An exchange of opinions with regard to the newly-organized Jewish group to support the present Nationalist government was published this week in the Cape Times, at the invitation of the newspaper.
A.M. Melamet, secretary of the Cape branch of the South African Board of Jewish Deputies, emphasized that the attempt to organize Jewish support as such for the government would be a grave disservice to the Jewish community. Jews, he pointed out, participate in politics as citizens and not as members of a Jewish group. He said that the Board of Jewish Deputies had no connection with the Jewish group which is attempting to establish a separate political organization for Jews, and he deprecated this attempt.
J. Nossel, organizer of the new group, in his reply to Melamet, reiterated his intention to attempt to achieve “closer relations and better understanding between the Jews and Nationalists.” He thought his method would bring results and charged the Board with being partisan and unrepresentative. Commenting on the controversy, the political correspondent of the Cape Nationalist organ, Die Burger, criticized the Board as being anti-Nationalist.
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