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British Jews Propose Sending Delegation to Visit Soviet Jewish Community

September 21, 1947
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The Board of Deputies of British Jews today sent a message to the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee of Moscow asking that arrangements be made for a representative Anglo-Jewish delegation to visit the U.S.S.R. in order to develop closer contacts with Russian Jews.

The message was in reply to one from the Anti-Fascist Committee which expressed concern over the recent wave of anti-Jewish incidents in Britain. The Russian group’s note also voiced its determination to cooperate with all democratic forces in eradicating all vestiges of fascism.

Home Secretary James Chuter Ede announced last night that he had turned over two cases of anti-Semitic incitement to the public prosecutor for criminal action. Ede made the announcement following a visit from representatives of the London Trades Council, representing some 650,000 trade unionists in the city, who called for a ban on all fascist and anti-Semitic activities in the country.

The Secretary, however, emphasized that it was of the utmost importance to guard against suppression of free speech. For many months Ede has been holding out against demands of public organizations and the press for legal action against anti-Semites and fascists and for the enactment of legislation barring anti-Semitism.

The two cases in which he promised legal action included the newspaper “Morcambe Visitor” which called for violence against the Jews during the week of anti-Jewish riots in many British cities this summer, and the case of one of the speakers at a fascist meeting in the Jewish-populated East End of London.

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