Headquarters of the Zionist Organization of America announced that great numbers of young Jews are reporting there to seek service in the American Palestine Jewish Legion, which was offered by the Legion to the British Government, through Ambassador Sir Esme Howard at Washington, for service in Palestine.
In the telegram offering to serve in Palestine, the legionaries stated:
“We have the honor to request that you transmit to the British Cabinet the following offer of the American Palestine Jewish Legion, an organization of Jewish American veterans who during the World War served in the Jewish Legion of the Egyptian Expeditionary Forces in Palestine and is now known as the American Palestine Jewish Legion, our assistance in the present disturbances in Palestine.
“Time being the essence of safety we urgently request that a reply by cable be returned to us at yours and the British Government’s earliest convenience in order that we may initiate such steps toward the recruitment of the legion.
“We allow ourselves the liberty to observe that in our judgment the best interests of the mandatory power and of the Jewish people is served by including the 2,000 ex-legionnaires now in Palestine as part of the British forces in order that peace and normal conditions be speedily restored.
“Upon acceptance 10,000 American Jews stand ready to be recruited Many of these had previous military experience in the Jewish Legion as well as in the American and Continental Armies. Of this number we are willing to entrain one battalion of men for encampment in Canada, to be shipped overseas at once.”
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.
