American Jewish Committee Split Causes
Repercussions
Tells Stand on Palestine

Refused to Be Bound by Zionists' Political Ambitions for
National Homeland is Reason for Quitting Con-
ference; Cites Statement of Views

The statement of the American
Jewish Committee explaining its
withdrawal from the American
Jewish Conference follows in
full:
."The American Jewish Com-
mittee associated itself with the
American Jewish Conference in
the hope that through meetings
of representatives of Jewish or-
ganizations and communities in
a consultative body, an endeaver
might be made to achieve a pro-
gram for unity of action with re-
spect to Jewish problems in the
post-war world.

"The American Jewish Com-
mittee has at all times taken the
position that the American Jew-
ish Conference should be exact-
ly what the name implies,—a
conference, that is . to say, a de-
liberative body, fairly repre-
s entative of a cross-section of
American Jewry, and that it
should not be an authoritative
or permanent body superimposed
upon the structure of Jewish life
in America. Consequently the
Committee entered the Confer-
ence on two conditions: (1) the
character, and accordingly the
name of the project should be
changed from "Assembly" to
"Conference"; and (2) the right
of any participating organization
to dissent from and, so dissenting,
not to be bound by the conclu-
sions of the Conference, should
be recognized. These two condi-
tions were accepted.
"As the election machinery de-
veloped, it became evident that
the inclusion of overlapping or-
ganizations, on the one hand, and
the exclusion of large local and
national agencies, on the other,
would necessarily result in a
gathering in which significant
segments of the Jewish popula-
tion would have virtually no
voice. Prior to the actual meet-
ing of the Conference, we called
the attention of its Executive
Committee to this situation. Our
protest pointed out that the or-
ganizations excluded 'constituted
the backbone of- a substantial
part of every Jewish community
and that to exclude them is to
confine membership in the Con-
ference to restricted groups in
the comm
_ unity,'
Unified Course of Conduct was
Expected •
"Nevertheless we still deemed
it our duty to confer. We contin-
ued association with the Confer-
ence in the hope that by mutual
exchange of views there might
be consideration for a unified
course of conduct with respect
to the problems within the scope
of the Conference. However, to a
large extent the delegates, though
elected as community representa-
tives, came to the Conference
with voting instructions, and a
large number of delegates felt
that their action was determined
by virtue of decisions Made by
official Zionist bodies. Hence, to
our deep regret, there was no
adequate opportunity for an ex-
change of views and the charac-
ter of the meeting as a Confer-
ence was essentially destroyed.
Indeed, some organizations which
had both Zionist and non-Zion-
ist members felt obliged to re-
frain from voting.

Equality for Jewish Citizens in
Every Land Is Emphasized
"The resolutions with respect
to Palestine were thus adopted
without opportunity to effect a
possible adjustment between ul-
timate political Zionist aspira-
tions and the position held by a
vast number of Jews not affili-
ated with official Zionist bodies.
These resolutions were, in our
judgment, not in the best inter-
ests of Jews throughout the
world, including Palestine. There-
fore, we had no alternative but
to dissent.
"In its Statement of Views
adopted last January, the Ameri-
can Jewish Committee set forth
its principles and program. In
that statement we pledged our-
selves with all Americans to the

Friday, November' S, 11- 43

THE JEWISH NEWS

Page Eight

winning of the war and the
achievement for the whole world
of the Four. Freedoms and the
blessings of the Atlantic Charter.
We urged upon the United Na-
tions relief from the havoc and
ruin inflicted by Axis barbarism
on millions of human beings, es-
pecially Jews, their repatriations,
rehabilitation and the complete
restoration and safeguarding of
their equal civil and religious
rights; the implementation of a
program under international su-
pervision that shall facilitate vol-
untary settlement of refugees in
other countries; reaffirmation of
the principle that Jewish citi-
zens of every land shall be guar-
anteed the right of complete
equality. The acceptance of these
principles and the realization of
these measures continue to be of
first importance.

