News Brief

(The editor of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency wishes to express his surprise at the statements made by Dr. Magnes in connection with the publication of his statement.

Dr. Magnes wishes to infer that the Jewish Telegraphic Agency published a report according to which he had advocated the abrogation of the Balfour Declaration. When a statement to the same effect had been given by Dr. Magnes to the “Jewish Morning Journal.” the New York office of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency cabled Dr. Magnes informing him that we had published a correct summary of the statement which had been issued by him in Jerusalem. On December 10th the Jerusalem representative of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency wrote a letter to Dr. Magnes that at no time had the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported him as favoring the abrogation of the Balfour Declaration. The attention of Dr. Magnes was drawn to the fact that Jewish papers in New York and Warsaw had spread reports as early as November 5th that Dr. Magnes favored a parliament in Palestine, that the students at the University intend to strike against Dr. Magnes and force his resignation—other papers reported that Dr. Magnes had, in a conference with the High Commissioner, submitted to the latter his plan of constitutional reforms, that Sir Robert Chancellor had reported Dr. Magnes’s plans to the Colonial Office and that the Zionist Executive was perturbed that political proposals had been made by Dr. Magnes without authorization by the Executive. The attention of Dr. Magnes was further drawn to the fact that while the “Day” and other papers reported his speech before the Vaad Leumi and the stormy scenes which followed, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency published merely a summary which was officially issued by the Vaad Leumi.

Dr. Magnes has deemed it right not to answer the cablegram of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency of November 25th, but to repeat the statements in the booklet which he has just published.

From the Chancellor of the Hebrew University, who displays such laudable zeal in his crusade for justice to the Arabs and so sternly warns the Jewish people that “moral degeneration” will set in unless justice is done, we would expect that he would not wish to commit an act of injustice against a Jewish Agency which, in these difficult times, has most earnestly striven to give the Jewish public an objective and impartial record of the events in Palestine.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency was the only one to abstain from reporting the wild rumors which have been current in Palestine with regard to the propaganda or actions which Dr. Magnes engaged in. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency quoted in full Dr. Magnes’s statement as soon as it appeared in the “New York Times.” It published also the statement cabled by Dr. Magnes to the “Day.” It quoted not only newspapers unfavorable to Dr. Magnes’s viewpoint but gave frequent and wide publicity to comments favorable to Dr. Magnes.

Dr. Magnes is right in one point—he did not give the interview to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency but the statement of Mr. Philby and the reply of Dr. Magnes were circulated in mimeographed form in Palestine and were in the hands of numerous people. There was no indication on the document that it was confidential nor did it carry a release date. When the Jewish Telegraphic Agency received it, it surmised that the “New York Times” for one reason or another had not published it. Not knowing that it was intended for the “New York Times” exclusively the Jewish Telegraphic Agency published an excerpt of Dr. Magnes’s statement. It appeared that the “New York Times” correspondent in Jerusalem, instead of cabling, sent it by mail. While we sympathize with the plight of the “New York Times” correspondent who thus was deprived of a scoop, Dr. Magnes is not right in terming the interview which appeared in the “Times” as “genuine” while he obviously wished to indicate that it was intended exclusively for the “New York Times.” A comparison of the summary as published in the “Jewish Daily Bulletin” with the complete text of the statement as published a few days later will convince every reader that the summary published by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency was fair and correct.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency has given Dr. Magnes’s statement that careful attention which it considers it its duty to extend to every worthwhile expression in the Jewish world and we sincerely regret that Dr. Magnes should wish to insult and injure an agency which certainly has treated him and his utterances with so much circumspection and consideration. Recording this here, may also help us realize just how “like all the nations” some leaders of Israel in the land of Israel have become.)