Purely
Commentary

By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

UGLY MOODS
Mighty England has added a most dis-
gusting chapter to the history of the em-
pire in the past year. Her police state in
Palestine, the encouragement •her military
leaders in the Holy Land have given to
anti-Semitism, the encouragement she has
given to the rising despair and disillus-
ionment among the Jewish settlers places
Great Britain on a par with the world's
worst tryrants. The .people who have
given birth to the Magna Carta and to
principles of justice inherent in trial by
jury and habeas corpus is being disgraced
by the inhumanity of Colonial officials.
British authorities in Palestine directly
are responsible for a situation which has
motivated the following cable from
Jerusalem by Richard Mowrer, Overseas
News Agency correspondent:
"Jews here were uneasy today lest
the course of events in Palestine lead to
pogroms.
"They fear that if the underground
carries out its threat to hang British
officers in retaliation, British offers
will run amok and attack all and any
Jews.
"Tension is high and the mood is par-
ticularly ugly since the secret hanging
last week of four Irgun members. For
/ weeks there have been repeated cases
of assaults of Jews by British soldiers."
These are the ugly moods that cause
murders to inspire murders, terrorism
(of the British) to beget terrorism (of the
Jewish extremists). They prove the truth
of the famous admonition (al d'atefth
atifukh) of Hillel (Pirke Aboth, Sayings
of the Fathers, 2.&):
—
"He saw a skull which floated on
the face of the water, and he said: Be-
cause_ thou drowndest, they drowned
thee; and in the end they that drowned
thee shall be drowned."
That is how it works: murder incites
to murder incites to murder incites to
murder.
There is only one way of putting an
end to this disgraceful tragedy: to put a
stop to Jewish homelessness, to make it
possible for
•
the dispossessed remnant
that has survived the Nazi massacres to
settle in Zion in peace and as of right and
not fin sufferance.
At present the United Nations is being
put to th•-test. Will the world's powers
be able to enforce justice; or will they
become parties to an unending chain of
events which lead only to terror?
•
•
'A FAITH THAT MOVETH MOUNTAINS'
Dr. W. J. R. 'Thorbecke, former Nether-
lands minister plenipotentiary to China,
in his introduction to his wife's book
"Promised Land" (Harper), expresses
the view mirabile dictu—that "Herzl's
dream has come true." He speaks of
Zionism as "a faith that moveth moun-
tains." He writes of the work of Pales-
( tine Jewry: "They wrought miracles.
They achieved the impossible." And he
describes the Jewish moral strength
thus:
"With the Chinese the Jews share the
• common destiny of belonging to the
oldest civilizations that have survived.
The reason is the same in both cases.
Civilizations die when their political
structure is unable to resist outward
attacks. That means that they must
perish unless their . moral rules and
social texture are strong enough to
keep the conummity together. China
is the proof of this axiom. Time after
time she was invaded by foreign con-
querors; but all of them, without ex-
ception, after either one or several
generations, were- assimilated to China's
moral and social way of life, and con-
sequently absorbed. Thus the Chinese
civilization survived. So did the Jewish
culture and the Jews themselves. The
Jews who, after the Dispersion, had no
political structure to make them vul-
nerable, also owe their survival to
their strong religious and moral ethics;
and to their social system of mutual
assistance which made the Jewish com-
munity overcome the hardest blows of
a cruel destiny."
Britain, the Arabs, all interested par-
ties have had much evidence to prove
that the Jewish achievements are inde-
structible, that the foundation for the
Jewish National Home, established with
the sweat and blood of Jewish pioneers,
rannot be shaken. The British have inter-
fered with our peaceful efforts. They
have placed obstacles in the path of the
builders of the Land of Israel. Every ad-
verse British act has been met with a
grinding of the teeth, the biting of lips
and the digging deeper and deeper into
the soil. The result is the re-creation of
Eretz Israel. Only the most stupid can
possibly fail' Ur- recognize the power•in.-

Friday. May 2, 1947

THE JEWISH NEWS

Page Two

A New Expose of the Ex-Mufti

By GUSTAV HERZOG - .
-
(Copyright, 1947, Jewish Telegraphic . Agency, Inc.)

