United Nations Must Face Jewish Problem Squarely, Weizmann Says

Declaring that the alleviation of the Jewish problem must be made a part of the entire program for post-war reconstruction, Dr. Chaim Weizmann, president of the Jewish Agency of Palestine, today called upon the United Nations “to face this problem squarely” in order to prevent a repetition of conditions in which the Jews would again be used “as scapegoats and as weapons to shatter the peace of the world.”

Dr. Weizmann spoke over Station WEAF and a coast-to-coast hookup of the National Broadcasting Company during a broadcast presented under the auspices of the United Jewish Appeal.

In urging intergovernmental action in which he hoped the United States would assume the leadership, the leader of the World Zionist movement said that the post-war reconstruction problem will be so vast as to require the assistance of governments. However, he pointed out that any intergovernmental program will have to be based on the experiences of such agencies as the Joint Distribution Committee, United Palestine Appeal and National Refugee Service, which raise their funds through the United Jewish Appeal campaign. “These agencies have served as the foremost instruments of rescue during the period of greatest need and suffering for large sections of the Jewish people,” Dr. Weizmann declared.

Recalling how after the first World War the establishment of minority rights and the pledge for the rebuilding of the Jewish National Home in Palestine had been undertaken as a means of aiding oppressed Jews, Dr. Weizmann, who was instrumental in the issuance of the Balfour Declaration, urged that these two steps be used as the cornerstone for a far-reaching reconstruction program following the present conflict.