A strong attack on the United Nations for its “attempt to wash its hands of the Palestine problem” was made here by Monsignor Thomas J. McMahon, national secretary of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association, addressing about 1,000 members of the Carroll Club at the Waldorf Astoria.
Calling attention to the four-power plan to move the U.N. Palestine Conciliation Commission from Jerusalem to New York, Msgr. McMahon said that the United Nations is forsaking the Palestine problem, especially the problem of the Holy Places. “There is a slow, steady, snide propaganda for the U.N. to untangle it self from Palestine,” he said.
Monsignor McMahon, who is also president of the Pontifical Mission to Palestine, remarked that the Catholic Church does not oppose Jewish immigration into Israel and never opposed the establishment of the State of Israel. He added that “we did work to see to it that the U.N. put into the Palestine agreement guaranties for the right to visit the Holy Places.”
Defining the problem as a religious one and not political, Monsignor McMahon continued: “Anti-Semitism is a word that stultifies discussion on any matter connected with the problem. Did it ever occur to any one that we could be pro-Christian in our views? I would make that the cornerstone of the whole problem of the Middle East. We are not anti-Semitic, or anti-Arab, but pro-Christian, especially in regard to the Holy Places.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
