A small-sized riot developed today in Whitechapel when George Lansbury, prominent Laborite, attempted to address an election meeting in behalf of James Hall, the Labor candidate in the by-election in Whitechapel, a strongly Jewish constitutency. Throughout the district there is a growing tendency among the Jewish voters to support the Liberal candidate, who is a Zionist, as a protest against the government’s Palestine policy. The booing and hissing of Lansbury is but one indication of the anti-government sentiment in the district.
With the election set for December 3 the candidates of all four parties are making the Palestine question the most important issue in view of the fact that almost half of the electorate is Jewish. The Jewish Socialists have practically decided to support the Labor candidate while many other Jews are inclined to vote for Barnett Janner, the Liberal candidate.
The Conservatives are mobilizing all their forces in an endeavor to win the seat from the Laborites. Lord Melchett, resigned chairman of the Council of the Jewish Agency, and a Conservative leader, has sent, through his son, Henry Mond, a letter urging the Jews of the district to support the Conservative nominee, T. L. B. Guinness.
Lord Melchett’s letter emphasizes that the White Paper is a deliberate insult for world Jewry, particularly the Palestinian. It belittles “all our great work,” Lord Melchett writes, “about which Premier MacDonald waxed so
eloquent in the debate in the House of Commons and tampers with the fundamental principles which guided the Jewish National Fund and the Jewish Federation of Labor in the past.”
Saying that the government’s attitude during the debate was entirely unsatisfactory and declaring that he was tired of hearing nothing but compliments, Lord Melchett stated that “we are entitled to insist not only on words but on deeds, on active assistance by the Mandatory in the establishment of the Jewish National Home instead of hostile neutrality which we have endured so long.” Finally he appeals to the Jews not to vote for the government candidate.
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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.
