Board of Jewish Deputies Breaks 65-year Old Agreement with Anglo-jewish Association

The Board of Deputies of British Jews, leading Jewish representative body in England, at its annual meeting last night voted to discontinue its agreement with the Anglo-Jewish Association, which was founded in 1871 to obtain protection for oppressed Jews in Eastern Europe, and to reorganize the Joint Foreign Committee which was set up in 1878, with seven representatives of the Board of Deputies and three from the Anglo-Jewish Association as its membership.

The decision to break the 65-year old agreement came as a result of a demand introduced by the Zionist members of the Board. It was adopted after lengthy discussions by 154 votes to 148. Those opposing the break denied the Zionist charge that the Anglo-Jewish Association had adopted an “isolationist” policy with regard to Palestine and that the Joint Foreign Committee in its present form has been fighting the proposal that a Jewish army be established in Palestine. Those advocating the break argued that the Anglo-Jewish Association was nothing but a small semi-philanthropic body.

Leonard Stein and Leonard G. Montefiore who were among the opponents of the break appealed to the meeting to take into consideration the fact that severance of the agreement may make a bad impression upon the British Government as well as on the foreign governments before whom Jewish delegations appear in behalf of British Jewry. After voting to break the agreement, the meeting of the Board adopted a motion offered by the Zionist leader L. Bakstansky, providing for the election of a Foreign Affairs Committee of fifteen members which is to be presided over by Prof. Selig Brodetsky who was re-elected president of the Board.