Newspaper Page Text
The Southern Israelite
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry
Estab lished 1 9^ 5
VOL. XXIV
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 1949
Number 26
French Aid Fund
PARIS, (JTA)—A United Jew
ish Fund, similar to the United
Jewish Appeal in the U. S., has
been formed in France after a year
of arduous negotiations among the
various Jewish bodies.
The “Fonds Social Juif Unifie,”
which will probably begin func
tioning this October, will not in
clude fund-raising efforts in be
half of Israel during its first year
of life.
Decision Stands
WASHINGTON, (JTA)—The U.
S. Supreme Court this week re
fused to reconsider its recent con
troversial “free speech” decision
which reversed the conviction of
the Rev. Arthur W. Terminiello,
a Birmingham, Ala., priest who
had been fined $100 by an Illinois
court for making an “inflamma
tory” anti-Semitic speech at a 1946
meeting sponsored by the Chris
tian Veterans of America.
Arms To Be Shipped
LONDON, (JTA)—Authorita
tive quarters said this week that
the Israeli Government’s protest
against British arms shipments to
some Arab states would not affect
the British Government’s decision
to make these shipments.
Ethridge Urges
LausanneRecess
WASHINGTON, (JTA)—Mark,
Ethridge, retiring American repre
sentative on the United Nations
Conciliation Commission, said this
week that it might not be a bad
declared that he foresaw only a
tortuous way out if Israel does not
alter its present stand. If Israel
does “change,” he said, he was
relatively sure that peace could be
idea to recess the Lausanne peace ! achieved.
talks so that the Israeli delegation J Ethridge disclosed that he had
can go home for new instructions. I given Israel a fi gure on the num-
Atlantans Hear Myerson Stress
Israel’s Acute Housing Need
Cabinet Member Pleads for Support of UIA to Secure Basic
Shelter for Immigrants Now in Tent Camps; Atlanta Fund
Benefits by $25,000 Gift Increases. Southern Cities Send
$156,000 Cash in Honor of Her Visit Here.
BY ADOLPH ROSENBERG
“It’s a real stalemate now,” he
stated, “they are running around
in circles and are not getting any
closer to each other.”
At a press conference, he sug
gested that if the Lausanne talks
were recessed and if Israel came
up with new proposals a solution
may be reached in time for the
Commission to report to the Gen
eral Assembly in September. Ask
ed about the meeting of Israeli U. j
N. delegate Aubrew S. Eban with
Acting Secretary of State James |
E. Webb last Friday, Ethridge said, j
“I hope Eban rushed out and ad- j
vised the Israeli Government to
come up with new proposals.” He
ber of Arab refugees it should
repatriate. He said this figure was
not as large as the number of
Arabs Israel would agree to take
if she got the Gaza coastal strip.
Amplifying his statement further,
he said he was not even sure if
the State Department would ac
cept the figure. He insisted that as
far as he knew the United States
has never officially given Israel a
binding figure on the number of
Arab refugees. Mr. Ethridge as
serted that Israel could break the
Lausanne deadlock if it would
state the number of refugees it is
willing to take.
Peace Group Disagrees
With Ethridge Plan
LAUSANNE, (JTA)—Hope of
peace in Palestine would be de
ferred for at least two years, if
Mark Ethridge’s proposal for an
adjournment of about two months
were accepted by the United Na
tions Palestine Conciliation Com
mission, sources close to the pres- |
ent United States members of the •
delegation said this week. French
and Turkish members of the body
rejects the stand taken by Mr.
Ethridge.
The Commission fears that re- 1
sumption of its work just before !
the General Assembly meets—as j
Mr. Ethridge suggests—would
make it the central scene of all
Assembly lobbying which might
stultify its conciliation efforts.
Also, as a Commission member
put it, there will be lots of “in
flammable stuff flying around,”
and the odds that it will not catch
fire if no attention is paid to it for
same time are very small. The Is
raelis have greatly improved their
army, he said. The Egyptians are
spending $250,000,000 this year on
their army and are getting consid
erable quantities of armor and
planes from Italy and elsewhere, j
The Syrians are getting $12,-
000,000 worth of supplies from
France. Transjordan and Irac are
obtaining fresh arms from Britain.
