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Zionist Leader Approves Rejection of Plan for Jewish Settlement in Australia

November 21, 1944
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The announcement by Acting Premier Francis M. Forde that the Australian Government has rejected the plan for the establishment of a Jewish settlement in Kimberly in the northwestern section of the Commonwealth, came as a result of a recommendation of the committee on immigration of the Department of the Interior, it was learned today.

It is understood that many influential ministers are opposed to the establishment of any separate foreign communities for fear it will lead to a minority problem. Jews will be welcomed on the same basis as all other immigrants and pursuant to the general Commonwealth policy on immigration.

Alex Masel, president of the Australian Zionist Federation, is quoted in the daily press as approving the rejection of the Kimberly project. He said that Palestine is the only place for large-scale Jewish immigration.

In a public address, yesterday, Catholic Archbishop Mannix criticized “non Catholic Catholics who are without that kindly regard for the Jewish people that true Christianity should promote. This is a great pity,” the Archbishop continued, “and I hope that Jews here will have nothing to complain of regarding the attitude of the Australian people towards them.”

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