Materials for Palestine, Inc.,
Opens Collection Depot Here
Organization of a Detroit office
of Material for Palestine, Inc.,
to have charge of the collection
of vital materials for the Israeli
fighting forces, was announced at
a meeting of Zionist leaders by
the organization's national direc-
tor, Isaac Imber.
Martin Agami, director of the
Chicago office, also was present
at the meeting held here under
the chairmanship of Sidney Shev-
itz on July 29, at the Barium
Hotel.
Imber made public at this
meeting the following message he
received from• Teddy Kollek of
the Supply Mission of the Pro-
visional Government of Israel:
"I have been asked by the
Minister .of Defense to convey
to your group and all who work
: with it the sincere thanks of
. the people of Israel for the
substantial aid you have ren-
dered.
"We who are stationed here
also appreciate the devotion
and selflessness which has an-
imated the work of your group
and which has guided you in
the acquisition of contributions
of gift material according to
our specifications.
"We are now at the threshold
of a new effort which will re -
quire all the energies of our
friends. We feel confident of
the continuing help of your
group, and we know that as
heretofore, you will unselfishly
put your experience and facili-
ties at the disposal of all or-
ganizations and individuals
who are eager to help the
young state with material gifts,
so that the result of your work
will continue to reflect that of
and of
American Zionism
American Jewry as a whole to
whose spirit and assistance
Israel is so heavily indebted."
Purely Commentary
By PHILIP SLOMOVII7
Epic Story of Degania's Defense
Bunker Hill and Lexington take back seats to Israel in compar-
ative merits of the world's outstanding battles for freedom. And one
of the most heroic tales of Israel's struggle for self-liberation is re-
corded in the Jewish colony of Degania, the village of 400 people
located three miles from the junction of the borders of Palestine,
Transjordania and Syria.
For fully two months, the entire population of this village was
mobilized, with the limited weapons at their command, to battle
the tanks and heavy. ammunition of. the invading Arab forces. The
youngest and the oldest in this colony joined in the battle to retain
a strategic position for Israel. It became necessary to evacuate 100
children and 200 heads of cattle to Haifa. The banana and vegetable
gardens which were nourished for 40 years and became the pride
of Eretz Israel were neglected, the water supply and most of the
agricultural wealth of this settlement was ruined. But its honor was
saved and Israel's glory was redeemed in Degania.
Seven of Degania's settlers died in the defense struggle and a
number were wounded. Now the settlers are back on the fields, they
are not bearing grudges against their Arab neighbors who are inno-
cent victims of the acts of the three neighboring aggressor states
and a spirit of friendship which had dominated this territory in the
past again. rules supreme. But the settlers of .Degania know what
they want. They want peace, but, as one of them told Kenneth Bilby
of the New York Herald Tribune: •
"But we do not want peace at any price. We lived for years
in peace with Arab villages around us. We can live that way
again when these foreign armies stop attacking us."
When all the dates and places are marked down by the histor-
ians, Degania will emerge on top as one of the most heroic colonies
whose determination helped to guarantee Israel's freedom and inde-
pendence.
*
*
*
'Straight Shooter and Not a Word of Complaint'
E. Per Sorensen, project engineer for the Knappen, Tibbetts
Engineering Co. of New York, sends additional evidence of the hero-
ism of modern Israel. Sorensen wrote from Tel Aviv:
"The country here is like Southern California, dry and
sunny. The people you meet and deal with are first-class,
straight shooters and not a word of complaint. They know what
they are up against and they have got the courage that goes
with fighting with your back up against a wall. They have done
wonders to the country, at least judged from the little I have
seen on the road from Haifa to Tel-Aviv, and they will do even
more if they get a chance."
Until a few weeks ago, the complaint was common: "If we only
were given a chance .. .!" Now Israel makes its own chances. Auto-
emancipation is the order of the day. A people is completely free
only when it liberates itself. How the early Zionist leaders would
have rejoiced over the honorable way in which Israel rose to free-
dom!
*
British-Israel Relations
Great Britain has established mail and shipping services to
Israel and thereby has resumed a partial friendly relationship with
the Jewish State. There are definite indications that these first ser-
vices are introductions to complete recognition of Israel by the
British.
•
The Jewish citrus growers in Israel already are making ar-
rangements for the resumption of citrus shipping to their best'''cus-
tomers—the English. Perhaps bygones will be bygones and the
British will recognize the evil of their ways by doing several things:
• Completely withdrawing their military "geniuses" from
the Arab aggressor countries (especially since Israel has inflicted
decisive blows at the impregnable Arabs who have emerged the
defeated).
•
• Cancellation of subsidies to her puppet state and ruler
Abdullah of Transjordania.
