On August 4, 1939, as a means of punishing the Zionists for persisting in lending a hand to their persecuted kinsmen (Illegal Immigrants), the colonial secretary, Malcolm MacDonald, authorized the suspension of legal Jewish immigration into Palestine for six-month period starting in October 1939. Chaim Weizmann pleaded with Mac Donald to allow 20,000 Polish Jewish children to enter Palestine. Under the White Paper of 1939’s provision for a special quota for 25,000 refugee. Source: The Hope Fulfilled The Rise of Modern Israel Printed by Praeger March 2003 page (222)