The theory advanced by some East-European historians as to the origin of the Eastern-European Jews, which recently gained much popularity among the anti-Semitic journalists of America, was put forth today in the House of Commons as an argument against Zionism, in connection with the debate on the Palestinian budget.
Colonel Williams, the only Labor member in the House, who is opposed to Zionism, declared that the present day Jews are not the descendants of the Biblical “Children of Israel,” but are the descendants of the Chazars, a Mongolian people, who had a large and powerful state of their own in South Russia, and became converted to Judaism in the 9th century. They were later conquered by the first rulers of Russia.
Colonel Williams also stated that in his twenty-three years experience as a physician in Russa, the Balkan countries, Turkey, Persia, India and Arabia, he made anthropological studies which have convinced him that the present-day Jews are merely the descendants of proselytes belonging to various races.
The only population, which has a claim to Palestine, he declared, is the original population which never left the country. According to Colonel Williams, the original population “first embraced Judaism during the time of Judea; later under the Romans, some became Christians, and still later, under the reign of the Arab Empire, many of them became Moslems.
“Only this population.” he concluded, “whether Jews, Moslems, or Christians, is entitled to Palestine. The National Home of the Jews should be in the Crimea and South Russia.”
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.
