Ten thousand persons jammed into Madison Square work here this afternoon to attend a rally called by the American Zionist Emergency council to protest the British seizure of the Exodus, the killing and wounding of members of its crow and passengers, and the deportation of the passengers to France.
Dr. Abba Hillel Silver, chairman of the Emergency Council, condemned the policy of talk and delay of our own government” and asked “is there no Truman policy for our people?” Speaking of the Exodus incident, he said that “Bevin’s navy” attacked the ship and “Bevin’s henchmen” boarded her. Referring to the 15-year-old ##rphan killed during the battle on the refugee ship, he said: “Hitler killed his father and mother, Bevin killed him.”
Praising the American Jews who manned the Haganah vessel, he called on “tens of thousands of American boys to follow their example.” He said that he would like to “assure Bevin” that “former G.I.’s from Guadalcanal and Normandy will transport our people to Palestine.”
SILVER HAILS FRENCH PLEDGE REFUGEES WILL NOT BE DISEMBARKED
Dr. Silver paid high tribute to France and the French people, lauding the government for promising not to force the Jews to disembark, while offering them every humanitarian courtesy. He asked the audience to stand in tribute to France, while its national anthem, the Marseillaise, was played. When the recording machine broke down, Rabbi Silver led the 10,000 in singing the hymn.
Dr. Emanuel Neumann, newly-elected president of the Zionist Organization, who chaired the meeting, called on President Truman and Secretary of State George C. Marshall “to intervene to stay the hand of the British Government.” Asking “how long will you keep silent?” he aged the U.S. to “call into play, throw into the balance the prestige, the weight, the power, the influence and the moral authority of this, the greatest democracy on earth.”
Declaring that “one official gesture from the U.S. Government could end the tragedy in Palestine,” Rep. Emanuel Celler told the assemblage that the U.S. has not “played the role it should have. Our country has not acted,” he added. “We do not want promises. Russia has spoken up. The U.S. has seated itself like a huge figure stop a mountain — seen but not heard.”
Leon Gellman, president of the Mizrachi Organization of America, said: “We have not gathered here to protest. We have assembled here to proclaim to ourselves and before all humanity that we will never yield up our Holy Land, that we are ?? ared to sacrifice everything for the rescue of our pitiful Jewish remnants and the recreation of Palestine as a Jewish Homeland.”
Mrs. Moses P. Epstein, president of Hadassah, who is leaving for Palestine by the tonight, said she would tell the Jews of Palestine of the militant support of American Jewry. Asserting that “Britain has committed another act of international ??rchy,” she charged that the Exodus Jews were “deported like sub-human chattels.”
PICKET SIGNS HIT BRITISH “PIRACY,” SCORE U.S. INACTION
Hundreds of men and women carried placards and picket sings reading: “British {SPAN}##acy{/SPAN} Captures Another Haganah Vessel;” “We Too Shall Fight On the Beaches;” “We support Resistance by the Yishuv;” “When Will Truman Speak Up?” and “Jewish Heroes ??.”
By acclamation, a resolution was adopted expressing “indignation over the its of lawlessness and barbarity committed by the government and armed forces of ##eat Britain.” It also charged the British with violation of the terms of the Palestine Mandate, the 1924 accord between the United States and Britain over Palestine, and the U.N. resolution calling on all governments and peoples to refrain from violence or threat of violence during the deliberations of the U.N. Special Committee on Palestine. Finally, it condemned Britain for “attacking and seizing a refugee ship on the high seas and killing and wounding innocent people.”
Speakers at the demonstration included Paul L. Goldman, general secretary of the United Zionist Labor Party, David Wertheim, of Poale Zion, and Meir Grossman, President of the United Zionists-Revisionists of America. A telegram from Frank ##xton, member of the Anglo-American inquiry committee on Palestine, terming the Exodus incident a “breach and a repudiation of the Balfour Declaration,” was also ??ead.
Memorial services were held for the three Jews killed on the Exodus, including William Bernstein, American mate of the blockade runner. Present at the meeting were Morris Bernstein, his brother, and Sindey Marks, brother of the captain of the Exodus, who was arrested by the British authorities in Haifa.
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.
