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.