Hadassah Convention Closes; Mrs. Moses P. Epstein Elected President

Resolutions expressing “full support” for the American Jewish Conference and appealing to the British people and government to abandon the White Paper policy were adopted here today at the closing session of the 29th annual convention of the Hadassah, which elected Mrs. Moses P. Epstein president of the organization for the next term.

The resolution on the White Paper also urged the U.S. Government and the American public “to add its voice” in support of the Jewish demand. Another resolution appeals to the “conscience of the democratic peoples and the governments of the United Nations “to help bring about the rescue of 29,000 Jewish children in Europe for whom certificates of entry into Palestine have been promised by the British Government.

The convention adopted a budget of $1,620,000 to be spent during the next year for medical, post-war health, child welfare, vocational education, youth, refugee and land reclamation projects. Tribute was paid by the convention to King Christian X of Denmark, and King Gustaf V of Sweden for the heroism with which their peoples have defended Jewish citizens and refugees in both countries against the Nazis, by announcing the planting of two groves of trees in the name of these monarchs in the Holy Land.

Dr. Stephen S. Wise and Dr. Abba Hillel Silver, of Cleveland, co-chairman of the American Zionist Emergency Council, the chief speakers at the concluding session, concentrated upon a plea for the abrogation of the White Paper, which if implemented would curtail Jewish immigration into Palestine by March 1944; upon an attack on the British Palestine administration, which was accused of “staging” the recent arms-smuggling trials, and upon a demand for the creation of a Jewish Commonwealth.