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This is the position of our membership and we believe that this viewpoint is supported by all American citizens of the Jewish faith and by an overwhelming body of our fellow Americans of Catholic and Protestant faiths.

We are, therefore, in hearty accord with the purpose of the first part of the resolution. We feel that it seeks to express the profound and invaluable sympathy of the American people for those driven from their lands by tyranny and terror.

There is, however, a second section of the resolution on which we feel obliged to convey to you, frankly and fully, our questions and our doubts as to its wisdom. It now reads:

* * * so that the Jewish people may ultimately reconstitute Palestine as a free and democratic Jewish commonwealth.

-I urge you gentlemen to read and reflect on this part of the resolution with the utmost care. This is no longer designed to serve a solely humanitarian purpose. This brings you, and through you the American people, at once into a field of international political controversy, and into a subject that has deeply divided the Jewish community in this country.

The proposal, you will note, speaks of the establishment of a free and democratic "Jewish" commonwealth. I stress the word "Jewish." It does not say the establishment of a free and democratic "commonwealth." It specifically uses the word "Jewish," a word which has essentially a religious connotation only, although it has been used in a racial sense by the Nazi enemies of the Jews and of democracy.

But the concept of the theocratic state is long past. It is an anachronism. The concept of a racial state-the Hitlerian concept—is repugnant to the civilized world, as witness the fearful global war in which we are involved. We have reached a point of civilization where nations and states have their proper recognition without regard to the religious composition of their populations. I urge that we do nothing to set us back on the road to the past. To project at this time the creation of a Jewish state or commonwealth is to launch a singular innovation in world affairs which might well have incalculable consequences.

It may well be that this was in the mind of the King-Crane Commission in its report to President Woodrow Wilson and the State Department in the years after the last war.

You will recall that President Wilson, disturbed by the problems of the Near East, dispatched a commission there in 1919 for a careful survey. This commission, known as the King-Crane Commission, was to submit a report which would be of assistance in the final formulation of the peace treaties. With regard to Palestine, that commission reported that "a national home for the Jewish people is not equivalent to making Palestine a Jewish State." No doubt, your predecessors of the Sixty-seventh Congress of the United States had this report at hand when they adopted the resolution which forms a preamble to your present resolution.

* *

I ask you to look at your present resolution again and, especially, at that part of it which reads: "* so that the Jewish people may ultimately reconstitute Palestine as a free and democratic Jewish commonwealth."

The language of the resolution thus makes "the Jewish people" the agency for the establishment of a free and democratic commonwealth. Here are some serious considerations on that section:

The accepted procedure of democracy is to have a commonwealth established with the participation of all of its people or citizens. It is a self-contradiction to speak of a democratic state organism which is the creation of only a part of the population within the country. The population in Palestine is made up of Christian, Mohammedan, and Jew. I believe you will agree with me, gentlemen, that true democratic developments in that country can only come about as the result of the efforts and with the participation of all of the elements of the population. All of Palestine must share in the establishment of a democracy. Any exclusion is undemocratic in character and defeats the very purpose that your resolution may seek to achieve.

Moreover, the language of the resolution places the responsibility for creating a commonwealth at the door of "Jewish people," presumably those outside of Palestine as well as those in Palestine.

Yet I wonder whether the authors of this resolution actually intended this to be the case. The "Jewish people" are not organized politically, are not and do not want to be a political unit. They are nationals, loyal citizens of the various countries in which they live. They are to be found in all classes, in all political parties, in all economic levels. They are united only in their common derivation from a great religion and in their natural resistance to those who would destroy them. This being the case, it must be clear why the language of the second part of the resolution can only create confusion and encounter, perhaps, insurmountable difficulties. Jews in the United States and the world over, not being a national group but essentially a religious community, it is clear that they cannot assume responsibility anywhere as a political unit.

The development of such institutions, in the last analysis, must be the responsibility only of those in Palestine at the time such institutions are developed. All sections of the country-Jews, Christians, and Mohammedans, Palestinians all-whose proper concern is the welfare of their country, will determine and be responsible for their institutions.

In the statement of principles issued by the American Council for Judaisin, we expressed the following views on Palestine:

Palestine has contributed in a tangible way to the alleviation of the present catastrophe in Jewish life by providing a refuge for a part of Europe's persecuted Jews. We hope it will continue as one of the places for such resettlement, for it has been clearly demonstrated that practical colonizing can be done, schools and universities built, scientific agriculture extended, commerce intensified and culture developed. This is the record of achievement of eager, hard-working settlers who have been aided in their endeavors by Jews all over the world, in every walk of life and thought.

We oppose the effort to establish a national Jewish state in Palestine or anywhere else as a philosophy of defeatism, and one which does not offer a practical solution of the Jewish problem. We dissent from all those related doctrines that stress the racialism, the nationalism, and the theoretical homlessness of Jews. We oppose such doctrines as inimical to the welfare of Jews in Palestine, in America, or wherever Jews may dwell. We believe that the intrusion of Jewish national statehood has been a deterrent in Palestine's ability to play an even greater role in offering a haven for the oppressed, and that without the insistence upon such statehood, Palestine would today be harboring more refugees from Nazi terror.

