That Washington, the youngest capital and city of justice, freedom and liberty, will come to the aid of the oldest capital, Jerusalem, the city of peace and holiness, was the hope expressed by Menachem M. Ussishkin, world president of the Jewish National Fund, at his first mass meeting outside of New York here last night, in referring to the political crisis in Zionism.
Saying that he was greatly thrilled on viewing the original of the Declaration of Independence, Mr. Ussishkin declared that “the American people having had to win their own independence can be relied upon to sympathize with the Jewish hopes of independence.”
Referring to the negotiations now in progress between the Jewish Agency and the British government, Mr. Ussishkin declared that he was opposed to any compromises but voiced confidence that, if the Zionist leaders remained firm, the people who had produced Shakespeare, Byron and Balfour would not violate the sacred promise.
He critized the Brith Sholom, society of Palestine, and quoted the Biblical injunction, “Hoemes Vehosholom ehovu” (to love truth and peace). Pointing out that this praise of truth comes before peace, Mr. Ussishkin stated “we want peace with the Arabs but we cannot surrender the truth to obtain peace. The truth holds priority over all else. If we Jews wanted to give up the truth for peace, this is not the first opportunity in our history that we have had to do so. Israel’s uniqueness among the nations is that it always placed truth foremost and was prepared to suffer for it.”
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.