Non-Zionists Also Helped
Achievements in Palestine
"We join with all our fellow
Jews in proud recognition of the
achievements of the Jewish Set-
tlement in Palestine where there
has been built up a flourishing
economic life and a satisfying
spiritual and cultural life. These
achievements have been the re-
sult of the work not only of Zion-
ists but also of non-Zionists.
Leaders of the American Jewish
Committee were in the forefront
of the efforts which culminated
in the enlargement of the Jewish
agency, and the American Jew-
ish Committee jointed with Zion-
ist organizations in proteSts
against policies which appeared
calculated to place obstacles in
the way of the progress of the
Jewish Settlement in Palestine.
Non-Zionists as well as Zionists
helped establish the Hebrew Uni-
versity, promoted substantial cul-
tural, religious and economic ac-
tivities in Palestine, and contrib-
uted generously to the support
of the efforts to establish the
Jewish Settlement in Palestine
on a firm foundation.
"But despite the recognized
achievements of the Jewish Set-
tlement in Palestine, it cannot,
in the light of the realities of
Jewish life in the world, alone
furnish the solution of the prob-
lem of post-war Jewish rehabili-
tation. In our Statement of Views
we recognized the wide diver-
gence of opinion with respect to
the future government of Pales-
tine, and we emphasized that un-
der existing conditions in Pales-
tine and in the world there
should be no preconceived form-
ula at this time as to the perma-
nent political structure which
should obtain there.

Wants to Preserve Free Position
on Palestine
"We affirmed and reaffirm
that whatever government be es-
tablished ultimately in Palestine,
there can be no political identi-
fication of Jews outside of Pal-
estine with such government.
This must be emphasized and we
deem it our duty to preserve a
position free and untrammelled
to urge this view.

"In accordance with our State-
ment of ViewS we approve for
the present for Palestine an in-
ternational trusteeship responsi-
ble to the United Nations for the
following purposes:' To safe-
guard the Jewish Settlement in,
and Jewish immigration into,
Palestine, and to guarantee ade-
quate scope for future growth
and development to the full ex-
tent of the economic absorptive
capacity of the country; to safe-
guard and protect the fundamen-
tal rights of all inhabitants; to
safeguard and protect the holy
places of all faiths; and to pre-
pare the country to become,
within a reasonable period of
years, a self-governing Common-
wealth under a • Constitution and
a Bill of Rights that will safe-
guard and protect these purposes
and basic rights for all. We thus
tendered an affirmative program
of conduct to which we believed
and believe that Zionist and non-

Throughout U.S.

Withdrawal of the American
Jewish Committee from the
American Jewish Conference
has brought serious repercus-
sions throughout the country,
and organizations and indi-
viduals have, in turn, resigned
from the American Jewish
Committee.
Following the example set
by Hadassah, the Executive
Council of the Rabbinical As-
sembly, the Order Free Sons
of Israel, the Minneapolis Fed-
edration for Jewish Service,
Independent Order Brith
Abraham, David M. Watch-
maker of Boston and Albert
D. Schanzer of Brooklyn, re-
signed from the American
Jewish Committee in protest
against its action.
The exodus from the Amer-
ican Jewish Committee was
started when Mrs. David De-
Sola Pool, Judge Louis Levin-
thal and Magistrate Morris
Rothenberg resigned from the
Committee.
In answer to the American
Jewish Committee's statement
explainin g its stand, the
American Zionist Emergency
Council accuses the Commit-
tee of breaking with a tradi-
tion for Palestine's recon-
struction established by the
late Louis Marshall.
The statements of both the
American Jewish Committee
and the Zionist Emergency
Council are presented here by
The Jewish News.