• Releasing the frozen Israeli assets in England.
• Freeing the 17,000 Jews who still are being detained in
Cyprus.
If they do not do these things, they will .have to go a long way
to prove the sincerity of their intentions with Israel.
Of special interest in this connection is the following statement
made by Hon. Richard H. S. Crossman, M. P., who was a member
of the Anglo-American Palestine Commission, in an article in the
London Zionist Review:
"If the Jews are wise, and are content to hold a compact area
instead of attempting prestige victories such as the capture of Jeru-
salem, they shall be in a very strong position for negotiations in a
short time. Unless they wish to produce what they most fear, they
should not assume that in such negotiations Bevin will necessarily
use his influence against them. Having triumphantly exposed the
hollowness of the presumptions on which British policy was based—
that Arab military strength was greater than Jewish, and Arab
...nuisance value correspondingly higher—they can afford to treat
British policy of the last three years as an aberration, in which pas-
sion overruled reason. After all, a British base in Cyrenaica is not a
second but a tenth best. With the end of the mandate and of the
horrible war arising out of it, both British and Jewish resentments
could rapidly cool and, with prudent statesmanship on both sides, the
strong common interests which unite the British Commonwealth
and the Jewish State could re-assert themselves."
Jews, in the main, will continue to hope that what Mr. Cross-
man—who has proven a good friend of Israel—aspires to is not a
hopeless wish. But Britain's labor government must prove the sin-
cerity of its intentions. Jews made all sorts of concessions for years
to the British. They now have a chance to prove that they mean
business sincerely and that they have no intentions of harming Israel.
The burden of proof, after all, is on the powerful empire—the Goliath
.---not on small Israel—the modern David.- •
2—THE JEWISH NEWS
Friday, August 6, 1948
Special Legislation May
Aid Immigrant Barred
By Freak Visa Problem
A special bill to permit entry
into this country of Jose Jamie
Kohn, a relative of Mr. and Mrs.
Henry Kreshek of 3226 Webb,
has been introduced in the House
of Representatives by Congress-
man John D. Dingell.
The bill, in-
stituted at the
request of De-
t r o i t attorney
Nathan L. Mil-
stein, would re-
validate Kohn's
Polish quota im-
migrant visa, as-
sued to him in
Buenos Aires,
Argentina, Feb.
10. Due to a de- Rep; Dingell
lay_ in sailing, Kohn did not reach
the New York Port of Entry until
after his visa had expired .on
June 10.
Inasmuch as the immigration
laws do not cover such an in-
stance, Congressman Dingell in-
troduced the special bill.
Since introducing the bill in
the House of Representatives,
Rep. • Dingell has informed
Milstein that the Immigration
Service is grttnting Kohn 90
days parole so that he may
proceed to Canada to obtain a
valid visa. If Kohn fulfills this
condition, he should have no
further difficulties, Dingell
said.
Council Leaders Greet Dr. Kleinman
On Return from European Countries
DR. SCHMARYA KLEINMAN, vice president of the Jewish
Community Council, is shown (above) being welcomed back to Detroit .,
after a tour of Joint Distribution Committee establishments in Euro-
pean countries. Greeting him are WALTER KLEIN (left), assistant
director of the Council, and AARON DROOK (center), Community
Council president.
Srere, Sobeloff Named
To Committee Positions
For CJFWF Conference
Abraham Srere was named
chairman of the program com-
mittee for the. 1948 East Central
States. Regional Conference of
the Council of Jewish Federa-
tions and Welfare Funds.
Isidore Sobeloff was appointed
chairman of the professional ad-
visory committee, which will co-
operate in planning the confer-
ence program.
The conference will be held
Sept. 25 and 26 at Hotel Cleve-
land, Cleveland, 0.
Bernard Pepinsky, Cincinnati,
president of the East Central
States Region of the Council,
made the announcement of the
conference plans.
Srere is vice-president of the
Council's regional executive com-
mittee and chairman of the ex-
ecutive committee of the Jewish
Welfare Federation of Detroit.
Sobeloff is executive director
of the Jewish Welfare Federation
of Detroit and a member of the
board of directors of the Council
of Jewish Federations and Wel-
fare Funds.
UHS Students Mark
Herzl-Bialik Yah rzett
.
Students of the Philadelphia-
Byron and Central branches of
the United Hebrew Schools com-
bined for a program July 28
commemorating the yahrzeit of
Theodor Herzl and Chaim Nach-
man Bialik.
Morris Lachover, Philadelphia-
Byron principal, and Albert Ela-
zar, UHS associate superintend-
ent, addressed the gathering.
