A petition to Great Britain not to do anything that “would infringe or impair Jewish rights in Palestine” was telegraphed to Ambassador Sir Ronald Lindsey in Washington today by a conference of 500 chapter leaders of Hadassah at the Hotel Pennsylvania. A copy was telegraphed to Secretary of State Cordell Hull.
The petition, sent in connection with the forthcoming Royal Commission report, said that international law and “the higher law of civilization and humanity” require that Britain heed the pleas for freedom and opportunity for Jews in the Holy Land.
“Irrefutable proof has been given that Palestine has the resources to absorb large-scale Jewish immigration if no check is placed upon Jewish initiative and the willingness of Jewish pioneers to offer their self-sacrifice in reclaiming a land laid desolate by centuries of neglect,” the statement said.
Mrs. Edward Jacobs, president of Hadassah, who has just returned from Palestine, said it was inconceivable that the American people could stand aloof while Great Britain’s pledge to the Jewish people “can be interpreted in such a way as to make it a scrap of paper.”
Morris Rothenberg, president of the administrative committee of the Zionist Organization of America, condemned what he called Great Britain’s “violation of solemn undertakings.” This course, he said, “has done much to whittle down the Balfour Declaration.”
The conference will continue tomorrow.
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