Page Two

THE JEWISH NEWS

Purely
Commentary

The Arab League Exposed

An Editorial Reprinted from the New Yoe; Post

By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

STOP THE TEASING!
•
There are realists in Great Britain, as
exemplified by the attitude of the editors,
of the Manchester Guardian, who insist
that there must be an immediate solution
of the Palestine problem in order to ease
the, tension that exists in all quarters and
for the sake of genuine hurrianitarianism.

At the moment, the situation is thor.7
oughly disgusting. One day we are told
that the Jewish position is being protected
by international agreements; the next
day the applecart is upset by Arab pro-
posals to UNCIO; the third day an anony-
mous spokesman for one government or
another gives assurances that pledges
made to the Jews will be adhered to.
In the meantime, the Jewish position is
precarious. Jews who have surviyed
Nazism, especially the stateless, are
frantically pleading for a chance to settle
in Palestine and our people everywhere
are in a depressed mood over the results
of the San Francisco conference and the
actions of the great powers—INCLUDING
our own government.

There should be an end to teasing! •
This is. not child's play—and Jews are
not in the position of the Greeks or the
Lebanese who muster an army to fight
for their rights. We are dependent upon
the world's powers to . deal justly with
us, and we resent the policy of teasing
and beating around the bush.

Let there • be an end to irresponsible
international politics and to the influence
of OIL upon the lives of millions of dis-
possessed and disinherited people!.

*

*

*

'WAS OUR FIGHT IN VAIN?
Jews have fought on all fronts in the
ranks of the United Nations. Only in the
final months of the European conflict
were several thousand Jews permitted
to battle under their own banner. But our
adversaries----:and our foriends as well—
must not . be permitted to forget that a
million and
" half Jews-500,000 from the
United States—were in the armed 'forces
of the democratic nations.
If pledges. • made to us are consistently
broken, these men will have a right to
ask whether their fight was in-vain.

*

*

*

TOO MANY CAMPAIGNS
Revival, of the United Jewish Appeal
should also •set into motion some sort of
movement for the elimination of numer-
ous unnecessary drives.

Orthodox, Revisionist and independent
groups are conducting relief campaigns,
and some of them are without rhyme or
reason.

We are certain that where necessary
the Joint Distribution Committee would.
supply Tfilin and seforim to liberated
orthodox Jews. It has been a tradition for
J.D.C. to support religious institutions in
Poland and Romania,. and that which was
policy in pre-war days may certainly be
considered a principle today.

Why, therefore, separate campaigns?
We • are over-organized, and the fusing
of our forces would benefit our com-
munities. This applies to the multitude
of societies as well as to -the increasing
number of fund-raising campaigns.

Yemenite Loyalty

A remarkable story has reached Meyer
Levi, a Yemenite Jew of 10 Eliezer Ben-
Yehudah St., Tel Aviv, Palestine, frorn a
relative.- in the Arab state of Yemen, ac-
cording to the Zionist Record of South
Africa.

It appears that the Crown Prince of
Yemen, the Emir • El-Self Ahmed, eldest
son of the ruler of Imam Yehya, sum-
moned 10 Jews of Taiz to appear before
him • and ordered them to embrace Islam,
failing which they would be imprisoned.
For three days he argued with them,
threatened and coaxed. But they de-
clared they would rather die than change
their faiths and that no torture, threats
or other pressure would sway them.
"Behead us if. you wish, but we will re-
main true to our religion," they told the
Lemenite Emir.