Zionist alike might accord sup-
port.
"As opposed to this, at a time
when the Jews in Palestine con-
stitute approximately one-third
of the population, the Confer-
ence made the immediate de-
mand for the exclusive exercise
by a Jewish body of the sover-
eign right to control immigra-
tion and for the establishment of
a Jewish Commonwealth. From
such demands, clearly incapable
of immediate realization, there
was bound to be grave dissent.
To our regret we could get no
consideration for the plea for
the withholding of these ultimate,
divisive demands in order to
concentrate upon present unity
of action on matters upon which
there was complete agreement—
such as the abrogation of the
White Paper, which terminates
immigration into Palestine.
Considers Committee's Attitude
Sound
"We are profoundly convinced
that in the interests of the de-
velopment of the Jewish Settle-
ment in Palestine itself, as well
as the security and welfare of
the Jews throughout the world,
the position taken by the Ameri-
can Jewish Committee is sound,
and that in view of international
conditions it is an error to insist
upon these ultimate political
proposals. We deem it vital that
in the interest of Jewry it should
be made clear that the assertion
of such extreme demands has
been inacceptable to large seg-
ments of American Jewry.
"The salvation and rehabilita-
tion of the stricken Jews of Eur-
ope cannot be achieved through
Palestine alone, and certainly
not by over-emphasis on the pa-
Meal constitution of Palestine. It
can be achieved only by consid-
ering Palestine a part of the lar-
ger program which looks to the
rehabilitation of Jews through-
out the world and the restora-
tion of their equal rights.
"Holding these views, we do
not see how, on the one hand we
can in good conscience usefully
continue membership in the Con-
ference which, through its Inter-
im Committee, is now seeking to
implement the .Resolutions from
which we dissented, or, on the
other hand, how that Committee,
on which we have been asked to
take our place, could function un-
embarrassed were we to remain
as a dissenting element. More-
over, in view of the fact that

(Continued on Page 13).

Zionist Emergency Council

Assails Committee's Action

Withdrawal of Committee Regarded as an Attack Upon
Jewish Unity; Fears Danger of Exaggerating
Significance of Group's Decision

The newly-organized Zionist
Emergency Council, taking issue
with the American Jewish Com-
mittee's statement, issued the
following reply:

"There is the danger of exag-
gerating the significance of the
secession of the American Jew-
ish Committee froni the Ameri-
can Jewish Conference beyond
all proportions in the light of
the relative insignificance of the
Committee in American Jewish
life.

"The American Jewish Com-
mittee and the American Jewish
Conference are not correlative
bodies. The Committee is a self-
constituted and self-perpetuating
body representative of no one
except a few individuals, and re-
sponsible to no one at all. On the
other hand, the Conference is
the democratically elected body
of American Jewry consisting of
502 delegates, of whom 375 were
elected from every major com-
munity and the remainder were
designated by 65 national organ-
izations of which the American
Jewish Committee was one.

Conference Represented Virtual
Unanimity in American Jewry
"The withdrawal of the Corn-
mittee is nevertheless a calcu-
lated attack upon Jewish unity
and it will be deeply resented by
every American Jew who is
eager to advance the Conference
program of immediate rescue of
the Jews of Europe, their post-
war rehabilitation and the im-
plementation of Jewish rights to
Palestine.
"The Conference deliberations
revealed the virtual unanimity
of American Jewry on all major
problems and the profound de-
sire for unity in achieving their
solution. On the Palestine resolu-
tion only four of the 502 dele-
gates dissented, while less than
20 abstained. The mass enthusi-
asm for the Conference program
was persuasive upon the chair-
man of the American Jewish
Committee who announced at
the time that the Palestine reso-
lution was adopted that the Com-
mittee would remain within the
Conference. But it now seems
to have been only a temporary
maneuver. The Committee now
refuses to accept the will of the
majority. It quits the Conference.
It has always preached unity but
evidently only on its own terms.
The Committee must rule or ruin.
It will do neither.

