Europes war crisis today stirred activity in Palestine, strategic British-mandated territory on the Mediterranean. The leaves of High Commissioner Sir Harold A. MacMichael and other high Government officials were cancelled and they were ordered to return to Palestine immediately. MacMichael had left for a vacation in England.
James S. McPherson, Government Chief Secretary, conferred with Isaac Ben-Zvi, president of the Jewish National Council, and Dov Hos, Vice-Mayor of Tel Aviv, while Sydney Moody, Assistant Chief Secretary, conferred with all District Commissioners.
(The United Press said in a Jerusalem dispatch that the Government was reported reliably to be considering sympathetically a proposal of Zionist leaders that 50,000 Jews be recruited to form special legions in the event of war. The legions would include illegal immigrants, the report said.)
Nation-wide precautions have been taken to guard against air raids. Women’s volunteer first-aid committees have been formed. Jewish organizations have laid in a large stock of staple foodstuffs, especially wheat, fearing that foreign supplies may be cut off in the event of European hostilities.
The newspaper Hayarden, organ of the extremist Zionist-Revisionists, was suspended today by the authorities for publishing news about the Irgun Zvai Leumi, “Jewish National Military Organization” promoted by the Revisionists.
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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.