The member estimated that there
would be 20 times more arms
available in Palestine and its
vicinity by the end of this year
than there was when the Palestine
war broke out in May of last year.
The same source said he was con
vinced that there would be a re
newal of fighting within the year
if the present conference here
should fail.
A sturdy woman of Israel wrung
the hearts of Atlantans Wednesday
night in a stirring appeal for sup
port of the Welfare Fund Cam
paign.
She stressed the unprecedented
need for housing, for just a basic
one-room house with no fancy
ceiling or plaster walls, to shelter
the thousands of former DP occu
pants now pressing into Israel.
And she knows specifically how
bSdly houses are needed, for in
the cabinet of the new' Jewish
state, Golda Myerson is Minister
of Labor, Housing and Public
Works. It is her task to see that
the hordes of immigrants swarm
ing into her country have a roof
over theit heads.
That is the reason she is in
America on a current tour of key
cities where campaigns are un
derway, why she is speaking once,
sometimes twice daily, every day
of her fortnight tour.
Her Atlanta appearance, anticli-
mactic in many respects, was yet
not without response though it
missed key and did not achieve
the fine high reaction her position
and stirring appeal deserved.
Speaking earlier during the even
ing at a big-givers’ dinner, she
was responsible for raising the
contributions of numerous indivi
duals—more than $20,000.
At the Ahavath Achim Educa
tional Center, where the audience
waited for her delayed appearance
nearly an hour and sweltered de
spite efforts to air-condition
Srochi Hall, her speech inspired
numerous spontaneous gifts. Mosjt
of them were increases over pre
vious pledges. In all, $25,000 was
added to Atlanta’s total during
the dinner and general meeting.
Sam Eplan, state U. J. A. chair
man for Georgia, read messages
from numerous Southern com
munities who forwarded a total of
$156,000 in cash in honor of Golda
Myerson’s visit to Atlanta. From
Columbus, came $7,500, from Sa
vannah $20,000, $10,000 from New
Orleans, $5,000 from Macon now
and $10,000 in another ten days.
New Orleans sent $10,000, Mont
gomery $20,000, Yazoo, Miss., $2,-
000 and so on from Clarksville,
Miss., St. Petersburg, Hollywood,
Fla., Waycross, Ft. Pierce and
other communities.
The cabinet officer is a magnif
icent and persuasive speaker. She
talked straight from the shoulder
with a candor which swept away
thoughts of her sex. She seemed
a living essence of the creative
force which helped mold a new
country.
A former American citizen, she
spoke the language of the audience
and hit home to the heart and
mind time and time again. Too
many of the audience, however,
Transfer of Herzl
Remains to Israel
Set for August
TEL AVIV, (JTA)—Jewish
Agency officials announced
this week that the date for the
removal of the remains of
Theordor Herzl, founder of
modern Zionism, from the out
skirts of Vienna to Jerusalem,
has been definitely set for
August 10.
The remains will be rebur
ied immediately without eulo
gies, but with special prayers,
the announcement stated.
Agency officials added that
details would soon be announ
ced of a worldwide competi
tion for a design of a mauso
leum to cover the new resting
place.
Rumanian Jewry Said FightingZionism
As Aid to Exploiting Capitalism
BY MARCEL POHNE
Jewish Telegraphic Agency Correspondent *
BUCHAREST, (JTA)—A report on the current
status of Jewry in Rumania was delivered here
this week at a meeting of the central committee
of the Jewish Democratic Committee of Rumania
by Bercu Feldman, secretary-general of the or
ganization, the only remaining body representing
the Jewish population of this country. The session
is being attended by delegates from all parts of
the country and the guest of honor is Shmel
Mikunsi, Israeli Communist leader.
