Jewish Herald-Voice (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 36, No. 39, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 13, 1941 Page: 4 of 8
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THE JEWISH JiEKXLD-VOICE
■
a*
November 13, 1941
Jerusalem—Perhaps it cannot yet be
said that the Yishuv is fully mobilized.
Yet the part which, in this third year of
the war, the Jews of Palestine are playing
in their contribution towards the war ef-
fort is at any rate an impressive one,
whether /iewed in its military or in its
industrial facets.
There are 27,000 male Jews living in
Palestine and aged between 20 and 30
years who have not yet married; in the
benedict class of that age group there are
another 16,000 to 17,000 young men. Of
that total of nearly 45,000 Palestiman-
Jewish males in their twenties, some 12,000
have already joined the British Forces,
while 3,000 more are serving with the
Jewish Settlement Police or the active
auxiliary reserve branch known as Tem-
porary Additional Constables.
But there are men over 30 and lads
under 20 who are also in the British
Armed Forces or with the Constabulary.
Moreover, Jews have not entered service
in the cause of democracy exclusively un-
der the Union Jack. There are many
members of the Yishuv—either residents
of or refugees in Eretz Israel—who have
gone into one of the other Allied units:
Free French, Polish, Dutch, Belgian,
Greek, Yugoslavian and Czechoslovakian.
There are practically a couple of thousand
of volunteers in these categories.
Out of a population of just over a mil-
lion,. 38 per cent—180,000 in round figu-
res—are juveniles under 18 years of age,
according to a recent count. At least 40
per cent—about 200,000—are in the 20
to 45-year group. Of these, some 60,000
to 70,000 are men who would be qualified
for military service if age were the only
consideration; but many among them are
married and have families, and the Jew-
ish Agency for Palestine, which is acting
in an advisory capacity to the British
military authorities in connection with re-
cruiting, has not yet issued a call for mar-
ried men to volunteer to the Odors.
There is the further consideration that
the Jewish Agency has time and again
since the outbreak of this war offered to
the British Government a fighting force
of 50,000 men of the Yishuv, the only
condition being that they be permitted
to form a separate Jewish Army fighting
for the preservation of the Jewish Na-
tional Home. Thus far this offer of a
loyal and efficient fighting force, prepared
to fight by Britain’s side as an Ally to
the death, has not been accepted; yet
with undiminishcd devotion to the cause
of freedom and democracy and the re-
Oky nVant Do <Win DL <Wax
How Palestine Jews Are Aiding Britian
By JULIAN L. MELTZER
rd a ring
ainunis
Ike Jews ef Palestine are making (award the war effort. The notel Palcor
News Agency and Renters correspondent, Julian L. MelUer, cites the facts
and figures that have not been stressed—some suggest to minimise j)bligations
to the Jews In Palestine at the peace table.
The House ef Commons a few days ago heard a ringing accusation against the
British Government for ita attempt to minimise the contribution that
damation of its own homeland the Yish-
uv’s manpower holds itself in readiness.
But even so the ratio of one in five out
of male Jews ultimately eligible for mil-
itary service is not a bad one at all. For
these men are on active duty ir various
parts of the Middle East. Individual ac-
counts of Jewish prowess under fire—es-
pecially in the Western Desert, in East
Africa and Abyssinia, in Greece and Crete
and in Syria—-demonstrate that our boys
make fine soldiers.
But though tales of the prowess of the
men on the fighting fronts are heard all
over the land, there is another group
whose work is equally arduous and es-
sential and, yes, heroic, though rarely
sung. Day after day, in quiet times and
in grave emergencies, they go bravely and
efficiently about their appointed tasks,
these scores of thousands of young Jews
—and Jewesses, too—who are in the Tel
Aviv Mishmar Ezrachi (Civic Guard),
in the urban and rural civilian defense, in
the A. R. P. services, working as volun-
teer fire fighters and in other forms of
public service particularly urgent in war-
time. . /
Industry Lined Up
Industry, too, has been lined up, and a
War Supply Board has been specially
formed by the Palestine Government with
a view to co-ordinating production for
military needs. Large plants in different
parts of the country have been put on a
war basis and are giving priority to Army
and Air Force needs. Given proper cap-
italization and supply of. raw or semi-
finished material, there is no knowing to
what lengths Palestine’s industry—and the
largest part of it is operated by the Yishuv
—can do.
The substantial participation of the
Yishuv in the economic war effort is
growing in proportion as each week passes
particularly in the primary sphere of siip-
—The Editor.
ply of military needs—the importance of
which cannot be overestimated in view of
this country’s geographical position as a
base behind the front lines of the Middle
East. This contribution is the more
■useful since local production assists in
saving valuable shipping space, the while
it releases valuable skilled labor in other
countries of the British Empire for work
on vital munitions and armaments.
Agriculture, industry, communications
and public works are the four main do-
mains in which Eretz Israel is able to do
it! share in winning the war; and the
principal criterion of the war effort in this
country, whether by direct or indirect con-
tribution, is the augmenting of output.
