New yeoA. MeiAGjfe piom
ZIOfllST PfifSIOfflT Of CflflflDfl
The times in which we are living are momentous for Israel. Every week that i>asses is charged with destiny for cur people. At the beginning of the New Year, it is appropiate that events shoiild be reviewed and the present examined the light of our aspirations and hopes which have their roots in Iretz Israel,
In the travail of this age, the earth formations seem to have changed as though a great convulsion had altered the land-slopes, and the stream of our life damned up by fresh obstacles, seems coming to the full flood by v/hich it will overflow into a new channel of the future. The direction of this new channel may well dominate the life of our people for centuries to come. The fate of our children hangs on the decisions of this epoch.
Because of the grim happening of the last few months, many of us have been oippiressed by a feeling of dark despair. The additional burden of castastrophic events seems overwhelming to a people emerging from a tragedy more poi. gnant and heart-rending than any suffered by a racial, national or religious group since the be^nning of recorded times.
We ^e being truly and heroically tested as we have many tunes in the past. There seems to be a great imanimity in the direction of Jewish survivalism as a result of the unfortunate events in Eretz Israel. This has been accentuated by the persistance in the i>olicy of the White Paper by the United Kingdom Government, whom we have always regarded as devoted friends of the Jewish people.
The failure of the British Government to implement the recommendations of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry for the immediate authorization of 100,000 certificates for the admission into Palestine of Jews who had been the victims of Nazi and Facist persecution, and for the cancellation of the Land Transfers Regulations Off 1940 was a crushing blow to Zionist leaders. They know that Mr. Bevin had givai assurance to the members of the Committee of Inquiry that, if they brought in an unanimous report, its recommendations would be implemented immediately. What followed the tabling of the Report iwas a travesty of such an assurance. And the dilatory course of Has British Government has provided a period of frustiation in which
terrorism has raised its (head.
At the beginning of the New Year, it is essential that we must reach a matiure conviction if we are to dariftr our attitude to many urgent questions which are a challenge to the Jews of Canada:
1. A World Zionist Congress is to take placein Basle, Switzerland in November. The Jewish Agency Executive has already intimated r. retreat *rom the Biltmore programme in the direction of partition in principle. Should we press for an independant, autonomous Jewish state, so long as it can be economically self-sustaining, even though it is reduced in size? Can Canadian Zionists unite in advocacy of such action?
2. Military coiuis in Palestine have handed out death sentences for crimes in whidi no life was lost. Can Canadian Jews stand by £Oolly while justice is being meted out most imfairly to our fellow-bretliem? Will the world which is now building a new basis for â– pejace stand by and tolerate such a code of law?
3. As Canadian residents of the British Commonwealth, how far are we to protest the present British policy affecting the Mandate and the penalties it imposes on the Yishuv? It is to the instrimient-alily of the British Government that we owe the National Home as it stands, and it is difficult to imagine how it would have emerged apart from that British instru-mentallity.
The brutal truth about the support of the American Government is the fact that it has been chiefly one of words. Therefore, as British subjects and Canadian citizen's, to what extent are we justified in arraigning the British Government with its undoubted abrogation of ite own Balfour Declaration policy and abandomnent of the terms of the League of Nations Mandate? There is no doubt that in our coiurses as Canadians, we must be guided by the wisdom to reconcile our position as citizens in the British Commonwealth with our function of ardent Zionist support. Should the relationship between Britain and Palestine further deteriorate, oiu- i)osition will become increasingly difficult. The issues, at stake will have to be weighed and we miist be constant in our defence of justice andl fair play.
What are the answers to be to our non-Jewish friends who read the daily newspapers and receive
news with an anti-Zionist slant? The censorship has been very strict and unfriendly interests have very often controlled the news.
What hope have we that the bright ray of justice will shine in the fog of power politics and confUctLng interests?
Realizing that terrorism was the weapon used by the Nazis to achieve power and that the Jewish people were its chief victims, is it not necessary that terrorism be repudiated as a Zionist weapon and critized immercifuUy as a British weapon? For there is now in Palestine a reign of terror where the authorities are practicing the totalitarian technique of collective piuiishment on the population of crimes of violence by individuals where military coxuis impose death sentences for offences wh«:« no loss of life was sustained, where there is flouting by the military authorities of the religious traiets and sanctities observed by Orthodox Jewry; where a possible sentence of eight years stares a man in the face who has sheltered his own refugee mother if she has entered the Jewish homeland in a manner which the Briti^ officials arbitrarily define as "illegal" and which the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations would never admit to be illegal? Why must the Jews of Palestine and of Europe be subjected to such treatment in their efforts to end their homelessnBss, the tribulations of 2,000 years.
Yes, the road ahead is a difficult one. Great decisions will have to be made in the year to come. The world will judge us by our actions. We must continue to build and accomplish in Palestint. Practical results will be our greatest security Let us stand together united, determined to build for ourselves . and for humanity. Let Palatine become the Mecca of scientists and it is our hope that creativity in the social and scientific world will be nuttured and matured in Palestine so that our way of life may give a new inspiration to a world bereft of hope and disintegrating.
Faith in God and om- destiny will provide the answer. Like the Prophet of ancient days in his reference to the Eternal, the Jew may look out on the historic and contemporary scene and ultimately "he shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied."
Samuel J. Zacks President, Zionist Organization of Canada.
SAMUEL J. ZACKS
Greetings From Local Zionist President
New Year should be a joyous time, and it is for some of us. We are fortimate. But for some of our fellowmen, the peace and happiness that we had though imminent at the close of World War, II, is still a very faint hope. As hostilities diminished, we, of Jewish faith held high hopes for the abolishment of prejudice, for the fulfillment of the four freedoms as set forth in the Alantic Charter, and for the successful accomplishment of some of the righteous plaiming of the United Nations League. We even had thought that we were a little closer to our —a National Homeland.
Now, a little over a year later, we are thrown into la state of wonderment over what has happened to these anticipations. Again, blood is being spilled daily, on the very land that we had hoped would be the asylum for the remaining bereaved, broken souls of Eiuropean Jewry. The land that has in recent years begun to blossom and and to show green is being reddened by the blood of those who have worked to make it bear fruit.
Indeed these are not pretty words, nor is the picture one ot joy. Therefore, at this time, this year, we might show better faith toward those less fortunate than we, by dedicating oiurselves anew t'j the task we have before us. Thiat blood which is fertilizing the soil of Palestine must bring forth a new hope and determination to foimd our homeland for those oi our people who have so desperately need it at this time. We must not be disooiuraged by set-backs— they occur in any and every walk of life. Owe striving must never slacken behind the wheel of our progress — we must be able and ready at all times to move aliead when we see the green light. MR. LEONARD G. WHITE
6
JEWISH WESTERN BULLETIN