D’avigdor Goldsmid Appeals for Aid for German Jews; Says Palestine Sole Refuge

In the only public address he is scheduled to make during his ten-day visit to this country, O. E. D’Avigdor Goldsmid, chairman of the council of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, addressing the Eastern Parkway section of the American Palestine Campaign at the Brooklyn Jewish Center, called for “exceptional sacrifices to meet a unique situation” in extending relief to the Jews of Germany.

Mr. Goldsmid asserted that in addition to the claim which Palestine has upon Jews “on sentimental and religious grounds, it has, under present day circumstances, a still greater claim at being to all intents and purposes the only country open to those suffering from discriminatory legislation of the German Government.”

His views on the importance of Palestine for meeting the problem of homeless Jews were emphasized in the address of Morris Rothenberg, president of the Zionist Organization of America. Other speakers at the dinner were Rabbi I. H. Levinthal, of the Brooklyn Jewish Center, and Milton Goell, Chairman of the Eastern Parkway fund-raising effort for Palestine.

“The rebuilding of Palestine should be acceptable to every thinking Jew,” Mr. Goldsmid said. “It should be acceptable to those who have hitherto considered Palestine as an experiment. It should be acceptable to those who have been out of sympathy on other grounds with the movement. And today in addition to claim which Palestine has upon us on sentimental and religious grounds, it has, under present day circumstances, a still greater claim as being to all intents and purposes the only country open to those suffering from discriminatory legislation of the German Government. We know that a number of the refugees, particular the younger generation, are desperately anxious to go to Palestine today. The arrival of new immigrants involves additional expenditures of all kinds which the Agency must be in a position to meet, as it is the only body in Palestine that is responsible for the admission of the immigrants. In order, therefore, to meet that situation, it is essential that additional funds should be provided the Agency, quite apart from the current day to day expenditures, which the Agency has not been able to meet.

UNHEARD OF SITUATION

“I know that this country is passing through difficult times, but we have today a tragedy in Germany which I cannot say is unique, but takes us back to the Middle Ages,

“We have a tide of refugees leaving Germany. How much greater the number will be in the future, nobody can foretell. But, under present conditions, with the numbers they are today, it is essential to give the Agency those resources which will enable it to provide a home for as many who want to live out their lives in Palestine.”

PALESTINE PROMISES SOLUTION

In his remarks, Mr. Rothenberg pointed out that while Jews will never yield their inalienable right to live on a basis of equality with and to enjoy the same privileges as all other citizens in the lands of their birth or adoption, the task of finding a solution for hundreds of thousands who must flee from persecution or whose existence has been made impossible by economic discrimination, is inescapable.”

“Palestine,” he said, “while not offering a complete solution to the physical aspect of the Jewish problem, is at least the most promising solution for hundreds of thousands of our people seeking a refuge and longing to live a consciously Jewish life. Every other country has its doors barred. The noble tradition which this and other enlightened countries long honored of opening their portals to the oppressed and the disinherited of the earth, has under the newer conception of civilization been thrown into the discard.”