The Jews in Palestine are entailing no cost whatever to the British Government.
This was the reply of Ormsby-Gore in the House of Commons today to a query by Major Paget who wanted to know what the Jews were costing the British tax-payer.
The reply of “nothing at all” by Ormsby-Gore brought forth a large volume of cheers.
Major Paget then shot back with another query: “What is the cost to England of holding Palestine for a Jewish spiritual home?”
“We are in Palestine for quite other reasons,” Ormsby-Gore replied.
Only a small fraction of the Jewish immigration to Palestine is from English-speaking countries, he declared. The exact figures according to Ormsby-Gore show only 200 out of a total of 7844 immigrants who arrived during 1922 and 34 of those coming thus far this year from English-speaking countries.
Answering a question of Mr. Becker regarding the rejection by the Arab Congress of the Palestine loan, Ormsby-Gore declared that the acts of the Arab Congress were not binding on the administration and he could not accept the ###tion that the loan would not be floated.
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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.