VIENNA—A new book exposing the activities of the ex-Mufti of Jerusalem
in collaboration with the Nazis has just been published in Salzburg by an Aus-
trian Jewish engineer, S. Wiesenthal. Significantly; the book, "The Grand Mufti-
Agent Extraordinary of the Axis," appeared with the permission of the American
Military Government.
The expose concentrates chiefly on the ex-Mufti's activities in Gerniany, where
he arrived late in 1941 at the time of the Nazi declaration' of war on the United
States and his plottings in Hungary and Austria. On Dec. 9. 1941, two days after
Pearl Harbor, the fugitive Arab leader was received by Hitler and Foreign Min-
ister Joachim von Ribbentrop. The first tangible result of this meeting was a new
series of short wave radio broadcasts beamed at the Arab states.
By July of the next year the Mufti and Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, then head
of the German counter-intelligence Service, had worked out a program for disrup-
tion of supply and production in Soviet areas which were -heavily populated by
Moslems. At the end of August Nazi-trained agents supplied by the Mufti were
parachuted behind the Soviet lines, but were completely unsuccessful and were
quickly rounded up. .r7
In Hungary the Mufti played an important part in preventing the escape of
thousands of Jews, many of whom eventually died under the hand of Nazi or pro-
Nazi torturers. He even went as • far as to privately attempt to sabotage Nazi plans
to barter Jewish lives for Allied war material. By 1944. Heinrich Himmler had
decided to contact the Allies with such a proposition and Joel Brand, a member
of the Jewish Relief Association of Budapest was flown to Ankara to contact the
American ambassador there and offer the trade.
" When the Mufti, who was in Budapest, heard of this and similar negotiations,
he wrote a letter to the Hungarian Foreign Ministry attempting to convince the
Hungarians that Jews who managed to escape to Palestine carried with them many
Hungarian political and military secrets whose release would be disastrous for
the Hungarian. government. The Foreign Office replied that his objections to the
exit of Hungarian Jews _would be considered before a final decision was made.

Strictly
Confidential

By PHINEAS J. BIRON

(Copyright. 1947, Seven Arts Feature Syndicate)

STILL ASKING .
We've asked about H. R. 2848 before
... This bill, outlawing anti-Semitic prop-
aganda, has been introduced in the House
of Representatives by Congressman
Charles. A. Buckley . . . It is a strong bill
which specifies anti-Semitism and de-
mands its suppression . . . But somehow
a strange silence surrounds this courage-
ous action by Buckley.
*
*
*
BROADWAY GOSSIP
Marilyn Cantor, popular songstress at
New York's "Le Ruban Bleu," plays a bit
part in United Artists' "Carnegie Hall,"
which stars Jascha Heifetz . . . "Just to
be able to hear Mr. Heifetz play," said
Marilyn . . . Charlie Chaplin is planning
another comedy film with Martha Raye
. . . Did Dick White, singer at the Rio
Cabana, croon to audiences at the Copa-
cabana as Eddie Fisher a while back? .
Benny Fields packing them in at the Copa
from the
Gay Way I
after three years
away
. The Marx Brothers may do a techni-
color picture for Ben Hecht.
Milton Berle's radio show option will
be taken up for three years—if and
when . . . Mr. and Mrs. Bob Weiscopf (he
helps Fred Allen script those Sunday
shows) are proud parents of 6 lb. Kim-
mazeltov . .. Danny Kaye greeting, Anita
Alvarez and Don Richards backStage af-
ter seeing "Finian's Rainbow" . . . They
all worked together years ago at Camp
Tamiment up-state . . . Luther Adler is
cinema-scripting Jack lams' "Profit by
Experience" . Harry Hershfield's com-
ments on Henry Wallace and Charlie
Chaplin are very clever ... Clever ways
of running them down without discussing
the issues they raise . . . Carol Bruce will
name her baby Julie—if a girl.
5.
•
•
POT POURRI
Close Call Dept.: A San Francisco cop
missed Danny Kaye by inches some
weeks back with bullets intended for a
fleeing thief . .. Believe it or not, a cur-
rent beg-seller is titled "Diagnostic Ex-
maination of the Eye," by Conrad Berens
•and Joshua Zuckerman . . . The sales of
this specialized book on opthalmology
(eye techniques) has surprised publisher
J. B. Lippincott . . . Dr. Zuckerman is a
brilliant occulist who has pioneered in
this field.
Leonard Bernstein will return to the
U. S. from Europe and Palestine for a
series of four summer concerts with the
New York Philharmonic-Symphony Or-
chestra . . . at LeWisohn Stadium .. • A
news item in April 18 "Jewish Exponent"
confirms this column's. charge that com-
pulsory religious instruction in Argen-
tina's public schools has fostered anti-
Semitism among the children.

