That General Ronald Storrs, Governor of Jerusalem, who recently visited here did “irreparable injury to the Jewish people” while here and that his “strange visit to Henry Ford” coupled with reports from Arab sources that aid for the Arabs as against the Jews in Palestine, was expected from the Detroit manufacturer needs clarification, are the contentions of the NEW PALESTINE, the official organ of the Zionist Organization of America.
The charges appear in the latest issue of the Zionist publication appearing today (March 2).
“What passed between Ford and the Governor”, nobody knows, but rumor puts two facts together, says the paper, “Arabs in Palestine announce Mr. Ford as their friend and that he intends to do some ‘work’ in Palestine. Immediately thereafter the Governor of Jerusalem pays the new found ally of the Arabs a formal visit and speaks in praise of his abilities”.
The failure of Storrs to make any statements as regards the Jewish National Homeland in Palestine is also criticised. “The plea that such a statement might be a violation of the regulations of the Colonial Office is not plausible,” it declares, “as it is a public fact that the British Government administers Palestine under a mandate approved by the League of Nations in which recognition is given to the right of the Jewish people to enter and establish the Jewish homeland in Palestine”.
To take the most charitable view, it concludes, “It was an inexcusable blunder on his part. Governor Storrs may protest that he is a friend of the Jewish people, but he takes a strange way of exhibiting his friendship. First of all, his silence, when he should have spoken then his visit paid to Mr. Ford which should never have been paid, and lastly the uncalled for praise of Mr. Ford which came as the last incident of a remarkable exhibition of tactless behavior. It will take a great deal of explanation to remove the unpleasant inferences that will be drawn from Governor Storr’s visit to the United States”.
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