Speech #780149061

Mr. Chairman. like a cool breeze in the heat of summer was the Presidential directive setting up the War Refugee Board. As encouraging was the statement of the White House emphasizing that "it was urgent that action be taken at once to forestall the plan of the Nazis to exterminate all Jews and other persecuted minorities in Europe." The President at long last has recognized the failure of the Evian Conference on Refugees in 1938 and the fiasco of the refugee conference last year. Eight long years have elapsed since Evian. Millions have since been slain only because they were born Jews. The record of rescue is barren. The niceties of diplomacy at Evian and the banalities of the protocol at Bermuda cover the bullet holes of the victims. The War Refugee Board will repeat the mockery of Bermuda and Evian unless it demands free and untrammeled immigration of Jews into Palestine--demands the simple justice of compelling Britain first. to abide by the Balfour Declaration which guarantees Palestine as a national homeland for the Jews. which declaration was abetted and approved by 52 nations. second. to respect the concurrent resolution of Congress adopted in 1922 favoring the reestablishment of the Jews in their ancient homeland in Palestine. third. to honor and maintain the integrity of the treaties solernly entered into between Great Britain and the United States in 1924 wherein the Balfour Declaration was reaffirmed and wherein it was mutually agreed (a) that there could be no unilateral infraction of the treaty by either party. and (b) that there could be no discrimination as to immigration into Palestine of peoples on the grounds of race or religion. The War Refugee Board must point out to John Bull in no uncertain terms that the Malcolm McDonald White Paper of 1939 issued by the British Colonial Office restricting immigration of Jews into Palestine to 75.000 in 5 years and stopping the entrance of all Jews into Palestine by March 1944. is a shocking violation of the aforesaid. first Balfour Declaration. second. concurrent resolution. third. AngloAmerican Treaty in 1924. The State Department has been strangely silent in the face of these violations. The War Refugee Board must shatter this conspiracy of silence. This offending White Paper of 1939 was not only rejected but also condemned by the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations as a violation of Britains mandate over Palestine. Scores of nations denounced Britain for her perfidy. Thus. a glorious opportunity is presented to the War Refugee Board to persuade the British Foreign Office to right the great wrong. In a little over 1 month. Jews will be barlocked from Palestine.