American Zionist Leaders Hail Truman’s Request That 100,000 Jews Be Admitted to Palestine

Welcoming the report that President Truman has sent a personal letter to Prime Minister Attlee urging the immediate admission into Palestine of 100,000 Jewish refugees from Europe, Drs. Stephen S. Wise and Abba Hillel Silver, co-chairmen of the American Zionist Emergency Council, today issued the following statement:

“The Zionist movement in America, together with all Americans of good will, welcomes with great satisfaction the news that President Truman has written a letter to Prime Minister Attlee of Great Britain, requesting that immigration certificates in the amount of 100,000 be issued to Europe’s uprooted and homeless Jews. If this official suggestion of the President is followed by the British Government, it will be the first great humanitarian act in many years on behelf of suffering Jewry, and we shall be proud to know that it came about through American initiative.

“The demand for an immediate issue of 100,000 certificates was presented many months ago by the Jewish Agency for Palestine to the Churchill Government in London. Recently, as a result of the London Zionist Conference, it was again submitted to the new Labor Government. Here, the American Zionist Emergency Council requested the support of the United States Government for this demand. It is credibly reported that Mr. Barl G. Harrison, American representative on the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees, was dispatched by the Government on an official mission to Europe, and upon his return he stated that at least 100,000 Jews in Europe must be provided with an immediate haven, and that Palestine offers the best haven possible.

“In conclusion, let us sound a word of caution. This measure, even if consummated, is no solution of the Jewish problem. The problem still remains to be solved by political decisions, re-establishing Palestine as a Jewish State, which is the unalterable goal of the World Zionist Organization.”