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Jerusalem or London?

It is perhaps a mistake on the part of the Zionist Executive to call the next session of the Actions Committee in Jerusalem and not in the center of the Diaspora. It must be remembered that the last session of the Actions Committee, which was held in Jerusalem for the first time, found no echo […]

January 21, 1935
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It is perhaps a mistake on the part of the Zionist Executive to call the next session of the Actions Committee in Jerusalem and not in the center of the Diaspora.

It must be remembered that the last session of the Actions Committee, which was held in Jerusalem for the first time, found no echo abroad. Similarly, it did not provoke the slightest interest even in Palestine. Palestine Jewry simply paid no attention to it.

The announcement made yesterday that the committee’s next session will again be held in Jerusalem shows that the Executive has not learned much from the experience of the last session. It makes one gather that the Executive prefers to hold the meeting in Palestine simply because its position is stronger there than in Europe, where it would hear much criticism.

The Actions Committee is actually a Zionist Congress in miniature. It would not occur to anybody to suggest that the next Zionist Congress be convoked in Palestine. This would be detrimental to the Zionist cause from the standpoint of propaganda and would also prevent a large participation of European and American Jewry in the Congress.

The most logical place for the Actions Committee is London. It is from London that its proceedings and decisions would find the proper echo both in the lands of the Diaspora and in Palestine. It is in London that the session of the Actions Committee can also serve to influence the British government to open the doors of Palestine wider for Jewish immigration.

The forthcoming session will have many responsible duties to perform. It will have to deal not only with problems concerning relations with the mandatory power, but also with problems of internal peace. It will definitely take up the question of extending the present Zionist Executive into a coalitionary Executive.

Under such circumstances the sessions of the Actions Committee must take place in Europe and not in Palestine. European Jewry interested in the Zionist movement is entitled to watch the proceedings of the Actions Committee closely. This will be impossible if the proceedings take place in Jerusalem.

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