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Dr. Sneh Explains His Resignation from Jewish Agency; May Form New Political Party

December 30, 1947
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Following his resignation yesterday as a member of the Jewish Agency executive, Dr. Moshe Sneh today indicated that he also intends to resign from the General Zionist Party and form a “Popular Opposition Party” within the World Zionist Organization.

In a statement to the press, Dr. Snch denied that he had ordered the approximately 15,000 visaless Jews in Rumania to sail on the Pan York and Pan Crescent — which are now on the high seas — in spite of the veto of the Jewish Agency. At the same time, it was reliably learned here today that the chief motive for Dr. Sneh’s resignation was the decision of the Agency to accede to the request of the British Government and the State Department to discontinue “illegal” immigration.

Dr. Sneh last night issued a statement saying that his resignation from the Agency executive was not due to temporary misunderstandings or a personal disagreement, but to the “parting of ways” between him and the other members of the executive on matters concerning the internal and external policy of the Jewish Agency. The following four points summarize his differences with the Agency:

1. He opposes the decision of the Jewish Agency to discontinue visaless immigration to Palestine and demands the continuation of such immigration until the decision of the United Nations to open a free port in Palestine for Jewish immigration is implemented.

2. He vigorously objects to the negotiations now being carried on with the British Government in London by Prof. Selig Brodetsky and Dr. Nahum Goldmann, members of the Jewish Agency executive.

3. He demands that all the various aspects of the present developments in Palestine be brought before the United Nations by the Agency without discriminating against either the Eastern or the Western bloc.

4. He disagrees with the present policy of the Haganah, the leadership of which he left some time ago.

In the statement which he issued last night, Dr. Snch said he “cannot continue to bear collective responsibility” for the policy of the Jewish Agency executive, since he sees dangers facing the Jewish State “on the one hand from intrigues to curb and foil the State, and on the other hand from a possibility of being subdued by imperialism.”

Dr. Sneh specified in his statement that he fears “dangers from London and from influential government circles in Washington” as well as from several Mediterranean capitals. “Breaking the decisions of the United Nations within their first stages of materialization, non-intervention in the face of the murderous onslaught on the Yishuv and joint Anglo-American prevention of visaless immigration to Palestine are the first signs of a policy to foil the Jewish State,” Dr. Sneh said.

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