Nostalgia for the Jewish National Fund, sympathy for the British view of Israel, compassion for Syrian and Soviet Jewry, distaste for the Jewish Defense League and faith in Israel’s determination were expressed by Lord Janner, chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, in a two-hour interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “I have a very nostalgic connection with the JNF,” said the Laborite member of Parliament, who is making a two-week, five-city tour of the United States to raise funds for the organization.
“The big event in the East End of London,” he recalled, “was the annual bazaar of the JNF. It was a tremendous occasion. Every home that had a mezuza had that little box. If It weren’t for the JNF it would have taken many more years for a (Jewish) state–not in our lifetime.” The politician, who will be 70 on June 20, added that the clearing of the Palestinian wasteland was an early “experiment in anti-pollution.”
The Foreign Office “Arabists” who led Britain 30 years ago, Lord Janner continued, “based their evaluation of the capacity of Palestine on what they considered to be a scientific basis–namely, the absorptive capacity of the land. They didn’t realize that Jews would adjust themselves to the various needs of the land, I don’t know anyone else but Jews who have done It. The Jew himself adapted himself to the needs of the country, and It’s happening to this very day. The Israeli Jews’ resilience to unusual conditions is something remarkable. It’s unique in the world. They succeeded in converting that land.”
In 1934 and 1935, he recalled, he took the first Parliamentary delegations to Palestine “to see Jews in the raw and bring home to the non-Jew–and indeed to the Jew himself–what he can really do.” The result, he said, was that “they came back tremendously impressed.” To a suggestion that nevertheless Britain today remains generally hostile toward Israel, Lord Janner demurred: “The people in England, in Britain, are not hostile. Some of the officials in the Foreign Office are not friendly, but they admire what’s been done there. Britain wants to bold a kind of influence with the Arab world, but it does recognize and knows what Israel has done.”
SYRIAN JEWS BELEAGUERED
Acknowledging that Foreign Secretary Sir Alec Douglas-Home has “wavered” in his recent statements on the Middle East, Lord Janner remarked: “The government knows in Its heart the Israeli course is a civilized one and they can’t go back to the original boundaries–there must be defensive possibilities–although they still think these shouldn’t be very extensive.” The “pro-Arab” faction in Parliament, he noted, is “certainly not as strong as the pro-Israel group,” which also includes his son, Greville Janner.
The situation of Algerian Jewry, which he was warning about 10 years ago, is today “nothing compared to the situation of Jews in Syria,” though in Egypt and Iraq the situations are “very much eased,” Lord Janner said.
Of Syria, he elaborated: “The big difference there is that the Jewish population are under such Intimidation that they can’t really speak directly to strangers. The poor devils are beleaguered. The Syrian situation, in my view, is extremely serious. It reminds me of the position in the early days of the Nazi regime, when Jews were compelled to make statements that everything was all right.” But as for a Syrian genocide campaign, “I don’t think that anything of that nature could possibly happen.”
JDL TACTICS DENOUNCED
As far as Soviet Jews are concerned, the president of the Zionist Federation of Great Britain went on, the “only way” to help them is to “continuously publicize what’s happening” to them. In this connection, he denounced the tactics of the JDL: “We do not agree to any violent methods. It’s counter-productive, It’s silly, it’s foolish. If you start attacking in a violent way people who represent the (Soviet) state, I think it has an adverse reaction on them. I’ve heard that from responsible people who left the USSR.”
As for the JDL’s claim that it put the Soviet Jewry issue on the front pages. Lord Janner asserted; “That is nonsense.” He also criticized Rabbi Meir Kahane’s call for mass aliya by American Jews, explaining: “He brings Jews into prominence here on a wrong premise. He’s Just an extremist. If he believes what he says he’s entirely misguided, he’s wrong.”
On the Mideast, the Briton contended that “Israel, I think, is doing the right thing.” He conceded that “I’m not going to say the possibility of war is excluded,” but noted: “The Russians don’t want war. I’m quite satisfied they will avoid war if they can, if they can help it.” War will not come, he stated, “as long as the situation can be held at bay and as long as Israel is properly armed.” Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s public willingness to sacrifice a million countrymen to regain lost territory is “terrible agitating,” in Lord Janner’s view, and may eventually backfire as “some elements are bound to be frightened.”
But overall, said the genial MP, “I’m still of the opinion that sooner or later the two sides will have to get together.” And be added: “I’m an optimist. I think the Jewish people will not let Israel down.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
