He had considered this matter further in consultation with the Acting High Commissioner and had come to the conclusion that the circumstances are not such as to justify any modification in the present situation or alteration in the action taken by the late Secretary for the Colonies (Lord Passfield), Mr. J. H. Thomas, the Secretary of State for the Dominions and Colonies, said in the House of Commons this afternoon in reply to a question by Colonel Wedgwood, who had asked whether Lieutenant Jabotinsky might now be allowed back in Palestine.
Was Mr. Thomas aware that this officer won a decoration in the war, and that he was excluded from Palestine because of the Arab massacre, Colonel Wedgwood persisted.
The question of the attitude of those who fought in the war, Mr. Thomas replied, had to be considered in relationship to what their present position was, and he was quite sure that Lord Passfield, who was himself most anxious to preserve freedom of speech, arrived at his decision in the best interest of Palestine. Lord Passfield had considered the whole situation before he came to a decision, and he (Mr. Thomas) saw no reason to alter that decision.
Colonel Howard-Bury put in a query as to whether Mr. Thomas knew “that this officer is a firebrand?”, but no answer was returned.
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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.
