Detroit Jewish Chronicle

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And the LEGAL CHRONICLE

ehiblished Weekly by Jewish Chronicle Publishing Co., Inc., 325 Woodward Ave., Detroit 26, Mich., CA 1040

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3, 1879
%Owed a. Second-clan matter March 3, 1916. at the Post office it Detroit, Mich., under the Act of March
GEORGE WEISWASSER, Editor•in•Chief
.1' AARON, Publisher
NATHAN J. KAUFMAN, Managing Editor
CHARLES TAUB, Busineu Manager
Detroit 26, Mich.
FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 1947 (Nisan 28, 5707)
Vol. 49, No. 16

Ben Gurion Challenged

Two statements by David Ben Gurion
last week ought not to go unchallenged.
Speaking to the Vaad Leumi, the other-
wise clear-headed chairman of the Jewish
Agency executive warned the extremists
that the "Yishuv's organized power will be
directed against them" if they do not curb
their activities. Ben Gurion had the good
grace to midify his threat in a subsequent
statement admitting that 'all this talk of
civil war is nonsense" but insisting some•
what weakly that force would be used
against the patriots "if they attack Jews :"
Patriots do not attack Jews. If a Jew is
wounded or slain it is either an unavoidable
accident or retaliation on spies and sabo-
tuers of the resistance.
We believe that Ben Gurion's threats will
not be supported by the Yishuv as a whole
and, already, two U. S. Zionist leaders,
Frisch of the ZOA and Grossman of the
Revisionists, corroborate that view.
It is evident by now that while the
Yishuv officially condemns the operations of
the underground and sincerely deplores the
death and destruction, for which only the
usurper in the land should be blamed, the
majority is tacitly in sympathy with the
so-called "terrorists" of the Irgun.
It recognizes that were it not for their
resistance,, Britain would by now have
completely subdued the Yishuv and there
would be no issue to present to the UN.
Alone, Haganah could not have prevailed.
Nor could the astute World Zionist Organi-
zation nor the statesmanlike Agency nor
Crum nor Crossman nor Truman. It was
"terrorism" that succeeded in bringing the
issue to the door of the UN. The above
agencies and gentlemen could have pleaded
with and protested to imperial Britain until
they were blue in the face. Wily John Bull
had an answer for them all. It was the un-
derground that finally stumped him.
The Eretz knows it. That is why Jew
will not fight Jew. Ben Gurion is very un-
wise to imply backing for the program of
the single group which has raised a hand
against Jewish brothers—a group of fanatic
youngsters whose ideology is also Moscow's
and whose naivite is depressing. As build-
ers these youth are to be emulated but
when it comes to policy-making they should
be rebuffed not encouraged.
Ben Gurion is likewise in error when he
discounts the ability of the UN General
Assembly tD resolve the Palestine problem.
By presenting it at all to the interna-
tional body, Britain has admitted that
she has failed; that the resistance, the
Yishuv's unity and world public opinion
have beaten her. This alone is an enorm-
ous victory.
By putting the question before the UN,
Britain took the first step to yield control.
From now on, as Benjamin Akzin puts it
in "The New Palestine of April 4," "she will
find it increasingly difficult to prevent for-
eign governments from participating in the
determination of Palestine's future."
Today civilization stands accused by the
bloody memory of six million innocents
slaughtered because she had debased her-
self and Christianity had failed again.
If there is any decency and justice left
in the world, they are deposited in some
degree in the Assembly of the UN. If we
cannot have any confidence that the 55
nations are going to take a decisive stand
and, through the power of world opinion
force, as some measure of retribution, the
establishment of a Jewish Home despite
oil, power, politics and pefidious Albion, the
earth might just as well give up now and
calmly wait until the atom bombs start to
fall to end everything.

ed and the institute attempted to deal rather
with basic issues of principle. As a result,
the institute developed into a positive force
for permanent communal good. The Council
leaders brought new significance to this
institute by its choice of topics, one of which
helped to demonstrate how Jewish culture
can be based upon intelligent awareness of
the forces that mold our everyday lives.
The Council is the overall democratic or-
gan of the community. As such it must con-
ceive itself as the proper body for creating
a regular forum like that of the institute
last week in which the unarticulated ideas
which give importance to our day to day
activity may be discussed.
Oscar Cohen and his colleagues are to be
congratulated on the excellent results of ,
this forum. We are looking forward to more
of them.