Norman R u t t en berg, Central
branch p r i n c i p a 1, conducted
morning services.
- Participating in the program,
under the direction of Zelda
Rosenthal, were the following
students: Irwin Berghoff, Ed-
ward Kroll, Shirley Stahl, Eva
Tannenbaum, Sheldon Korn,
Francis Malach, Vicki Lebow,
Gilbert Lewis and the Zii-nra
chorus.
Czech President Receives
Israeli Minister Ueberall
PRAGUE (JTA) — President
Klement Gottwald received Is-
raeli Minister to Czechoslovakia
Ehud Ueberall, who was accom-
panied by Drs. Uriel Felix and
Uri Lichtwitz, secretaries of the
Israeli legation.
Ueberall formally presented his
credentials to the Czechoslovak
President. An impressive recep-
tion in the President's palace
followed the audience.
In a photo from Paris (below), Dr. Kleinman (center) is shown
inspecting the radio workshop of the newly-opened training school
operated by ORT in Paris. A former factory building, the new
school has been completely rebuilt by ORT and contains classrooms.
workshops, cafeteria and sports terrace to accommodate over 2,000
Jewish trainees.
,
Off the Record
By NATHAN ZIPRIN
Copyright Seven Arts. Feature Syndicate
Here and There
Dr. Emanuel Neumann,, now on his way to Israel, will stop over
at Paris . . . Dr. Abba Hillel Silver will depart for Israel this week
. . . They are to attend the meeting of the Zionist .Executive Com-
mittee on Aug. 22 ... They will try to delineate the demarcation
line between the functions of the Zionist Organization and the
Israeli Government.
Opposition by the Zionist Organization to the formation of
"Americans United for Israel" is said to stem from suspicion that that
organization is seeking to take over the functions of the Keren
Hayesod.
Who will be next year's partners in the UJA? . .. This is an
important question now since the welfare funds can't give money to
foreign governments and agencies controlled by foreign governments
... Zionist leadership is insistent that the Keren Hayesod remain sub-
ject to the ZOA ... Vacancies in the Zionist. Executive and officialdom
will have to be filled__ Nobody will be able to be in the executive of
the WZO and in the Jewish government . .. Logically it is to be
assumed that the people of Israel will be represented at the next
Zionist Congress . . . There will of course be strict political separa-
tion. . . The ZO will not meddle in the affairs of Israel and' of
course Israel won't interfere in activities of the ZO .. . beginning
with the next Zionist Congress the ZO will limit itself to economic
activities ... That is why the conflict with "Americans United for
Israel" is significant . .. If deprived not only of political but also
economic activities the ZO would become an empty shell.
An obstacle to Israel's loan negotiations in Washington has been
removed by Britain's grant of $2,000,000 to King Abdullah . .• By
giving the money to Transjordan Britain has set the precedent that
granting of money to the interested parties in the Palestine conflict
does not constitute a violation of the UN truce order.
A memorandum advising that de jure recognition of Israel now
would not violate either the text or spirit of the UN truce is now
on President Truman's desk.
Columnist Meets Critics
A prominent Jewish figure informs us that our recent item "A
Lost Generation," dealing with the fate of Jewish children who were
"sheltered" by Christian families during the war, was -consider-
ably out of line" ... Checking the available data on this problem,
we found that after the war thousands of Jewish children were liv-
ing with Christian families and in religious and other institutions
• .. Found staying in non-Jewish surroundings were 2.104 chlcIren
in Belgium, some 8,000 in France and about 3,500 in Holland
Figures on other countries are not available . . . The local Jewish
communities supported by the JDC undertook to move the Jewish
children from Christian hothes and institutions, but it is difficult to
indicate the exact results of these endeavors . . . Approximate data
on Jewish children still living in Christian surroundings shows that
there are between 1,500 and 2,000 in Poland, about 400 in Holland,
700 in France, 200 in Hungary tncl 10 in Belgium.
Stray Items
The late Eleanor Patterson, publisher of the Washington Times-
Herald, once tried to interview Prof. Einstein . . . She had been fol-
lowing the father of relativity for a long time with the trail ending
at Palm Springs, Calif. . . . When she reached the place where Ein-
stein was vacationing she found the famous scientist sunning himself
unclothed except for a handkerchief over his head Her ambition
to interview Einstein was never fulfilled.
There has been much talk about the recently adopted DP bill
being both anti-Catholic and anti-Jewish ... Columnist John O'Don-
nel, no lover of Jews, recently disclosed that the DP bill did not dis-
criminate against Catholics .. . He quoted an official. statement from
the Catholic hierarchy which disagrees with Mr. Truman . . If so,
it means the DP bill discriminates only against Jews.