Two Nationalist members of Parliament took the floor of the House today to deny that they had any anti-Semitic intent in remarks directed at two Jewish members of the United Party during a heated debate on the impressment of natives under arrest for farm labor.
One of the two, H. E. Martins, apologized to Dr. Boris Wilson for having alleged that he had changed his name from Woolfson. He coupled his apology with a long explanation of why he had raised the issue in the first place. Dr. Wilson, he said, had cited a list of names of farmers involved in court proceedings and Mr. Martins had wanted it made clear that the list included Jews as well as Afrikaaners.
J.F. Schoenbee, the other, complained that Opposition newspapers had taken his references to Jewish farmers and to the race of the two United Party members out of context although, he said, it was clear from the rest of his speech that nothing anti-Jewish was intended.
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