Oppositional Conference in Washington of Zionists is Postponed to April 29

The conference of the oppositional leaders within the Zionist movement in the United States, which was scheduled to take place in Washington, D.C. on April 15, will not be held on that date.

The “Jewish Daily Bulletin” learns that the conference was postponed until Sunday, April 29. The program of the conference has so far not been made public.

The statement of Dr. Stephen S. Wise, outlining the reasons for his resignation from the Administrative and Executive Committees of the Zionist Organization of America, tracing them to the incidents in Basle during the Fifteenth Zionist Congress, is being widely commented upon in the Jewish press. The comment is principally critical of Dr. Wise’s action.

“A democrat does not act the way our honorable Dr. Wise did either at Basle or here in New York. A true democrat places the will of the majority above his own will. When unable to do so, he does not accept a mandate which he cannot carry out and does not assume offices from those whom he does not consider qualified to bestow such offices,” declares “The Day” in an editorial entitled, “An Explanation Which Explains Nothing.”

“The office which the Zionist Congress entrusted him with was accepted by Dr. Wise,” the paper continues. “The office which the Executive Committee of the Zionist Organization of America offered him was accepted. Suddenly, however, he recalled the ‘absolutism’ and in the midst of the work, he threw everything away and fled. Is this the action of a democrat. Certainly not. A democrat returns the mandate to those from whom he received it–in this case, the Zionist Congress.

“A democrat who serves the people’s cause and knows that his leaving the work will harm the cause, will leave only when his departure will cause the least harm. It seems that Dr. Wise chose a moment when the harm may be the greatest,” states “The Day”

“The Jewish Daily News” expresses the opinion that Dr. Wise is “one hundred percent wrong in his attitude.” Pointing out that Dr. Wise’s opposition rests on three points–opposition to the Jewish Agency, the weakness of Dr. Weizmann’s policy toward England and the charge of absolutism–the newspaper declares that in all these points Dr. Wise’s attitude is unjustified and “has no hope of success.”

“We are not and never were great admirers of the Jewish Agency idea,” the paper statees. “However, the matter has been considered at Zionist Congresses, it was approved and Dr. Weizmann was entrusted with the task of proceeding with the work of forming the Agency. No Zionist has any moral right to prevent the carrying out of Congress decisions. The Jewish Agency has long ceased to be a matter of Dr. Weizmann. It is the business of the World Zionist Organization, whose decision must be law for every Zionist. In addition, there is no cause now to combat the Agency. No matter how one may be opposed to the proposal, no one can be certain that it will harm Zionism, while there are many reasons to believe that it will do good. Particularly, when the matter is near realization, after so much effort was invested it is certainly unjust and unwise to interfere. No responsible Zionist who knows what he is doing can at this moment make a move to break the Agency.

“The breaking of the Agency would be an injustice toward Palestine from another point of view. It is impermissible to provide a pretext for those elements whom one wants to draw into the Agency, to evade their duty toward Palestine. After four years of discussion concerning the Agency, if the proposal would be broken by Zionists, they would have an excuse that their work for Palestine was not desired. If the suspicion that they do not want to undertake the Palestine work is founded, then the engagement must be dissolved by the other party. We should not, under ## circumstance, give them the opportunity to say that we have driven them away and for this reason they are not obliged to work for Palestine,” the “Tageblatt” says.