JNF Parley Told Palestine Land Redemption Vital to U.S. War Effort

Land redemption in Palestine plays a direct and important part in America’ s war effort since the Holy Land is a vital sector in the global battlefront, Dr. Israel Goldstein, national president of the Jewish National Fund declared last night in his presidential address to the JNF’ s “Land for Freedom” conference being held here, at the Book-Cadillac Hotel. He declared that ten percent of Palestine’s manpower is in the armed forces, adding that, in proportion, Palestine’s contribution to the war is among the greatest of any of the United Nations.

Dr. Goldstein sharply criticized the anti-Zionists in America, charging that they represented only a small proportion of American Jews. The American people can be shown, Dr. Goldstein declared, that the majority of Jews here support the demand for a Jewish Commonwealth in Palestine. A message to the conference from Dr. Chaim Weizmann, called on American Jews to support the JNF, stressing that there are still “hundreds of dunams of land” in Palestine waiting for cultivation by tons of thousands of Jews who are prepared to make any sacrifice to develope Palestine.

The annual report of Mendel Fisher, executive director of the JNF, revealed that a total of $10,000,000 has been raised by the JNF in America in the last ten years. Sidney G. Kusworm, national treasurer of the Grand Lodge of B’nai B’rith, who is a special delegate of that organization to the conference, delivered an address last night marking the signing of a contract for the establishment of a second B’nai B’rith colony in Palestine, in honor of Henry Monsky, B’nai B’rith president. Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, addressing the conference yesterday, stressed that the acquisition of land in Palestine is a primary need of the Allied war effort.