Gathered from many parts of the world to consider the gravest crisis of the Jewish homeland movement, nearly 100 Zionist leaders yesterday heard their leader, Dr. Chaim Weizmann, deliver a slashing attack on “Jewish assimilationist” whom he held to be hampering Zionist political work and harming the Jewish cause.
Dr. Weizmann, president of the World Zionist Organization, made a 90-minute speech at the opening session, held in strictest secrecy, of the Zionist General council, supreme Zionist body between biennial congresses of the movement. He painted a somber picture of the political situation affecting Zionism and was understood to have made a profound impression on his listeners.
Dr. Weizmann reviewed the political situation since the Zionist congress of August, 1937, in Zurich, Switzerland. At that congress, the Zionist Organization decided to negotiate with the British Government for clarification of its proposal to create a Jewish State in Palestine.
Dr. Weizmann said he had understood the Government, after accepting the general conclusions of the Peel Royal Commission recommending a three-way partition of the Holy Land, intended to proceed with the partition and then seemed determined not to permit the enemies of Zionism to make Palestine into a second Spain.
But a delay followed, he declared, which he presumed was due to complications in the international sphere, which always have aggravating repercussions for Jews. With the delay, he continued, the center of gravity of Palestine politics shifted to London, and hence his return. In the three weeks since his return, the Zionist leader said, his main task has been to enlighten the proper quarters about the Zionist situation and counteract certain influences hostile to Zionism, which have been most active.
He expressed the belief that the Zionist movement would emerge triumphant, intimating he would speak further on the political situation in the course of the debate, which is expected to conclude Sunday.
The meeting was opened by Menachem Mendel Ussishkin, chairman of the council, who outlined the work of the session and paid tribute to Zionists who have died recently.
Opening the debate, Rabbi Meir Berlin, of Palestine, honorary president of the Mizrachi Organization, commented that Dr. Weizmann no longer appeared as certain as before that Britain was doing its best to put into effect the Jewish National Home. He said that the political committee elected at the Zurich congress did not work. Rabbi berlin outlined the anti-partitionists’ viewpoint in the light of recent developments.
Dr. Kurt Blumenfeld, former leader of the German Zionists, stressed the need for clarification of the political issues. He declared that lack of unity among Zionist was hampering their work. Abraham Goldberg, of New York, and Rabbi Wolf Gold, of Palestine, president of Mizrachi, spoke at the evening session.
Strong sentiment was in evidence among delegates for the earliest possible closing of the political debate to enable consideration of other problems, such as the present economic situation in Palestine. Opinion was expressed in Zionist circles that statements of Colonial secretary William Ormsby-Gore to the House of Commons Tuesday did not change the political situation.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
