Protest against the reported deal between Germany and Palestine whereby ten million marks in Palestine oranges would be sold in Germany and twice that amount of German goods sold in Palestine was made here yesterday by American Jewish leaders.
Cablegrams denouncing the reported agreement were sent to the Eighteenth World Zionist Congress at Prague by Samuel Untermyer, president of the World Jewish Economic Federation, and by Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, of Cleveland, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported.
Mr. Untermyer demanded a comprehensive denial of the report from Zionist leaders threatening that unless this is forthcoming, a convention will immediately be called here, repudiating the action and demanding the withdrawal of the American delegates from the Congress.
NO DEALINGS WITH GERMANY
Characterizing the report as “probably untrue” and “manifestly spread to injure the boycott that is daily growing more formidable” Mr. Untermyer warned that “world Jewry will tolerate no dealings with Germany and will denounce any body that dares thus to sell our birthright for a mess of pottage. We are loyal Palestinians,” the cable stated, “but the outcome of this struggle is vastly more important than selling oranges.”
In an interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Rabbi Silver denounced both the reported deal between the Palestinian orange growers and Germany and the three-million mark deal announced by Dr. Arthur Ruppin to the Zionist Congress, by which German Zionists would have been allowed to take that much capital out of Germany in the form of an equivalent amount in German goods.
“If the reports of those two deals are correct,” said Rabbi Silver, “and I for one find them unthinkable and inconceivable, then every Jew who goes to Palestine becomes an importer of German goods into Palestine, and this at a time when we deny Jewry of the rest of the world the right to trade with Germany.
“Why, the very idea of Palestinian Jewry negotiating with Hitler about business instead of demanding justice for the prosecuted Jews of Germany is unthinkable.
“One might think that the whole affair was a bankruptcy sale and that the Jews of Palestine were endeavoring to salvage a few bargains for themselves.
“Palestinian Jewry should be showing the way to unified action and not be willing to victimize the Jews of the rest of the world for a million crates of oranges.
“This is a test case,” said Rabbi Silver. “Always Palestine has asked the Jews of the world to sacrifice for Palestine, now the time has come to ask, will Palestine make a commercial sacrifice for the interests of the 15 million Jews of the world?
“We say to the Palestinian Jews, we won’t trade with the enemy and we won’t permit the Jews of Palestine to trade with the enemy.”
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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.