[[

The Visiting Editor

U.N. Session On Palestine

The United Nations, whose trials and
tribulations since its inception have been
sources of anxiety to the peace-loving peo-
ple of the world, is facing a great and hu-
manitarian task as a result of Britain's de-
cision to submit the Palestine question to
international consideration. The task is not
an easy one. But neither is the problem
beyond solution if the masters of our
world's destiny approach it with the proper
historic and human perspective.
The special session of the General As-
sembly, slated to open on April 28, will
make no ultimate decision. That will be left
to the regular Assembly session after the
fact-finding commission, appointed by the
special session, submits its report.
But the manner in which the special
session approaches its task and the atti-
tude it displays in framing the issue and
selecting the fact-finders will be the sole
index as to what may be expected from
the international judges.
Shorn of its political trimmings, the cre-
ation of phrase-makers in London and else-
where, the issue is a simple one: Has Brit-
ain fulfilled its commitments to the Jewish
people as incorporated in the Balfour De-
claration?
Was Britain within moral rights when
she proceeded with a White Paper policy
whose discriminatory character was so re•
miniscent of Hitlerism?
' 'Resolve these questions on a humanitarian
or ethical basis and the solution is not a
difficult one. Resolve them on a basis of
politics and imperialistic considerations and
you leave the 1,500,000 Jews in Europe to
the ravages of hunger, anti-Semitism, econ-
omic distress and cultural, religious and
educational decay.
The attitude of the United Nations will,
as we said, be reflected in the selection of
the fact-finding committee. If logic and
ordinary procedure in such cases is fol-
lowed, the disputants—Britain, the Jews
and the Arabs—will be all equally heard
and represented.
If Britain and the Arabs are given rep-
resentation and the Jews are excluded on
the technicality that the Jewish Agency has
no UN representation, then the procedure
will reduce itself to the status where the
claimant is both the judge and the jury in
a self-initiated procedure. There have been
many fact-finding commissions on Pales-
tine. A thorough survey of the problem has
recently been made by the Anglo-American
committee of inquiry, and its findings have
been flagrantly defied by the very British
who now seek a new investigation.
If the efforts of the new commission are
to lead to any results, it must be made
Refreshing Institute
certain that the complainant, Britain in
A breath of fresh air hit the Detroit this instance, will abide by the final report.
Jewish community last week. It was the Otherwise the world will certainly witness
invigorating and lively annual delegates in- a betrayal that will divest the simple people
stitute of the Jewish Community Council.
of trust in statesmanship.
Nar,row, "practical" problems were avoid-
SEVEN ARTS FEATURE

/1111111h.