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Palestine is a part of Israel's religious heritage, as it is a part of the heritage of two other religions of the world. We look forward to the ultimate establishment of a democratic, autonomous government in Palestine, wherein Jews, Moslems, and Christians shall be justly represented; every man enjoying equal rights and sharing equal responsibilities; a democratic government in which our fellow Jews shall be free Palestinians whose religion is Judaism, even as we are Americans whose religion is Judaism.

I earnestly commend these views for your consideration. I believe that your own compassionate purposes will be fully served by retaining only the first part of the resolution or by modifying its second provision so that it reads as follows:

* * * and there there shall be full opportunity for colonization in Palestine, ultimately to be constituted as a free and democratic commonwealth.

I have a few documents I should like to file with this report and if I may ask to have it done likewise, I should like to have a copy of the King-Crane report likewise made a part of these proceedings. I have no copy but it is available and it can be considered.

Chairman BLOOM. Without objection, so ordered. What are these various documents that you wish to have included?

Mr. ROSENWALD. The first is a "Statement of the American Council for Judaism, Inc., Interpretive Pamphlet No. 1." Then there are the information bulletins of the American Council for Judaism, Inc., under dates October 15 and December 31, 1943, and January 15 and 31, 1944, and also an article by me entitled "Reply to Zionism-Why many Americans of Jewish Faith are Opposed to the Establishment of a Jewish State in Palestine."

Chairman BLOOм. They may be made a part of the record.
Mr. ROSENWALD. Thank you, sir.

(The data above referred to and the King-Crane report are as follows:)

[Interpretive Pamphlet No. 1]

STATEMENT OF THE AMERICAN COUNCIL FOR JUDAISM, INC.

The American Council for Judaism, Inc., was organized to present the views of Americans of Jewish faith on problems affecting the future of their own lives and the lives of world Jewry in the present hour of world confusion.

The Council reaffirms the historic truth that the Jews of the world share common traditions and ethical concepts which find their derivation in the same religious source. For countless generations, "Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is One," has been the universal cry that has united all Jews in trial and tribulation, in suffering, hunger, and want, in despair-and in achievement. It is still the concept which distinguishes Jews as a religious group.

Racist theories and nationalistic philosophies, that have become prevalent in recent years, have caused untold suffering to the world and particularly to Jews. Long ago they became obsolete as realties in Jewish history; they remain only as a reaction to discrimination and persecution. In the former crises of Israel in ancient Palestine, the Prophets placed God and the moral law above land, race, nation, royal prerogatives, and political arrangements. Now, as then, we cherish the same religious values which emphasize the dignity of man and the obligation to deal justly with him no matter what his status.

We are

As Americans of Jewish faith we believe implicitly in the fundamentals of democracy, rooted, as they are, in moralities that transcend race and state, and endow the individual with rights for which he is answerable only to God. thankful to be citizens of a country and to have shared in the building of a nation conceived in a spirit which knows neither special privilege nor inferior status for any man.

For centuries Jews have considered themselves nationals of those countries in which they have lived. Whenever free to do so, they have assumed, and will again assume, full responsibilities of citizenship in accordance with the ancient

Jewish command, "The law of the land is the law." Those countries in which Jews have lived have been their homes; those lands their homelands. In those nations where political action was expressed through minority groups, the Jew, following the law of his land, accepted minority status, thereby frequently gaining an improvement over previous conditions of inferior citizenship. Such East European concepts, however, have resulted in a misunderstanding, shared by Jews and non-Jews, a misunderstanding which we seek to dispel. American Jews hope that in the peace for which all of us pray, the old principle of minority rights will be supplanted by the more modern principle of equality and freedom for the individual. The interest of American Jews in the individual Jew in countries where the minority right principle prevailed is not to be confused with acceptance of this East European political concept.

As a result of the bigotry, sadism, and ambitions for world conquest of the Axis powers, millions of our co-religionists who had homes in and were nationals of other lands have been violently deported and made victims of indescribable barbarism. No other group has been so brutishly attacked and for one reason only on the false claims that there are racial barriers or nationalistic impulses that separate Jews from other men.

The plight of those Jews together with millions of oppressed fellow men of all faiths, calls for the profoundest sympathy and the unbounded moral indignation of all freemen. The restoration of these broken lives to the status and dignity of men endowed by God with inalienable rights, is one of the primary objectives of the peace to come as expressed in the Atlantic Charter and the Four Freedoms of President Roosevelt. We believe that the Jew will rise or fall with the extension or contraction of the great liberal forces of civilization. By relying upon the broad, religious principles inherent in a democracy and implementing them wherever possible, we join our forces with those of all lovers of freedom; strengthened, in that we do not stand segregated and alone upon exclusive demands.

We ask that the United Nations secure the earliest feasible repatriation or resettlement under the best possible conditions of all peoples uprooted from their homes by the Axis powers, and that even in the face of obvious and discouraging obstacles the United Nations persevere in their efforts to provide immediate sanctuary for refugees of all faiths, political beliefs, and national origins. We believe that wherever possible the forced emigres should be repatriated in their original homelands under conditions which will enable them to live as free, upstanding individuals.