herent in Jewish pioneering which is in-
destructible.

* * *

JEWS IN ARABIC COUNTRIES
Recent threats to Jewish minorities in
Syria and Iraq that unless they repudiate
Zionism they will be faced with dire
consequences appear to have born fruit
Some Jewish leaders in Arab countries
have yielded to these intimidations. The
position of Jewries in Arab lands is
growing increasingly worse. Only a
speedy and firm solution to the Pales-
tinian problem -- can possibly bring an
end to terror wherever Jews live among

as-wa .114

Heard. in
The Lobbies

By ARNOLD LEVIN

(Copyright. 1947. Independent Jewisl•
Press Service. Inc.)

BEHIND UN SCENES

Credit Lillie Schultz, public relations
brainbuster and Nation Associates direc-
tor, with some of the forthcoming effec-
tive presentation of the Jewish case by
liberal groups . . . I. L. Kenen's sweat,
poured so generously into Jewish public
relations at San Francisco, is running
again at high tide, in connection with
Jewissh efforts at Flushing Meadows. But
now, as then, he has been left short-
handed.

*

s

•

VOICE FROM LYNN

Rabbi Herman Bick of Lynn, Mass.,
has readied for print a lively volume on
the application for orthodox tenets to
modem Jewish life. This columnist has
had the pleasure of reading portions of
the manuscript and found it engrossing
and revealing. Orthodoxy has long needed
a volume of this sort explaining that its
tenets are a contribution to the mental
health of the American Jew.

EXHIBITION

Solomon Lerner. a Romanian Jewish
artist who arrived in this country some
four years ago, is having his first Ameri-
can exhibition at the Bonestell Gallery,
beginning April 28. Most of his work deals
with Jewish themes, particularly chassi-
dic folklore.
*
•

•

DISPLACED PALESTINI,AN

Between
You and Me

By BORIS SMOLAR

(Copyright, 1947, Jewish Telegraphic
Agency, Inc.)

UNITED NATIONS NOTES
Delegations of the U.S., United King-
dom and USSR are literally taking back
seats at the UN session on Palestine.
Delegations are seated in alphabetical
order.
The important role numerically is be-
ing played by the Latin American bloc
composed of 20 countries . . . Although
all Latin American countries are inclined
to follow the lead of the U.S., some of
their represeiatatives feel that the Pales-
tine case provides the Latin -American
nations with an excellent opportunity to
assert their importance in international
politics.
It is learned that Secretary of State
Marshall did not see eye to eye with
British Foreign Secretary Bevin when -
the two conferred privately in Moscow
on the Palestine issue.
A Jewish Agency representative was re-
cently in Poland for the purpose of gain-
ing the support of the Polish government
at the UN session on Palestine.
Hayim Greenberg, American member
of the Agency executive. is now in Latin
America for the purpose of influencing
the governments there in favor of Zionist
demands.
Zionist leaders are convinced that the
UN session will go no further than
appointing a fact-finding commisson . . .
They feel that the real fight on the Pal-
estine issue will develop at the Septem-
ber session of the General Assembly . • .
That is why the Zionist Actions Com-
mittee decided to meet in New York at
the end of May, soon after the present
UN session is over.
The Zionist Organization of America
will hold its annual convention this year
in July. instead of September . . . It can
be predicted that Dr. Emanuel Neumann`
will be elected ZOA president

