“petition Day” Follows Demonstrations in Palestine for Aid to Jews in Europe

Thousands of Jews stopped work today in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa and lined up before tables which were set up in the streets to collect signatures of all adult Jews on a petition which will be sent to the governments of the United Nations, asking for speedy action to rescue Jews who can still be saved from extermination by the Nazis.

The “Petition Day” followed demonstrations which started yesterday throughout the country, led by a mass-meeting on the premises of the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem, at which speakers demanded that the United Nations not remain indifferent to the fate of the Jews in Nazi-held countries. The mass-meetings were converted into memorials for the Jews who lost their lives in the heroic battle against the Nazis in the Warsaw ghetto.

All Hebrew newspapers appeared in black borders today, carrying the text of the petition which was made public yesterday and calling upon every Jewish man and woman in Palestine, irrespective of party affiliations, to sign the petition. Prominent Jewish leaders were present at each table to collect the signatures. Orthodox Jews affixed their signatures in the synagogues at which special prayers for the Jews of Europe were delivered.

At the same time, the Jewish children of Palestine also signed a separate petition addressed “To Children The World Over.” The juvenile petition, which was distributed in the Jewish schools, reads:

“We, the Jewish children of the land of Prophets wherein our nation lived a life of freedom and courage, appeal to every boy and girl whose heart is open to the voice of suffering justice-halt for a moment and listen. Scores of thousands of children like you are being led to scaffolds in convoy after convoy. Children of the nations fighting for justice and freedom, help us to save our people. Don’t Wait!”

The central committee of the Palestine Federation of Labor today cabled an appeal to the convention of the British Labor Party, which opened yesterday in London, asking it “to use all political and moral influence to assist seven million of our people who are trapped by the Nazis.” The appeal also asks the Labor Party to demand “a speedy exchange of the remnants of Polish Jewry for German citizens in the Allied countries, and in any other possible way.”