Editor, Jewish Daily Bulletin,
My attention has been called to a letter written by Jacob de Haas to Louis Gordon of St. Paul. This letter has been given some publicity, and was not intended by Mr. de Haas for private consumption.
I do not wish to enter into a discussion for the present of the specific proposals of Mr. Brandeis and his friends concerning Zionist reorganization. I write merely to correct two statements made by Mr. de Haas. I would not like them to go uncontradicted.
Mr. de Haas is correct in saying that the Brandeis statement was published with the consent of the Committee representing the Zionist Administration. Abraham Goldberg is, therefore, wrong in his public statement to the contrary.
Mr. de Haas proceeds to say that the Brandeis proposal “was not an ultimatum.” This is misleading in the extreme. Nor is it true that our Committee came to Washington without a plan, and without “even a united opinion as to what it was driving at.” At the first meeting we were not permitted by Mr. Brandeis even to begin the discussion of plans. At the second, after the Brandeis statement had been read and discussed, we presented a carefully considered counter-proposal, intended to create a genuine union of all Zionist forces in the United States. It was at once made clear to us that this counter-proposal could not be entertained.
When asked by one of the members of our committee whether then we must regard the proposal of his “group” as an “ultimatum,” Mr. Brandeis himself smilingly objected to the word, which savors somewhat of military parlance, but said something like this: “No, let us say rather that it is our final judgment.” The conclusion intended was that the Zionist Organization is in the position of either taking or leaving their proposition.
Personally I regretted and regret this attitude. Perhaps Mr. de Haas’s letter indicates a desire for further negotiations. I hope that is the case. If so, I am sure I can speak for the committee in saying that we shall be glad to meet again and to continue our conversations. The truth remains, for the present, that the Brandeis proposal is the “final judgment” of the group we met, and the many suggestions that have been made in Jewish journals that they be made the basis of further negotiations are impossible of execution on our part.
James Heller.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
