A demand by a Labor Member of Parliament that the Jewish Agency be liquidated because some of its leaders have been implicated in acts of violence in Palestine, according to a government White Paper, was ignored in Commons by Colonial Secretary Arthur Creech-Jones.
The suggestion was made by A.E. Stubbs, who said that the government must take steps to close down the Jewish Agency because the names of Dr. Weizmann and other members of the Agency were linked in the White Paper with anti-British attacks in Palestine.
Samuel Silverman, Laborite, said that if there is any evidence connecting members of the Jewish Agency with acts of violence in Palestine, the charges should be made in a court so that the evidence could be examined and challenged by the interested parties. He added that it is “perfectly clear” that no grounds exist for the accusation.
The Colonial Secretary reported that 83 Jews were convicted by military courts in Palestine, during the past year, mainly on charges of carrying and discharging firearms. Death sentences, he said, were reduced in some cases to life imprisonment. The Colonial Secretary did not reply to a suggestion by Sir George Jeffreys that death sentences imposed in Palestine be carried out in every case.
Creech-Jones assured Commons that newsreel photographers and correspondents of foreign countries, particularly American newsman, are given every facility to report the day-to-day situation in Palestine.
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