British Blame Illegal Exodus on U.S., Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle, Aug. 14, 1946

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Financial Aid to Jews Charged

LONDON, Aug. 13 (AP)—A colonial office spokesman charged today that “American financial sources” were responsible for “encouraging and directing” illegal immigration of Jews to Palestine.

Asked to elaborate on the government’s statement yesterday that “very large financial contributions” supported the mass exodus of European Jews to Palestine, the spokesman declined to specify individuals or organizations.

He recalled, however, “the many advertisements in United States newspapers appealing for money to aid European Jews to get to Palestine by illegal means.” He cited one advertisement, published last April, which he said carried the phrase- “American dollars pitted against British arms.”

U. S. AID URGED

A leading London spokesman for the New Zionist Organization said the British policy in Palestine was “a blackmail on the United States” to force U. S. participation in a federalization plan. He urged the United States to aid refugee Jews and to advise American occupation forces in Europe to give the refugees every assistance.

The British declared they would confiscate all illegal immigrant ships caught in Palestine waters, but would not seize the vessels on the high seas. The Colonial Office and the Admiralty, outlining plans for dealing with little immigrant ships in the Mediterranean, said the navy would spot and shadow the vessels into territorial waters, “where it is legal for British forces to board and search any craft.”

In Jerusalem a spokesman for the Jewish Agency told a news conference that “the statement by which the British government attempts to justify deportation of recent immigrants only adds fuel to the flames.”

“If the action itself arouses anger throughout the Jewish community, the statement whips it into fury. Peace in Palestine can never be achieved by such tactics.”

ARRIVAL OF REINFORCEMENTS

Dispatches from Palestine said without confirmation that British reinforcements had arrived in that troubled country.

The Jerusalem Community Council appealed to all Jewish workers, employers and shopkeepers to close their factories, shops and cafes at 5 p. m. today in protest against the British action on immigration.

In London, Abraham Abrahams, editor of the Jewish Standard and a member of the New Zionist Executive, declared in a formal statement-

“The British government last week conceded the demand of the Palestine Arab leaders who, under the advice of the former Mufti of Jerusalem, demanded immediate stoppage of Jewish immigration and deportation of Jews who were already in Haifa harbor, as a condition for attending a round table conference which the government is trying to convene.

“We call upon the United States to extend to our refugees their help and assistance and to advise their occupation forces in Europe to give them every comfort,” he said, and urge the governments of France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, and Greece “to open their boundaries in order to allow escaping European Jewry transit through their territories.”