Friday, December 20, 1963—THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS-6
British Resentment Against Arab Boycott
Results in Action Against Insurance Firm
British public opinion in pro-
test against the Arab anti-Israel
boycott has been aroused to
such a pitch that counteraction
is in evidence everywhere
against the Norwich Union In-
surance Societies.
Non-Jews have resigned from
the insurance company's board,
insurance policies held with the
company have been cancelled
and there is a strong boycott
movement against Norwich in
retaliation for its having catered
to the widely condemned Arab
pressures.
T h e Jewish Telegraphic
Agency reports from London
that Lord Mancroft, the Jewish
financier who was forced under
Arab pressure to resign from
the board of the Norwich Union
Insurance Companies, then of-
fered his job again, which he
refused to accept, donated to
his synagogue in Norwich an
estimated 20,000 pounds sterl-
ing ($56,000) which the firm
gave him as compensation.
Two non-Jewish members of
Norwich's London advisory
board — Sir Charles Mott-Rad-
clyffe and Sir Hugh Knatchbull-
Hugessen — resigned from that
board in protest of the manner
in which the company had hand-
led the Mancroft affair. Both
said they had not been consulted
about the Mancroft "resigna-
tion," deploring the subsequent
events.
Sir Hugh also asserted that
anti-Semitism was a factor in
the Mancroft affair, declaring:
"I know for a fact that this claim
about there being no anti-Semi-
tism involved is rubbish. The
fact is that, wherever you have
a Jew involved in a company,
they affect you. People can
twist it any way they like, but
there it is."
British Government
Raps Arab League
LONDON, (JTA) — The Arab
League was soundly chastised
by the British government for
a n t i-Israel boycott activities
against British firms.
The rebuke developed from
the public outcry against the
forced resignation of Lord Man-
croft, a leading Jewish business-
man, from the London advisory
board of the Norwich Union In-
surance Societies, a major in-
surance firm, under Arab boy-
cott pressure. Lord Mancroft is
a business associate of Sir Is-
aac Wolfson, who has many
business ties in Israel.
The insurance company, stag-
gered by the wave of criticism,
offered Lord Mancroft back his
board position but the Jewish
peer politely declined. He was
reported to have remarked to
friends that he did not want to
be in the public limelight for
the next 20 years.
The rebuffed Arabs were
quick with counter - statements.
The Arab League's economic
council said in Cairo that any
interference by the British
government or any other coun-
try with its boycott activities
would cause the Arab countries
to reconsider their economic re-
lations with such countries. The
council condemned the British
government for its public stand
of disapproval of efforts by
Arab embassies in London to
prevent British firms from trad-
ing with Israel. Support of
"Zionist political endeavors" by
any country, the Cairo state-
ment added, would be consider-
ed support of "Israeli aggressive
actions."
Ambassadors in London of 12
-
Arab nations held a special con-
ference and issued a statement
expressing ",surprise" at the
statement in the House of Lords
by Lord Carrington, Deputy
Foreign Secretary, in which the
government criticized the boy-
cott actions against British
firms. The same statement was
made in the House of Commons.
Vigorous debate took place over
the Mancroft dismissal in both
Houses. The 12 envoys also said
that "the sole judges" of their
activities were their own gov-
renments and that they were
"not prepared to receive in-
structions or remarks" except
from their own governments.
Much of this Arab counter-
response was considered by
experts here on Arab politics
as a smokescreen for a two-
day meeting of Arab military
leaders in Cairo, called spec-
ifically to work out a plan to
counter Israel's scheduled
start of diversion of Jordan
River waters next spring for
a huge irrigation project in
the Negev. Warlike threats
have been made by some
Arab states against those
plans but the Cairo meeting
was adjourned with no indi-
cation of any agreement on
any plan.
In the House debate, Peter
Thomas, Joint Minister of State
for foreign affairs, said that the
British Government "strongly
disapproves of pressure from
any source on British firms to
discriminate between British
subjects on any grounds." He
added that these views had been
conveyed to Arab embassy rep-
resentatives in London and that
the Government hoped these
practices would be stopped.
