Yiddish Press Aroused at British Statement, Calls It “betrayal of Jews”

times, the British Labor government, is still trying to hide its crying shame.

Hope that the British Labor government will eventually give the Jews “the rights and the opportunities in Palestine to which they are entitled both as Jews and as human beings” is expressed editorially in Wednesday’s issue of the New York—Chicago Jewish Daily Forward, Yiddish Socialist daily.

“We can explain the action of the British government only in one way, and that is that it is seeking to win time, that it is endeavoring to continue the status quo until international politics will allow it to act more freely. It is no secret to anyone that the international situation of England was never as bad as now. Its empire is in a critical situation. The unrest in India, the dissatisfaction in Egypt, put the future of England in the greatest danger both politically and economically. And fate willed it so that Jewish aspirations in Palestine should be closely interwoven with British policies in Egypt and India. Fate willed it so that those elements which are fighting the Jews of Palestine should be closely connected with those national groups whose support England needs most. It is therefore possible that the decision of the British government to take the side of the Arabs now is the result of the situation against which England is powerless. It is possible that the British government has done what it has done what it has done against its own will, against its own convictions. If this is the case, we can hope that when the international situation will become clearer for England, she will change her policies in Palestine in favor of the Jews.

“We wish to hope all this. But in truth there is a burdensome feeling oppressing our heart. It is terrible to think that Labor government may have a share in this tragedy of the Jewish people.”