Calls Arguments of American
Jewish Committee "Absurd"
"As an excuse for isolating it-
self from the overwhelming ma-
jority in American Jewish life,
the American Jewish Committee
complains that the Conference
subordinate all other issues to
the question of Palestine. This is
absurd. Every major problem af-
fecting Jewish interests was seri-
ously and at great length con-
sidered by the Conference and its
committees, and this in spite of

Zionist Council

Steps Up Fight
On White Paper

The American Zionist Emerg-
ency Council has reorganized in
a move to decentralize respon-
sibility and to speed mobilization
of all forces in American Jewry
to further Jewish aspirations in
Palestine, it was announced by
Dr. Abba Hillel Silver, chair-)
man of the executive committee.
Fourteen committees have
been established to carry for-
ward an unprecedented •pro-
gram to win public opinion in
America. The immediate objec-
tive of all the committees is to
Work for the abandonment of
the White Paper policy under
which Great Britain would shut
off all Jewish immigration into
Palestine by May 1944.

the chairman of the American
Jewish Committee, who, it should
be recalled, resisted the inclusion
of the question of rescue in the
Conference agenda. If Palestine's
future played a major role in the
Conference, and absorbed in a
large measure the interests of
the delegates, it is precisely be-.
cause they realized that Pales-
tine offers the one great construc-
tive solution both to the problem
of immediate rescue and the
problem of Jewish national
homelessness.

"The American Jewish Com-
mittee wishes now to ignore not
only the expressed wishes of
American Jewry but also the
facts of history and its own rec-
ord on the subject of Palestine.
It is clear that a new regime has
come into control of the policies
and attitudes of the Committee.
In the past, the Committee ap-
proved of the Balfour Declara-, ,
tion and of • the Palestine Man-
date which recognizes the his-
toric connection of the Jewish
people with Palestine and its
right to rebuild its national
home there. Under the inspira,
tion of the late Louis Marshall,
who was president of the Ameri-
can Jewish Committee, an en-
larged Jewish Agency for Pal-
estine was achieved, which in-
cluded both Zionists and non-
Zionists and which was based
upon the acceptance of the prin-
ciple of the Jewish National
Home,

Declare Committee Would Liq-
uidate National Home

"But . today the American Jew-
ish Committee studiously and
pointedly omits any reference to
the Jewish National Home, the
Balfour Declaration or the Man-
date. These annoying facts of his-
tory it would like to erase. It
speaks of a Commonwealth for
Palestine but not of a Jewish
Commonwealth. Its present po-
sition would liquidate the Jew-
ish National Home. As the Amer-
ican Jewish Committee would
have it, the Jewish National
Home must not be Jewish and it
must not be national. Inevitably,
it would cease to be a home.

Sees Retreat to Committee's
1916 Stand
"The American Jewish Com-
mittee has always represented it-
self as desirous of safeguarding
Jewish rights all over the world.
But as far as Jewish Palestine is
concerned, where our people has
obtained internationally accred-
ited rights for the rebuilding of
its national home, the Commit-
tee interposes compromises and
reservations and would oppose
every safeguard essential for the
realization of that home.

'Warn That Committee's Efforts
Will Fail
"It generously allows that
Jews should have . the right to
immigrate to Palestine as to
other countries. This we are to
regard as a tremendous conces-
sion! But it insists that the Jew-
ish Agency must under rio cir-
cumstances be vested with con-
trol over immigration, for that
would mean that in the course.
of time, a Jewish majority would
be established in Palestine and as
a result the Jewish Common-
wealth would be constituted.
This must not be allowed to hap-
pen! Immigration is therefore to
be entrusted to some interna-
tional trusteeship which the
American Jewish Committee
now improvises out of thin air.
"This reversal on the part of
the American Jewish Committee,
representing a new and disruptive
line in its policies, is clearly a re-
treat to 1916, when a small hand-
ful of Jews in this count} :y and
in England violently opposed the
Balfour Declaration and attemp-
ted to arrest the march of the
Jewish people to its rightful place
in the .world's family of nations.
They failed then. They will fail
now!".