New Italian Consul in Palestine Will Not Engage in Anti-zionist Activity

(Jewish Telegraphic Agency Mail Service)

The new Italian Consul-General to Palestine, Signor Orazio Pedrazzi, who is known for his strongly anti-Zionist views expressed repeatedly in his speeches in the Italian Parliament, in books and in newspaper articles, has not come here, as was thought to engage in anti-Zionist activity.

Speaking with the representative of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency here, on his arrival today, Signor Pedrazzi said that there was no truth in the reports which have been gaining ground that his appointment signified an intention on the part of Mussolini and the Fascist Government to pursue a more intense Italian political activity in Palestine and that he intended to use his position in Palestine in order to conduct a campaign in opposition to the policy of the Jewish National Home.

Signor Pedrazzi said that he was in Palestine on no special mission. He had been appointed as Italian Consul and he would do the ordinary consular work of promoting trading and cultural relations between Palestine and Italy. He would not engage in politics. “The politician and Deputy Pedrazzi and the journalist and author Pedrazzi who wrote and spoke against the Zionist policy do not exist in the person of Signor Pedrazzi, the Consul in Palestine, of a country which is friendly to Great Britain,” he declared. In Palestine he would adopt a friendly attitude towards the activity of the British Government, he said.

With regard to Zionism, Signor Pedrazzi said that before his departure from Italy he had a number of discussions on the Zionist question with Chief Rabbi Sacerdoti, Dr. Dante Lattes and Advocate Ottolengo. He was sure that he would find the Zionists in Palestine taking a cordial and friendly attitude toward Italy. If that was the case he would certainly act accordingly.

Col. Wedgewood recently put a question in the House of Commous to the Foreign Secretary, Sir Austen Chamberlain, whether, in view of the opinions expressed previously by Signor Pedrazzi on the British policy in Palestine, the British Government had assented to his appointment as Italian Consul in Palestine. Sir Austen replied that he knew of the views expressed by Signor Pedrazzi in the past, but he thought he was entitled to assume that the Italian Government would not appoint a Consul General who would use his appointment contrary to the interests of the country to which he was accredited.