Reaction among British Jews to Foreign Secretary Brown’s speech yesterday at the special emergency session of the United Nations General Assembly was today very bitter. Jewish members of the Labor Party, in and out of Parliament, expressed fears that Mr. Brown was trying to emulate the views of the late Ernest Bevin, who as Foreign Secretary, waged a powerful campaign, in pre-State days, against Jewish aspirations for a state in Palestine. Some Jewish members of the Labor Party were considering quitting the party in protest.
Officials of the Poale Zion Zionist Labor party also raised the issue of continued affiliation with the Labor Party if Mr. Brown persisted in his campaign, particularly if he was fully supported by Prime Minister Harold Wilson. In an official statement, the party said, that, as an affiliate of Wilson’s Labor party, it “expresses its deep disgust at the statement on Jerusalem made by George Brown in New York.”
The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the British Zionist Federation also issued statements today strongly criticizing the Foreign Secretary, The Board said that “an undivided Jerusalem should be an integral part of the State of Israel, thus ensuring freedom of access to the holy places for all religions.” It expressed its “firm opinion” that direct talks between Israel and the Arab states on all outstanding issues “will be the only means of achieving a permanent settlement and Middle East peace.”
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.
