Differences of treatment by the Palestine government of Mouzza Far, convicted Arab boycott agitator and Vladimir Jabotinsky, leader of the Zionist Revisionists, came in for a brief but sharp discussion in the House of Commons between Howard Bury, anti-Zionist, and Drummond Shiels, under-secretary for the Colonies.
The discussion started when Bury called the attention of the Colonial Office to Jabotinsky’s speech in Tel Aviv on December 23 and asked why steps had not been taken against him under the Seditious Offences ordinance. Following this J. F. Shillaker asked, “isn’t it a fact that in 1920 Jabotinsky was freed from jail after being sentenced to serve 15 years and was deported on the distinct understanding that he would not return to Palestine?” Shiels did not deny the statement but said he knew nothing about it but would take note of it. Referring to Jabotinsky’s Tel Aviv speech, Shiels said he had seen it, but was unaware whether the suggested action was considered by the local authorities, but he understood that the Revisionist leader had left Palestine two days after the delivery of the speech.
At this point Bury intimated that different treatment was meted out to Jewish and Arab agitators. He asked whether the Colonial Office was aware that when Mouzza Far was arrested on the night of November 11th he had been tried administratively and not by a magistrate, without counsel. Following that, said Bury, he was imprisoned at Acre, being sent there handcuffed to two convicted murderers and that as
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
