U.S. Members of Jewish Agency Will Fly to Palestine; Say Government Charges Are False

The American members of the Jewish Agency for Palestine today announced that they have decided to proceed to Palestine.

In a statement issued here Dr. Abba Hillel Silver, Dr. Stephen S. Wise, Dr. Nahum Goldmann and Louis Lipsky said:

“Convinced that the charges of the Palestine Government that the executive of the Jewish Agency for Palestine has been involved in acts of violence are false and without foundation, the American members of the executive declare equal responsibilities and full solidarity with their colleagues in Palestine. American members of the executive have resolved to proceed to Palestine and immediate action is being taken to obtain the necessary facilities.”

At the same time, the Agency members sent the following cable to Dr. Chaim Weizmann: “Members Zionist Executive here greatly aroused and deeply concerned arrest their colleagues convey to you and to them heartfelt solidarity in this supreme trial. We are deeply convinced Yishuv and Zionist movement will emerge triumphantly from this cruel test.”

Last night, Dr. Wise and Silver acting in the capacity of co-chairmen of the American Zionist Emergency Council issued a statement which read, in part, as follows:

“The arrest of members of the Jewish Agency Executive by the British Army in Palestine is nothing less than an act of war against the Jewish people. It is clear that this treachery is not merely another step in the program of terror and intimidation being pursued by the British military in Palestine, but was conceived on the highest political level in an attempt to liquidate the Jewish National Home. This at a time when the British Government pretends to be engaged in a joint effort with the American Government to bring about a just solution of the Palestine problem. It is reported that the decision to make these arrests was taken ‘on a Cabinet level.’ Mr. Attlee and his Government must, therefore, go down in history as men without honor, as enemies of the Jewish people, who have not hesitated to deceive the U.S. Government.

APPEAL TO U.S. GOVT. TO PROTEST BRITISH ACTIONS

“We have today dispatched an urgent message to the President of the United States and to our Department of State, inquiring as to the accuracy of the British Foreign Office statement that the United States Government was informed earlier this week of the British decision to arrest various leading members of the Jewish Agency. We cannot believe that our Government, which is fully committed to the program of the Balfour Declaration and the Palestine Mandate, and to achieving the immediate transportation of 100,000 displaced European Jews to Palestine, would be accessory to this vicious and tyrannical act. We await the statement of our Government impatiently, and we trust that the President will not only refute the assertion of the British Foreign Office as false, but will make clear that the British action is an affront to the Government of the United States, and calculated to annul the objectives with regard to Palestine to which it is committed.”

(The State Department, last night, in a prepared statement, denied having had advance knowledge of the raid on the Jewish Agency headquarters in Palestine but said they had received a call from the British Embassy here on Saturday informing them that it was proposed to raid the Jewish Agency.)