Friday, April 18, 1947

DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle

II op Four

Letters to the Editor

11ASHOMER REFUTED
Dear Editor:
I do not wish to enter into a
discussion with Mr. Stashefsky of
the Hashomer Hatzair who in the
"Letters to the Editor" of last
Friday wrote a base and unpro-
voked attack on the Revisionists
and the fighting Underground in
Palestine. However, several of his
misstatements and his tone and
approach of extreme "chutzpah"
call for a reply. Permit me to set
the record straight.
In the first place, who misrep-
resented his group? Who asked
for, or needed, the approval or
sympathy of that group for the
"Asirei Zion Fund?" It is only
natural that Jews should help the
wives and children of those whom
the British occupation army in
Palestine has thrown into con-
centration camps in jhe land or
exiled into Eritrea and Kenya.
However, one does not expect the
Hashomer to give that help, nor
were they asked to add their
voice to the urgent appeal.
The "one or two persons" of
whom Mr. Stashefsky speaks are
none other than Dr. Herzog, Chief
Rabbi of Palestine, Mr. Rokach,
mayor of Tel Aviv, Prof. Klausner
of the Hebrew University, and
other well-known Zionists and
Jewish leaders in Palestine and
America.
Secondly, who is to judge (or
does the Hashomer want to sit
in judgment?) whether the De-
troit committee collected money
under false pretences? The De-
troit committee publicized in no
uncertain terms what the money
was for.
It was the Hashomer who in its
leaflets alleged that 94 or 99 per-
cent of the money goes for ter-
rorists, advertising, administra-
tion, etc., and only one percent or
a little more actually reaches Pal-
estine. Shame on such misrepre-
sentation. The telegraphic receipts
from Palestine are sufficient evi-
dence. Let not the Hashomer dis-
tort the facts . . .
• • •
Mr. Stashefsky does not seem
to know, or perhaps distorts the
facts for his own reasons, that
the "Asirei Zion Fund" does not
have anything to do with, the
activities of the American League
for a Free Palestine or the Heb-
rew Committee of National Liber-
ation.
It may be interesting to relate
that several hours before the
banquet for the Aslrei Zion a few
weeks ago, several mernpers of
the Hashomer came to the Wil-
shire, deliberately lied to the man-
ager by saying that they were
sent by the chairman of the ban-
quet committee to distribute some
material and then proceeded to
place mimeographed sheets of
calumnies and falsehoods under
the plates on the table.
To the credit of Detroit Jews,
these calumnies had the opposite
effect than that intended by the
Hashomer.
Mr. Stdshefsky talks of a "Re-

visionist-terrorist front." It is
very easy and simple for a young
man living in free America to
call those who sweat and bleed
and die for Jewish freedom --
"terrorists." For what sacrifices
do these American Jewish heroes
make, except with their pen and
attacks on those who fight British
Nazism In their land.
They are "terrorists" who sacri-
fice their lives so that Jews may
have their right to build their
home in a free Jewish Homeland;
they are "terrorists" who fight to
open the gates of Palestine for the
remaining Sons of Israel!
Even the English press has
learned to call these fighters for
Jewish freedom "Jewish parti-
sans," or "underground," or at
the worst—"extremists." But to
the Hashomer and their kind, the
Irgun hnd the F.F.I., whom Dr.
Margoshes of the "Jewish Day"
calls "the symbol of Hebrew Re-
sistance," they are "terrorists!"
• • •
What's more, Mr. Stashefsky
warns American Jews that these
"Revisionist-terrorists" may "to-
morrow (turn) against all those
who fight for Arab-Jewish cooper-
ation and for democratic discipline
within the Jewish community."
As to Arab-Jewish cooperation,
why does not the Hashomer tell
the truth—that which they openly
preach in Palestine—that they are
opposed to a Jewish State in Pal-
estine, that together with their
Rabbi at Mt. Scopus they agitate
for bi-nationalism, a Palestine in
which Jews will never reach a
majority, that they have replaced
Herzlian Zionism with a dogmatic
Marxian philosophy . .
And as to democratic discipline
within the community, Is it not
a well-known fact in Palestine
that of all the parties in Eretz,
the Hashomer has no regard for
the sensitivities of the Yishuv as
far as education, observance of
the Sabbath and the holidays, and
other matters of national Im-
portance are concerned?
4. •
"One of the cardinal alms of
the Revisionists front is to break
the Histadruth," says the writer
of the letter. The cardinal aim of
the United Zionists-Revisionists
is the establishment of a Jewish
State in the whole of Palestine
and the repatriation of all Jews
in need of a home to Eretz Yis-
roel. In view of the new political
development, the Revisionist pro-
gram now calls for the establish-
ment of a Provisional Government,
the unification of all Resistance
forces inside and outside of Pal-
estine and the launching of an
anti-British boycott in the U. S.
and other countries.
The Revisionists have never had
for their aim to "break" any or-
ganization. It was rather the other
way around. Their struggle with
the Histadruth were for reasons
which Mr. Stashefsky either does
not know or does not care to
admit.
In conclusion, I wish to quote an
(Continued on page 15)

Lest We Forget

