British Chief Rabbi, Israeli Representative Answer Archbishop of Canterbury’s Charges

British Chief Rabbi Israel Brodie and Joseph Linton, Israeli representative in Britain, yesterday replied to charges made earlier this week by the Archbishop of Canterbury to the effect that the Jews may soon claim and seize the old City and its Holy Places. Both men addressed letters to the Times, in which the Archbishop’s charges had also appeared in the form of a letter.

Rabbi Brodie stressed that throughout the history of the Palestine problem President Weizmann and other responsible Zionist leaders have declared that no such control is claimed. He added that Israel Foreign Minister Moshe Shertok made the same point in an address before the U.N. Political Committee. The Chief Rabbi also pointed out that it was the Jews who accepted the U.N. partition decision of last November which set up an international regime for the city of Jerusalem.

Linton’s letter recalled that the Jewish delegation participated actively in the Trusteeship Council’s preparation of an international statute for Jerusalem and that the Jews were shocked by the almost indifferent attitude of the Christian world in the face of the Arab legion’s attack on the Holy City. He insisted that there is nothing that the Israeli Government desires more than bringing peace and safety to Jerusalem, “but it must be a real peace which would give security both to the Holy Places and the inhabitants.”