An impressive campaign for Palestine to be conducted as the Victory Campaign was launched here today by the Jewish National Fund at a luncheon at Grosvenor House, attended by over 500 prominent guests including representatives of the various governments-in-exile which have their seats now in London.
Samson Wright, president of the Jewish National Fund in England, emphasized in his welcoming speech that the Jewish people could rightly regard themselves as Britain’s ally in the present struggle which is not waged solely between geographical entities but between ideas and ideals transcending frontiers. “The British government”, Mr. Wright said, “has been reluctant to make the Jewish position adequately plain. This silence has been a source of grief for us. But happily the Prime Minister in his recent broadcast cleared misunderstandings when he asserted that friends of Britain – those when Britain would aid – were every person and every state resisting Nazism.”
Chief Rabbi Hertz in delivering the principal speech recalled Jeremiah’s purchase of land when Jerusalem was besieged by the Babylonians. He pointed cut that this ancient act of faith constituted a remarkable justification for our proceedings today. He voiced his faith in the ultimate victory of Britain and its allies and paid homage to the ideal of a Jewish national home in a free Palestine, where there will be no domination of Arabs by Jews or of Jews by Arabs. “It is for us to repurchase our family inheritance in Palestine and thus make possible Jewish life to grow again in strength and in numbers on the hills and in the valleys of the Holy Land.”
The gathering sent a message of faith to the Yishuv in Palestine stressing the fact that the proclaimed J.N.F. Victory Campaign has as its purpose “to assist in achieving a speedy and victorious end of the common fight for the cause of human freedom, which is also the proud cause of the Jewish people.”
A message of hope was also sent to the suffering Jews of Europe expressing “unquenchable faith in a victory that will soon bring you salvation.”
The gathering concluded with the singing of Hatikvah in which the representatives of the Polish, Czech, Dutch, Greek, Free French and other governments-in-exile joined.
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.
