Anti-semitism in Britain Decreased; Hotels Still Discriminate

Anti-Semitism in Britain has decreased “most definitely” in recent years, Ewen 5. Montagu, president of the Anglo-Jewish Association, declared today at a regional meeting of the organization at Brighton. Mr. Montagu stressed that this was so despite the anti-Semitic practices of certain hotels and golf clubs which have recently been publicized in Britain.

Neville Laski, AJA leader and former president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, told the conference that the AJA believed in “our dual obligation of citizenship and Jewishness, both in terms of Judaism and Jews.” He noted that “sometimes the state of which we are citizens may not be able to act always in such terms as our Jewish hearts may hope,” citing such examples as the Foreign Office’s attitude toward the Arab world and toward the rearmament of Germany. “We are entitled to express our views as citizens, “Mr. Laski declared, “but as long as we are citizens we are not entitled to subordinate our citizenship to other considerations.”

Mr. Laski also rejected the need for an international Jewish body. Mr. Montagu had criticized “organizations like the World Jewish Congress (which) have brought largely alien methods of exaggeration and misrepresentations to our communal life which has done great harm both within and without our community.” At the same time, Mr. Montagu insisted that it would be “wrong and undemocratic” to suggest that the WJC had not the right to organize a section of British Jews to express its views in this country.