president of the Anglo-Jewish Association, and O. E. D’Avigdor Goldsmid, president of the Board of Jewish Deputies, refers to the Palestine government’s communique, and declares that it seems astonishing that the Palestine administration found it compatible with its duty to allow a hostile demonstration to be held at the place hallowed by all Jews by cherished and sacred memories.

“Such a demonstration must inevitably result in a breach of the peace and interference with the freedom of worship for which the British government has explicitly undertaken respon- (Continued on Page 4)

sibility under the Palestine Mandate.

“We as presidents of the two representative bodies of English Jewry, cannot let such a sacrilege as the burning of printed Hebrew prayers and Psalms at the Holy Place pass without voicing the grief and indignation of the Anglo-Jewish community, feelings which we are convinced will find sympathetic understanding with men and women of other creeds who value and revere their own religion.

“As British subjects, we have every right to look to His Majesty’s Government to take the necessary steps to fix the responsibility for these deplorable occurrences and adopt such measures which will secure for Jewish worship at the Wailing Wall complete freedom from all interference and conditions consonant with the dignity of religion,” the letter reads.