GROWTH OF ANTI-SEMITISM IN BRITAIN Outcome of Jewish Activities

Greymouth Evening Star, 6 December 1946, Page 7

GROWTH OF ANTI-SEMITISM IN BRITAIN

Outcome of Jewish Activities

Terrorist Outrages and Propaganda [N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent.) (Rec. 9.35 a.m.) LONDON, December 5. Anxiety about the growth of anti-Semitism in Britain as a result of the Jewish anti-British propaganda and terrorist outrages in Palestine was expressed at the annual meeting of the Council of Christians and Jews in London. The vicar of Leeds, the Rev. A. S. Reeve, whose parish contains proportionately the largest Jewish com- ' munity in Britain, said he was seriously perturbed at the situation developing in Britain between Christians and Jews as a result of the terrorist outrages in Palestine. When the Council of Christians and Jews had been founded 18 months ago, they had no difficulty in obtaining members. Now, however, he found a change of mind in most responsible people and he would go so far as to say that if the present trend continued he would find it extremely difficult to keep his own council together. He appealed to Christians to live up to the spirit of their religion in their approach to the matter and to the Jewish community to condemn outrages. Reaction against the Jews, he added, was becoming very strong in Britain. It was still below the surface, but would take very little to make it articulate. There was also much resentment in Britain about the Jewish-inspired anti-British propaganda in the United States. The Jewish Case.

Rabbi A. C. Super, senior minister of the United Hebrew Congregation of Leeds, said that the Jewish side of the case had not been properly presented by the British press. He was not going to make accusations against British soldiers and police, but a definite case could be made out to show that acts of terrorism had also been perpetrated on the British side. The present antiSemitic briefing of British soldiers in Palestine should be stopped. Mr. Neville Laski, K.C., said that outrages must be condemned, whatever their cause. He agreed that there had been a growth of antiSemitism in Britain, particularly in the provincial cities. As a British citizen he was horrified and outraged at some of the things now being said, particularly in the United States, about this country and the Government. Best Friends of the Jew. The British people had been the best friends of the Jew, he added, and, if the Jewish community forfeited that goodwill, they would lose something upon which they depended. The Archbishop of Canterbury said the extent of the outrages was calculated to encourage anti-Semitism and there was evidence that it had done so. He moved a .resolution placing on record the council’s abhorrence of the outrages and appealing ,to the people to guard against any tendency to condemn the Jews as a whole for the crimes of “a numerically insignificant minority.” The resolution was carried unanimously. Press Comment.

The Yorkshire Post, commenting editorially upon Rabbi Super’s allegations against the reporting of the Jewish case in the. British press, says- “The British press reports events in Palestine and their reaction here as fairly and wisely as it can This newspaper is attacked by Jews for not printing all the propaganda they send in. z • x j “Our policy is one of restraint and it is applied to both sides, to the Jews who make wild attacks on Britain and to other citizens who are antagonised to the point of loathing and anger by the reports they hear. These extremists are on both sides.”