*

DOMESTIC AFFAIRS
American ORT Federation has reduced
its professional staff as a result of the
agreement with the JDC under which the
ORT is to get $2,000,000 from the latter
on condition that ORT fund-raising drives
are discontinued in the United States
. . . Income received by the American
ORT through membership contributions
will be used for organizational and edu-
cational activities of the organization and
will not become part of the $2,000,000
fund which is intended for vocational
training of Jews in Europe . . ORT
estimates its membership at 15,000 in 1946
and expects to increase it to 20,00t in
1947 . . . Considerable expansion in the
membership program is contemplated.
*
*
COMMUNAL AFFAIRS
The astronomical figure of $300,000,000
will be raised by American Jewish com-
munities this year for local, national and
overseas agencies . . . Broken down this
includes the $170,000,000 goal of the United
Jewish Appeal, $18,000,000 for national
and overseas agencies, and $38,000,000
for local services . .. In addition, many
capital funds will reach a minimum of
$65,000,000 . . . Fund-raising is progress-
ing remarkably well this year. . Here
are just a few examples . . . In Kansas
City, aiming -for $1,550,000 as against
$875,000 raised in 1946, a number of lead-
ers have set the pace by doubling their
last year's contribution, and one by trip-
ling .
Milwaukee's Jewish Welfare
Fund, seeking a total of $1,700,000-70
per cent more than last year—reports
that "Big Gifts" are being increased at a
rate of 87 per cent . . . Peoria's two top-
givers have made 100 per cent increases
.. Last year their gifts amounted. to 20
per cent of the campaign total; this year
it already amounts to about 33 1/3 per
cent of Peoria's goal of $425,000 . .. The
trend toward increased giving is evident
in every city where pre-campaign gifts
have been sought . . . Buffalo reports 75
per cent; Detroit 78 per cent; St. Louis
50 to 75 per cent; Waterbury, Conn., 100
per cent.

Ernst Kraus of the Palestine office of
the Keren Kayemeth, now in this country
on a brief mission, correctly labels him-
self a DP—Displaced Palestinian. Some
recent tribulations of his are character-
istic of the plight of millions of Jews. A
Palestinian resident, but possessor of a
Romanian passport, he was detained in
Mexico, which he visited on a KK mis-
sion, because his Mexican visa had ex-
pired and his passport was in Washing-
ton for renewal by the Romanian Consul
in the -U.
WithOut passport and visa, Kraus was
deported to the nearest British controlled
territory, British_ Honduras. There he
was detained for arriving without docu-
ments, with the immigration chief plead-
ing with Kraus: "I'll release you if you
show me any possible legal basis for such
action." Released on bail he waited for
three weeks for the return of his passport
from Washington It filially was returned
to him April 6 with the information that
only the Allied Control Commission in
"I believe that not only does the na-
tionalism of the Jews not preclude the
Bucharest is empowered to renew it
He proceeded. to the U. S., arriving in unity of all mankind and civilization, but
this country April 7, a quarter of an hour actually requires it. The modern humani-
after his American visa had expired. Af- tarian point of view has arisen out of
ter two days detention at Miami, he final- Judaism. Until the French Revolution the
ly was permitted to enter on a month's Jews were .tlie only people in the world
extension, and by then he expects to have who had both a national and an interna•
his passport back from Bucharest. With tional or cosmopolitan ideal. Judaism
the exception of intervention in his be- converted the history of mankind into
half by the Jewish community and the sacred history, into a single, organic pro-
Christian Pro-Palestine Committee of cess of development, which begins with
Mexico, Kraus did his own pleading at the love of the family, and will not come
British Honduras and. Miami. His case is to .ikestuntil .„ it, embraces
mankind as
typical. cf.ther.diaplaced Alley?...
..ens
biV iardite)vtoies:Etts.i.
•

.

Nationalism oi Jews

wars 1.• .0,4sorAr

•