In response to the appeal from Syria and Lebanon, to their neighbors for
assistance against French troops, an emergency meeting will be held shortly
in the name of the -League of Arab States. The Committee on Trusteeships-at
San Francisco spends three hours wrangling over a proposal to freeze Jewish
rights in Palestine. The -proposal turns out to• originate with the League of Arab
States.
What is this League of Arab States? At first glance it seems simply to be
the seven Arab lands—Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iraq, Transjordania, Syria, Egypt,
Lebanon—which gathered early this year in Cairo and proclaimed a sort of
Arab Monroe Doctrine for the Middle East.
That is, at first glance. On closer inspect,ion, the story of the Arab League
outdoes any E. Phillips Oppenheim story as a tale of intrigue and double-
cross. And right smack in the middle of it is the British Colonial Office.
The idea of the Arab League had its origin in 1915 when the British de-
cided they wanted the Middle East.
That year, British agent T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia) wrote to fellow agent
Hogarth, "We can rush up to Damascus and biff the French out of all hope
of Syria." But the French were too fast and got Syria and held it against the
British-fomented uprisings of 1920-21. ,
Not until France collapsed in 1940 could Britain force her to grant limited
independence to the Mandates of Syria and Lebanon and thereby realize her
ambition to become the single great power in the Arab- World.
And now, the Arab League, just formed, is expected to complete the
process begun in 1915 and end all vestige of French control.
This league was born of the dislike of 40 million Arabs for foreign ex-
ploitation, of their 'discontent with their poverty-stricken, diseased lives. But
its midwife, ironically enough, was British imperialism.
In 1928 Lawrence of Arabia said, "It will be generations . . . before any two
Arab states join voluntarily." But by 1941, British agents like Gertrude Bell,
Freya Stark and Major Glubb had done their work so well that Anthony Eden
was able to say, with typical British understatement, that it seemed "natural
•that the ties between Arab countries should be strengthened."
It is, to an extent, an organization with nothing behind it but British im-
perialism would not serve the British purpose. But an organization that has
indigenous roots, which can be utilized and directed on decisive issues, is
genuinely useful.
Right now, it - is being used against the Jews, -as well as the French. For it
is far easier for -the British to ,control agrarian, tradition-minded feudal Arabs
than it would be to control industrialized, • liberal-minded, democratic Jews.
Hence the desire of the British Colonial office is to restrict Jewish immigration
into, and control of, the area—a purpose served by inciting the Arabs.
In, place of the industrialization and higher living standards that Jewish
enterprise has meant and would mean to . this area, the British have a double-
barreled policy of bread- and circuses. The masses—the fellahin who get an
average wage of a cent a day and go hungry—get no bread, but do get circuses
—the grandiose visions of the Arab League.
The rulers—princes and effendi—Whose loyalty the British need, get the
bread, which in this case is the traditional - 55 per cent of the gross yield of the
fellah's crop. ‘.
And so you have the Arab League, which makes good sense for the British,.
and •for the effendi, but not for the Arab people. It is a device which turns
Arab discontent and nationalism. against Frenchmen and Jews (and may turn
it against Russians and Americans) instead of toward solving the real prob-
lems of the Arabs—their - desperate poverty, their colossal death rate, their
illiteracy.
It is one of the crew ways in which British imperialism (which is no worse
than any other, just more experienced) operates. So when you come across the
Arab League next time, don't let it fool you. It's not a genuine League and its
Arab has a British accent.

Strictly
Confidential

By PHINEAS J. BIRON

Copyright, 1945. Seven Arts
Features Syndicate, Inc.

THINGS TO WATCH

The unanswered $64-question: H o w
come that the Massachusetts Committee
of Catholics, Protestants and Jews feted
Archbishop Richard J. Cushing and pre-
sented to him a citation as "an illustrious
exemplar of the brotherhood of man"?
. . . How come, we ask, can Jews -partici-
pate in the honoring of a man under
whose official imprimatur one of the most
revolting anti-Semitic pamphlets ap-
peared in Boston? . . . For it cannot be
denied that it was under _ Archbishop
Cushing's official imprimatur that Father
Arthur J. Riley's anti-Semitic tract ad-
vocating the wearing of a "Yellow Badge"
by Jews was. published ... In this pamph-
let Father Riley, who is librarian of St.
John's Seminary, Brighton, Mass., de-
scribes the Jews as exercising, a "usurious
and crippling financial control" . . The
only Anglo-Jewish paper which attacked'
the appearance of Archbishop Ctishing's
trademark on this anti-democratic poison
was the Indianapolis Jewish Post . . . But
ignorance is no justification for condon-
ing evil . . Archbishop Cushing is no
"illustrious exemplar of the brotherhood
of man".

