The great dissatisfaction with the methods of distribution of Palestine immigration certificates which has been manifested recently in Poland found an echo yesterday also in Austria. The Austrian Zionist Federation has decided to lodge a protest against the Zionist Executive in Palestine for the inadequate number of immigration certificates granted by it for Austrian Jews.
The Jews of Poland and of Austria may and may not be right in their protests against the Zionist Executive, but the fact remains that the Zionist Organization in Poland and in Austria have always supported the present Executive. Hence it must be assumed that their present dissatisfaction is probably based on solid arguments.
At a press conference in Jerusalem yesterday, members of the Executive explained that German Jews have brought into Palestine during this year not less than fifty million dollars capital. This could not have been the case with Polish or Austrian Jews. There are very few Jews in Poland or in Austria who possess sufficient capital to enable them to enter Palestine under the capitalist quota. Thus the Jews in Poland and Austria depend much more on immigration certificates from the Palestine Executive than the Jews from Germany.
That the miserable situation of the Polish and Austrian Jews deserves more attention on the part of the Palestine Executive, cannot be disputed. Day after day, new laws and ordinances are issued in these two countries, to push the Jews out of existence. Hardly a day passes without a new device on the part of the governments in these countries to eliminate the Jews from their economic positions. Only this week, a new trade law was put into effect in Austria, completely depriving ten thousand Jews of their means of livelihood.
The Jewish world is entitled to be told the basis on which the distribution of the certificate is made. Only then, will no complaints be heard against the Executive. The danger of Zionist organizations voicing their protests against their own World Executive should not be minimized.
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.