Sir Barnett Janner, an MP
and president of the Board of
Deputies of British Jews, thank-
ed Thomas for his statement, as
did Harold Wilson., leader of
the opposition Labor party, who
also asked whether the govern-
ment would join the Labor
party in specifically condemn-
ing the insurance company.
Thomas replied he did not
think it would be appropriate
to condemn a particular firm.
A Conservative MP, Gilbert
Longden, said that what such
companies as the Norwich Un-
ion needed was not government
advice but "a few more guts."
John Patron, a Labor MP, said
the government condemnation
"should stiffen the backs of
some of the boneless wonders
who seem to be running the big,
commercial firms of this coun-
try." He added that he did not
think theh Arabs would stop
such activities and asked wheth-
er Thomas would consider seek-
ing legal .action to make illegal
discrimination in international
trade.
Thomas replied that "in all
fairness," he thought the House
should know that the Arab em-
bassy representatives who met
with Lord Carrington "emphas-
ized that the boycott was not
discrimination
on
r a c i a l
grounds" but an action derived
from "what they maintain is a
state of war between Israel and
the Arab countries."
After Lord Carrington re-
peated the Thomas' statement
in the House of Lords, the
Earl of Alexander urged that
the Arab• governments be told
that British trade and com-
merce "cannot be interfered
with in this matter when
there is an armistice agreed
upon under the influence • of
the United Nations."
As Parliamentary debate pro-
ceeded, it became clear that the
government did not intend to
go beyond its action in rebuking
the Arab representatives. En-
tering the debate for the first
time, Prime Minister Sir Alex
Douglas-Home said it was not
the practice of government de-
partments to handle insurance.
He made the statement in reply
to a query about what was being
done to coordinate the work of
his Ministers to ensure that pub-
lic authorities and nationalized
industries did not place business
with any insurance firm that
practiced discrimination.
He also said that he was cer-
tain that "the whole country"
understood the government's
opposition to bias in commerce
and that if any firm wanted help
in resisting Arab boycott pres-
sures, the Foreign Office and
the Board of Trade "are at
their disposal."
Previously, the government
had declined to seek an amend-
ment to the Insurance Act of
1959 to provide that no insur-
ance company be permitted to
do business in Britain if it was
found to practice religious or
racial discrimination amongst
its employes.
Israel Sees New British
Yuval Insurance, the govern-
ment firm which insures all
Israel government corporations,
gave the British insurance firm
a convincing demonstration of a
"change of heart" from the at-
titude which led it to submit to
the Arab pressures to oust Lord
Mancroft from its London Ad-
visory board because of his as-
sociation with firms doing busi-
ness with Israel.
Arabs Order Boycott
Of 40 Firms Controlled
By Jewish Financer
LONDON, (JTA) — Forty
British firms under the control
of Charles Clore, Jewish finan-
cier here, and 33 directors and
executives associated with him,
were added to the Arab boycott
list. Altogether, the new boycott
list includes 49 British firms.
Clore was described by the Arab
boycott office as "a man of
Zionist inclination."
Clore, who is 58, had donated
$1,000,000 to the Weizmann In-
stitute of Science at Rehovot,
Israel. In addition, he and Sir
Isaac Wolfson, the noted Jew-
ish philanthropist, are associ-
ated in numerous commercial
interests in Israel. A $2,000,000
loan for the construction of a
new City Hall in Jerusalem had
been given the Jerusalem mun-
icipality by the, Wolfson-Clore
Mayer Corporation.
(Continued on Page 7)
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Approach To Arab Boycott
JERUSALEM, (JTA) — The
British government's blunt
warning to Arab diplomatic
representatives in London not
to press Israel boycott actions
against British firms was seen
here as a departure of a prev-
ious approach described as use
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cases..
That development was re-
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