Francis E. McMahon, Catholic columnist
of the New York Post, the other day gave
a first-rate pen-lashing to the Brooklyn
Tablet, official organ cif the Brooklyn
Catholic Diocese .. . McMahon labels the
Tablet as a Coughlinite sheet.

When a strongly democratic community
wills to oppose it, anti-Semitism finds
it difficult to spread its poison . . . That's
what happened in San Francisco, where
Gerald L. K. Smith couldn't find a hotel
room for a meeting • • . Smith was finally
reduced to holding a soap-box gathering
in the open air.

*

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ZIONIST NOTES

The engineers wrestling with the prob-
On the third day the Emir invited all lem of restoring to fertility the sub-
sheikhs and officials who -had been im- merged parts of Holland are using a
prisoned because of an attempted revolt Palestinian method explained in detail in
against the Imam and lectured them on PrOf.'LOwderinilk's recent bock on Pales-
their deeds, saying they could learn what - tine.
loyalty was from these Jews who were
It looks as if the Zionist Convention
ready to die rather - than give up their will be a limited gatU.ering that will
faith.- The Crown Prince then released merely confirm the tenure of the present
the 10 Jewish prisoners, loaded them with
administration for the duration of the
gifts, and sent them home. The incident war . . . ODT regulations may compel thiS
made a deep impression. in the land.
decision.

Between
You and Me

By BORIS SMOLAR

(Copyright, 1945, Jewish Telegraphic
Agency, Inc.)

REUNION VIA WASHINGTON
.Behind the reconstruction of the United
Jewish Appeal, which is welcomed by all
Jewish communities throughout the coun-
try, lies a good deal of effort on the part
of the Council of Jewish Federations and
Welfare Funds . . . When the dissolution
of the United Jewish Appeal was an-
nounced, the President's War Relief Con-
trol Board indicated its desire for an early
hearing with the agencies involved . . .
The hearing was not held until the end
of April . . . Representatives of the J.D.C.,
the U.P.A., the N.R.S., and the Council of
Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds
were summoned to Washington . . .
Sidriey Hollander, as president of the
Council, made a strong . ,plea for the re-
constitution of the United Jewish Appeal
on the basis of the sentiments which had
been expressed throughout the country
by leaders of welfare funds . The
President's Board finally officially urged
-that the U.J.A. be reconstituted by June
4 . . . Failure fo reconstitute would prob-
ably have involved the necessity for a
re-: application to the board for separate
registrations . . . The board supervises
the raising of all funds in the United
States for war-created needs abroad .. .
And it has vigorously exercised its auth-
ority to license and supervise the activi-
ties of agencies engaged in foreign, war
relief . . . Since .1942 it 'has reduced the-
number of foreign war relief agencies in
the United States from 300 to 87 . .
Competition -between agencies soliciting
funds for similar 'purposes has' virtually
been eliminated due to the President's
Board.
*
STRANGE THINGS \
The -Jewish sergeant, ;Norman B. Fish,
man, a .Liberator gunner, is a good-natur-
ed chap in civilian life ] but his disposition
went to- pot in the Army . . . Basic train-
ing irked him, gunnery school made him
sick, and combat flying was almost un-
bearable . . . Yet he hung on long enough
to win the Silver Star, the Air Medal
with four clusters, and the Purple Heart
. . . By this time he'd grown so cranky
he was truly alarthed . . . •. Flight doctors
examined him and one day he found him-
self with an honorable discharge .•. The
doctors' verdict was; "This man cannot
w
w0e 01 , Army clothing. He is allergic to

Friday, Jtme 15, 1945

Heard in
The Lobbies

By ARNOLD LEVIN

(Copyright, 1945, Independent Jewish
Press Service, Inc.)

