American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress Assail Bevin’s Palestine Statement

The American Jewish Committee and the American Jewish Congress today assailed the statement made yesterday by British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin indicating that he would reject the Anglo-American inquiry committee recommendation for the admission of 100,000 displaced Jews to Palestine.

Judge Joseph M. Proskauer, president of the American Jewish Committee, said in a statement: “It is impossible to accept as a finality Mr. Bevin’s refusal to abide by the findings of the Anglo-American committee for the immediate admission into Palestine of 100,000 displaced Jews. Nor can it be believed that the people of Great Britain will support a decision which would result in an inhumane and needless sacrifice of human life and a complete departure for what is best and finest in British tradition. There have been other departures at times, but none more flagrant than this. Mr. Bevin should realize that the deep interest of the American people in the implementation of the proposal with respect to the 100,000 Jews flows in no degree from any selfish motive. It is born of the intense desire of the American people to save these sufferers by Hitler’s tyranny from further misery, wretchedness and death, and from a complete conviction that fair play demands that Great Britain abide by the decision concurred in by all six of its own representatives on the Anglo-American committee.”

The American Jewish Congress, in a statement issued by Dr. David Petegersky, director, said: “The American people will certainly not misunderstand Mr. Bevin today any more than they misunderstood his snide remarks about the Jews in the House of commons a few months ago. Quite the contrary. Today, they understand him better than they have over understood him before, For months, Bevin has been trying to stir up anti-Jewish feeling and political tension in the Near East as an excuse for the anti-Jewish policy of the British Government on Palestine. Today, he is trying to stir up anti-Semitism in the United states to help him in his vicious plot. This country may import many British products. But it certainly does not want to import the anti-Semitism and bigotry of the British Foreign Secretary. The American people will utterly repudiate Mr. Bevin’s unprecedented calumnies as we hope the British people will repudiate his unprecedented inhumanity and ill-will to the Jewish people.”

The Non-Secretarian Anti-Nazi League has sent a cable to Bevin declaring: As on organization long engaged in exposing Nazi-like and anti-Semitic propaganda. We are deeply shocked by your statement which parallels similar canards by agitators like the American Gerald L.K. Smith and the British Oswald Mosley.