It is a usual thing for a few of us to occupy our minds with the broadening effects of travel and perhaps go to some warm, pleasant place to spend the Winter.
My own family decided to go to Palestine this year. There were five of them in all.
Five tourists going any place necessarily spend a certain amount of money to support themselves, and add at least a little bit to the prosperity and well-being of the country which they visit.
THEY ALL LIKE TOURISTS
This is a well recognized formula and nations everywhere break their necks, generally speaking, to create a real hospitality for visiting tourists and to make it very easy for them to come into the country.
Today we have the following charming letter from a prominent tourist agency:
“With reference to the passports left with us by Mrs. Ziff, please be advised that we have applied to the British Consul for the visas to Palestine and have been informed that in order to secure these visas it is necessary that the passengers have: A round-trip ticket or a bond for $5,000.00 or proof, such as a bank book, showing that they actually have $5,000.00 under deposit in their name.”
WHAT BRITISH ASK
If I gather all of this correctly, it means that for the rare privilege of going to Palestine for a few months and spending your money there the hospitable British masters of Palestine will require something like $25,000.00.
This is a great way to interpret the words of the mandate in regard to helping the Jewish people create “a national home” in Palestine.
In no nation in the world is such an outrageous attitude formulated nor such a self-evident attempt made to sabotage the well-being of the land. It is just another example of the many things I have been pointing out to the attention of Jewry.
FREEDOM HAMPERED
All of this simply means that any one visiting Palestine suddenly has his freedom of motion taken away from him. That is, if he should visit the country with an idea of merely making it a headquarters for an itinerant tour of Europe, he is unable to do so since he has just been exploited by a tourist agency to the extent of a round-trip ticket to a fixed destination.
In effect, it makes it almost impossible for any except the most wealthy and those who are determined not to let any obstacle stand in their way, to visit Palestine; and like their charming interpretation of the absorptive capacity of the country, it enables the British to knock the entire Jewish effort into a cocked hat at will.
Those mouthy, maudlin leaders of ours who act as though King George were the new Moses, might take breath and study this typical example of the whole strangulation process.
STEEL, SENSE NEEDED
As long as the Jews of the world persist in doping their puerile minds with the idea that the English political machine is our friend, the British will have a most pleasant time playing this game of “heads I win and tails you lose.”
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