SENSATIONAL ALLEGATION
A sensational allegation has been made
in Palestine by Schlomo Birnbaum, fugi-
tive. from a Nazi death camp, and sub-
sequently a volunteer with the army of
General Anders, a London Pole. Accord-
ing to the Palestine correspondent of the
Jewish Morning Journal (June 4), Birn-
baum reveals that the London Polish
Army on the Italian Front contained a
Silesian Brigade of "Volksdeutsche," who
spoke German only, and knew little, or
no, Polish. According to Birnbaum, they
boasted of their intention to make Gen-
eral Anders' Army "Judenrein." Some
Volksdeutsche of the Silesian Brigade
assulted him, and Birnbaum required hos-
pitalization for stab-wounds received . .
The military police told him that it was
not unlikely that he had stabbed himself
so as to frame members of the Brigade
. . . The commandant of the company
with which General Anders served, mock- ,
ed Birnbaum when the latter filed his
complaint . . . "Two stab wounds are not
enough," he said, "for a dog like - you. I
have a good.mind to have you shot" : . .
While serving with the Poles in Egypt,
Birnbaum met, abroad a bus, a former
agent of the Gestapo in Poland._His name
Tedletzky. He was -now an officer in
the Polish. Army. Tedletzky, 'identified by
Birnbaum, fled from the bus. When the
Jewish vet reported his discovery to
headquarters, the Polish officer in charge
asked him. first: "Why is your Polish so
poor?" and then advised him: "You
better search for him, and we'll help you
some . .

* *

HOLLYWOOD
Remember , the days when some Holly-
wood producers played host. to Nazi visi-
tors, in line - with American diplomatic
and business policy, in the early, days of
Nazism? They should have known bet 7,.,
ter, of course. Now these gentlement are
playing host to the Arab delegations.
These Arabs represent the Arab..League.,
which seeks to establish a "racist regime"
in the Middle East, and some of whose
advocates . have threatened v i o I e n-c e.
against the Jews . . . Will these Holly-
wood Moguls repeat the errors of yester-
year?

* *

*

IT IS GOOD TO BE A WAR CRIMINAL
It is certainly a better fate to be a war
criminal, than a Jew rescued from There-
sinstadt or Buchenwald or Bergenbelsen.
While war -criminals Thyssen and Von
Papen are whiling their time in a luxuri-
ous villa on the Island of Capri, biding
their time for public passion to subside,
so that they might resume their "place"
in society, 2,000 Jewish refugees,,tempor-
arily admitted into Switzerland, face de-
portation to an UNRRA camp without
any prospects of permanent settlement
anywhere . . . The Mufti of Jerusalem is
another war criminal living in luxury,
while 70,000 Jewish inmates of German
death and concentration •camps in. West-
ern Germany stay Where the Nazis put
them, because they are not permitted
to leave camp -until permanent homes ,
are found for. them—and when will such.
homes be found?

REUNION
•
There, was a strange class reunion • at
Buchenwald some weeks- - ago, when
Yeshiva College graduate C h:a plain
Blinder met one of the inmates, Baruch
Stern, who studied at the Ye§hiva in 1923.
Stern, with his wife and two children,
lived for years in Bratislava, an orthodox
Jewish religious center before the war. A
year ago they were deported, his wife
and children to a Polish camp, and Baruch
Stern was sent to Buchenwald. Chaplain
Blinder secured a job for. hini as inter-
preter with the 9th Army. Stern. spoke
Yiddish, Hebrew, Russian, Polish, Hun- ••
garian, Czech and English. He is now- •
anxious to . locate his kin.
* * *
INNOVATION IN PUBLISHING
We h_ighly recommend a newcomer in
Jewish publishing, Machmadim Art Edi-._
tions (104. Lexington Ave., New York
City), 1Vlachniadith Art . Editions has is 7 ,
sued an interesting Olio of reproductions.,
of works: by. Jews and about Jews.
,
gun is a: volume containing the score
Chassidic, tunes, by Henech Kon .and an-,-
onymous: composers, -with reproduction§
of painting of Chassidim by artist Isaac
Lichtenstein.. There is also a.Lichtenstein-,.
illustrated edition of Yiddish poet .Yakov
Glatstein.'s "Yosl Loksh," and similar

:

que works.