Mr. Feldman made it clear that the fight against
Zionism remains paramount among the activities
of the Committee. The Jewish leader and member
of the Rumanian parliament warned against con
tinuing Zionist propaganda which, he said, “seeks
to throw the Jewish population into the arms of
an exploiting capitalism.” He also revealed that
the campaign against the Zionist is being waged
in the Jewish press, at mass meetings and on Yid
dish broadcasts. Full equality is enjoyed by the
Jews of Rumania, Mr. Feldman declared.
The second major task confronting the Commit
tee, according to its leader, is the vocational re
training of thousands of Jews, with the help of the
government and the Rumanian Workers Party—
the local Communist Party. Thousands of such
retrained workers have been placed in jobs, he
added.
Besides the public schools which offer either
complete or partial curricula in Yiddish, the Yid
dish Culture Federation has established a large
number of local choirs and dramatic groups which
are staging Yiddish plays, Mr. Feldman reported.
There are three Jewish newspapers currently be
ing published, he said, one in Yiddish, one in Ru
manian and the third in Hungarian: Two radio
statios feature weekly Yiddish broadcasts.
Referring to the recent nationalization of Jewish
communal relief kitchens, children’s homes and
old people’s homes, Mr. Feldman asserted that
they had been turned over to the government
which is now operating them ’smoothly” along the
same lines as previously. “Not a single one was
closed down following nationalization,” he stated,
“and their entire staffs have been maintained and
put on the government payroll.”
Turning to the problem of pensions for victims
of racial persecution, he revealed that of some
7,000 applications submitted, 4,000 have already
been granted. The remaining applications will be
dealt with shortly.
had already given to the Welfare
Fund to capacity to make the
spontaneous outburst of giving
they would have desired in cogni
zance of the superlative speaker.
Cogently, she told how the Jews
of Palestine had resolved to forge
a land with open doors to all Jews
of the world. She reviewed the
days of the pogroms and the con
centration camps and the gas
chambers. She surveyed the days
of the Palestinian war and the loss
of human lives and limbs in the
winning of the war.
And now the daily arrival of as
many as a thousand souls a day—
17,000 in one record day, has
created a problem.
These people, nearly 70,000, are
being placed in tent camps, she
said. We need to give them a
house, homes in which one family
units can live.
“They want to work,” she ex
claimed,” and there is work for
them to do. But first they must
have a place in which to stay.”
You cannot expect 700,000 per
sons to absorb another 350,000,
she noted in illustration. Is the
responsibility Israel’s Jewry’s
alone? Or is it equally the respon-
ability of Jews in America?
She lashed out at communities
where she said she has encoun
tered a feeling that the current
campaign lacks “drama.” Is blood
and death necessary to inspire a
successful campaign? she asked.
Is this great hour of celebration
and joy in Jewish history not
basis enough on which to gear a
campaign? Is it a campaign with
out drama because there is no
war—no dead? Is it not enough
that Jews are coming to a country,
Jews alive, and now are pleading
to*you for a place to live, and that
they deserve this boost?
The Israelis have adopted an
austerity program comparable to
the British standard of living dur
ing the war, she said. And you
know how inadequate that was.
The stage of Srochi Hall was
decorated with a background of
30 flags of various countries. Be
fore the start of the meeting,
someone in the audience remarked
that Russia’s flag was absent and
felt the speaker might note this.
It was too late however to rectify
this omission.
Mrs. Myerson was escorted to
the platform by a guard of honor
from the Jewish War Veterans,
Post 112, and Georgia Department,
J. W. V., and notaries of the At
lanta Welfare Fund. The American
and Israeli colors were presented
by JWB Members Arthur Weiss,
Sam Levy and Irving Libowsky.
Rabbi Harry Epstein delivered
the invocation. Sam Eplan and
Barney Medintz, general chair
man of Atlanta’s 1949 drive,
shared presiding honors.
Samuel Rothberg and Julian
Venezky, Periora, Ill., communal
leaders who have given up their
businesses to aid the national UJA
campaign, were introduced. Mr.
Venezky spoke briefly after Mrs.
Myerson.