The World Jewish Congress, in a statement issued today, emphasized that “there was never any suggestion of diverting Allied shipping from the war effort” to rescue refugees and that there is neutral shipping in the Mediterranean, bringing supplies to the Greek population, which could easily transport Jewish refugees from European countries to Palestine or West Atlantic ports.
The statement also pointed out that “if the governments of the United States and Great Britain really believe that Germany will not release the Jews, it is incomprehensible why they do not force Hitler to state this openly, and thus underscore the vast moral gulf which divides the Nazis from civilized humanity.”
“By publicly refusing to negotiate this question, the United Nations are falling into the very trap Hitler has prepared for them,” the Congress argues. “They are providing material for Goebbels, who can now charge that the Allies are afraid to negotiate for the release of the Jews, because the Axis might agree, and the democracies would then face the embarrassing necessity of receiving the unwanted Jews.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