For our fellow Jews we ask only this: Equality of rights and obligations with their fellow nationals. In our endeavors to bring relief to our stricken fellow Jews, and to help rebuild their lives on a more stable basis, we rely wholly upon the principles of freedom, justice, and humanity, which are fundamental to both democracy and religion, and which have been declared as the principles which shall prevail in the better world for which the United Nations are fighting. We ally ourselves with those who believe this war will not have been fought in vain, that the mistakes of the last peace will not be duplicated.

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Palestine has contributed in a tangible way to the alleviation of the present catastrophe in Jewish life by providing a refuge for a part of Europe's persecuted Jews. We hope it will continue as one of the places for such resettlement, for it has been clearly demonstrated that practical colonizing can be done, schools and universities built, scientific agriculture extended, commerce intensified, and culture developed. This is the record of achievement of eager, hard-working settlers who have been aided in their endeavors by Jews all over the world, in every walk of life and thought.

We oppose the effort to establish a National Jewish State in Palestine or anywhere else as a philosophy of defeatism, and one which does not offer a practical solution of the Jewish problem. We dissent from all those related doctrines that stress the racialism, the nationalism, and the theoretical homelessness of Jews. We oppose such doctrines as inimical to the welfare of Jews in Palestine, in America, or wherever Jews may dwell. We believe that the intrusion of Jewish national statehood has been a deterrent in Palestine's ability to play an even greater role in offering a haven for the oppressed, and that without the insistence upon such statehood, Palestine would today be harboring more refugees from Nazi terror. The very insistence upon a Jewish Army has led to the raising of barriers against our unfortunate brethren. There never was a need for such an army. There has always been ample opportunity for Jews to fight side by side with those of other faiths in the armies of the United Nations.

Palestine is a part of Israel's religious heritage, as it is a part of the heritage of two other religions of the world. We look forward to the ultimate establishment of a democratic, autonomous government in Palestine, wherein Jews, Moslems,

and Christians shall be justly represented; every man enjoying equal rights and sharing equal responsibilities; a democratic government in which our fellow Jews shall be free Palestinians whose religion is Judaism, even as we are Americans whose religion is Judaism.

We invite all Jews to support our interpretation of Jewish life and destiny in keeping with the highest traditions of our faith. We believe these truths provide the basis for every program of a more hopeful future put forth by freemen. Το proclaim those views at this time, we believe, is to express the abiding faith, shared by a great number of our fellow Jews, that in the fruits of victory of the United Nations all, regardless of faith, will share alike. It is also, we believe, to render a service to the task of clarifying the hopes and the purposes for which this war is being fought by freemen everywhere.

The above statement was issued August 31, over the signatures of the officers of the Council and represent. ative Jews from all sections of the country,

[Information Bulletin of the American Council for Judaism, Inc., No. 1, Philadelphia, Pa., October 15, 1943]

BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION

This is the first of a series of semimonthly bulletins to be issued by the American Council for Judaism. These bulletins are intended to convey the views of the Council on problems affecting Jews in the United States and the world over; and in that way to contribute to a full, free public discussion of these problems. This issue follows by a few weeks the public appearance of the statement of views of the members of the American Council for Judaism upon the occasion of its initial organization. The publication of this statement had one primary purpose: That of informing Americans of the existence of these views among Americans of the Jewish faith. This, it was felt, was all the more necessary at a time when there was a deliberate, skillfully organized attempt to convey the impression that all American Jews were united in support of a partisan, nationalistic political platform.

At the same time that this statement became public, the American Jewish Conference was in session, a conference, representative in a measure, of other views held by others of America's Jews.

The effect upon the conference of the issuance of a simple statement of views was extraordinary.

The same conference whose resolutions paid tribute to the Four Freedoms (which include freedom of speech) at once brought out four rabbinical spokesmen to denounce, calumniate, and, to all appearances, excommunicate those who expressed a dissenting view.

The same Conference which reverently mentioned the Atlantic Charter (that includes a pledge of freedom of expression) stormed that one New York newspaper gave full space ot the views of the Council just as it did to the views of the Conference.

Why all the excitement? Why the characterization of the statement as "unsportsmanlike," as if what is involved is a parlor game, with fastidious rules? Why all this denunciation, this overwhelming attention to a statement of the Council at the same time that it is characterized as expressive of the views of only a hundred American Jews?

WHY?

Is it perhaps that in that clear, unambiguous statement by Americans of Jewish faith, a statement based on the highest traditions of our religion and of our democratic faith, the nationalistic leaders could see their entire pretentious balloon collapse? Is it perhaps that the nationalistic leaders knew very well that behind the hundred signatories there were many more hundreds, and thousands, even millions, who agree with those views and who, shown a course for helping their fellow Jews without involvement in international political manipulations, would willingly identify themselves with that course?

The statement itself pretended to nothing more than it was: an expression of views of some American Jews, on problems affecting all Jews. It may be that those who subscribe to the principles of the Council are in the minority, although that remains to be seen. But if they are in a minority, would it not have been more in accord with the best of our democratic traditions if a conference of Jews, themselves a minority, rallied to defend the right of any group to express its views?

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