Archbishop of York Assailed for His Anti-jewish Slur

Jewish and Christian leaders this week-end hit out sharply at a statement last week by Dr. Cyril Garbett, Archbishop of York that the “Jewish vote in New York” had paralyzed the United Nations in its dealings with the Palestine question.

The American Christian Palestine Committee released statement by 18 Christian clergymen, educators and others characterizing Dr. Garbett’s statement “a canard all too easily resorted to by those who have long opposed the establishment of the new Israel.” The 18 charged that the Archbishop’s statement “appears to reflect the official attitude of the British Foreign Office.” The New York Times, in an editorial headed “Mistaken Logic,” said that the Archbishop’s statement, which it pointed out was unsupported by evidence, was both “mistaken in its reasoning and mischievous in its effect.”

Both Jacob Blaustein, president of the American Jewish Committee, and Adolph Held, chairman of the Jewish Labor Committee, in messages to Dr. Garbett, denied the existence of a “Jewish vote” in the United States. Mr. Blaustein invited the Archbishop to “clarify” his remarks, while Mr. Held suggested he “repudiate” them.

Philip Klutznick, president of B’nai B’rith, said the Archbishop’s statement was “a disservice to the cause of democracy and an attack on the dignity, integrity, and efficacy of the United Nations.” Addresing the current American Mizrachi convention, Leon Gellman, head of the World Mizrachi Organization, called the statement “clerical anti-Semitism in its most flagrant and un-Christian form.” Harry T. Madison, Jewish War Veterans commander, termed the statement” shocking in its bias and irresponsibility.” Justice Justin Wise Polier, president of the Women’s Division of the American Jewish Congress, called Dr. Garbett’s statements “onesided and provocative.”