Political rather than military considerations were the moving factors in the British government’s refusal to establish a Jewish Army in Palestine, it is charged in a survey of the correspondence between the Jewish Agency for Palestine and the Colonial and War offices which the Agency started distributing today to members of Parliament.
Under the title of “The War Effort and War Potentialities of Palestine Jewry,” the pamphlet, which is part of an intensified campaign by the Jewish Agency to compel the government to allow the establishment of a Jewish division, reveals that discussions were so far advanced by December, 1940 that a commanding officer of the Jewish forces, Brigadier L. A. Hawes, had already been chosen. Hawes was acceptable to the Agency and he and Brigadier A. W. Lee, liaison officer between the War Office and the Agency, met with Dr. Weizmann for an introductory discussion. Detailed plans for a fighting force were then drawn up by Hawes with the collaboration of the War Office and the Agency.
WEIZMANN’S APPEAL TO CHURCHILL ELICITS NO REPLY
On August 1, 1941, Lord Moyne, the Colonial Secretary, told Weizmann he saw no political objections to the formation of a Jewish force as far as his office was concerned. Shortly afterward Brigadier Lee suggested that the political questions be definitely settled before the War Office embarked on technical preparations. Weizmann then proposed to Lord Moyne that a public announcement of the plan for a Jewish Army be made. A week later Moyne replied that technical difficulties had arisen, although he did not touch on the political aspect of the situation.
Finally, after some delay, Weizmann sent an appeal to Prime Minister Churchill which, however, elicited no more than a formal acknowledgment from Churchill’s secretary. Weizmann in his letter reviewed the repeated offers by the Jewish Agency to form a Jewish Army and voiced his disappointment that the offers had not yet been accepted. He stressed the eagerness of American Jews to play their part in the fight against Hitler, and warned against hurting “the most elementary feelings of self-respect by rebuffs and humiliations.” “American Jewry awaits a call from His Majesty’s Government. Formation of a Jewish fighting force will be that call,” he said in his letter, dismissing the argument that lack of equipment was the reason for the government’s refusal.
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