"ATTACK ON ZIONISTS"

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27676, 4 June 1955, Page 2

"ATTACK ON ZIONISTS"

MR F. W. STEVENS CRITICISED “Mr F. Wf Stevens, in his letter to ‘The Press’ under ‘Modern Trends.’ makes an attack on the Zionists,” said the president of the Zionist Council of New Zealand (Mr G. Perl) yesterday. “Great Britain adopted Zionism as part of its policy when the Balfour Declaration in favour of a Jewish national home in Palestine was issued in 1917.” said Mr Perl. “Lord Balfour, Mr Lloyd George, Lord Robert Cecil, and the leaders of all the churches in Britain have been advocates of Zionism. The most important of the advocates in this great cause is Sir Winston Churchill, who proudly proclaims-that all his life he has been a Zionist. It was he who as far back as 1918 with rare vision advocated the establishment of n Jewish State in Palestine.

“Dr. Weizmann, the first president of the State of Israel, was the head of the British Admiralty laboratories in World War I, and Mr Lloyd George at the end of the war paid glowing tributes to his services. The late Mr Weizmann’s son died as a pilot with the R.A.F., and Mr Ben Gurion, the former Prime Minister of the State of Israel, also fought with the British forces in Gallipoli,” said Mr Perl. “There are circulating in New Zealand and especially in Christchurch a number of books which were published by men who were known to be sympathetic with Hitler and Nazism,” said Mr Perl. “Some of this literature was printed in Swedin under Nazi auspices and the publisher of them has recently been arrested and imprisoned for forgeries. It is unfortunate that Mr Stevens recommends books which are based largely on Nazi propaganda. Six million Jews in Europe, including 1,000.000 children, were murdered by the Nazis. Mr Stevens should not attach such importance to literature circulated by men who sought to destroy the whole world, including the British Empire.”