According to an estimate of the Infor-
mation Department of the Jewish Agency,
Jewish agricultural production rose by
about 20 per cent during the first two
years of the war, especially as a result of
the sums invested by the Keren Hayesod
(Palestine Foundation Fund) and other'
national institutions. Milk output since
1939, for instance, has risen by 2,000,060
liters to 37,000,000.
In 1939, Jewish vegetable production
was 16,000 tons, including 3,000 tons of
potatoes; in 1940 it was 26,000 tons, with
7,500 tons of potatoes. And the compara-
tive figures for the first halves of 1939
and 1941 were 6,000 tons, with 1,216 of
potatoes, and 12,000 tons, with 4,000 of
potatoes. Palestine has become the granary
for a good part of the Middle East; and
this part of her contribution was nowhere
more graphically illustrated than m Syria
directly after the signing of the Armistice,
when food was rushed from this country
to feed the Syrians, who had been syste-
matically looted of their supplies by the
Germans with Vichy connivance.
Army supply has formed an integral
factor in Jewish wartime industrial ex-
pansion. The large number of technically
trained experts and skilled labor available
from Jewish emigration from Austria,
Czechoslovakia and Poland as well as
Jewish capital for industrial investment
and the limiting of exports have been con-
tributory to this growth. During 1940 the
Army purchased goods to the tune of
LI,000000 sterling in Palestine; in the
first foiir-and-a-half months of 1941 that
figure was topped, and the succeeding
similar period found orders still coming
along in growing quantity.
The Jewish Agency assisted to some ex-
tent in providing guarantees for credits to
purchase raw materials, and a consortioum
of the Jewish Agency, the Anglo-Palestinej
Bank and the Palestine Industrial Bank1 <
was an outstanding factor in this con-
nection. Keren Hayesod funds were in-
valuable in securing the import of raw
materials for L500,000. The Central Trans-
port Committee of the Jewish Agency also
helped in providing information to the\
Government and Army needs. In addi-
tion, 10,000 skilled Jewish workmen are
now engaged in important Army and .
public works, such as building and road (
construction.
In purely financial terms, Palestine con-(
tributed L7,000,000 to the British war ef-;
fort from the beginning of September,
1939 through June 30, 1940, according to
a statement issued by the Palestine Cur-
rency Board on money in circulation in
Palestine. The Board invests in British
securities as collateral for its circulating;
notes and coinage. The majority of the \
securities acquired were State Loans or
National Defense Bonds. Since a new
high of L13,576,136 of money in circula-
tion was achieved at the end of this past l
June, that meant that at least LI 1,000,000
—almost covering the cost of a day’s war
for Britain—was invested in the collateral
reserve; and this was almost exactly
L7,000,000 more than on the outbreak of
the war.
This story of the Yishuv’s contribution
to the British war effort—the industrial,
the agricultural, the financial and most of
all the human contribution—is one which
cannot be overstressed. The facts and
figures now being carefully compiled on
the minutiae of Palestine Jewry’s actual^
participation in this war for democracy '
will not be permitted to slip int</oblivion
in the awesome aura of the peace table.
The Yishuv has earned the right to con-
tribute a Jewish Army now—and to be
assured a real and legally recognized Jew-
ish National Home in Palestine after the
war. ,
TALK BEGINS FOR 1942 UNITED JEWISH APPEAL
New York (JPS)—The agreement for the 1941 United Jewish
Appeal includes a provision that discussion of a 1942 program to
raise funds for the Joint Distribution Committee, the United Pales-
tine Appeal and the National Refugee Service shall be undertaken
not later than October 31st, 1941, it was pointed out here by com-
munal observers as the 1941 Allotment Committee of the United
Jewish Appeal concluded its hearings.
Out of an original sum of $8,800,000 distributed between the three
groups, the J. D. C. was alloted«
BRITAIN DECORATES JEWISH
OFFICER WITH O. B. E.
London—Cap. Hayman Harold
Samson, a Jewish officer in the
South African Medical Corps, re.
cently was decorated with the
Order of the British Empire in
recognition of his war services.
The O. B. E. is awarded for dis-
tinguished public service.
This British decoration has be-
come increasingly important since
it was first created in 1917. Or-
iginally restricted to civilians, the
Order of the British Empire was
expanded in 1918 to include a
Military Division as well.
Test Happiness”
IN TWO ACTS
Taylor School
AUDITORIUM
ISM LOUISIANA
|Sunday
Nov. 16,8:30 pjn.
— TICKETS —
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SCHWARTZBERGS
RESTAURANT
711 Preston Capitol M13
LEON’S DELICATESSEN
IMS v*1* Capitol ISM
$4478,000, the U. P. A. $24*5,000
and the N. R. S. $2,000,000. The
seven-man Allotment Committee
consisted of Frederick Greenman,
New York lawyer, as Chairman;
Dr. Aba Hillel Silver, Cleveland,
and Charles J. Rosenbloom, Pitts-
burgh, for the U. P. A., Harold
Linder and Dr. Solomon Lowen-
stein, New York, for the J. D. C.,
Amos Deinard, Minneapolis, and
Samuel Markell, Boston. Green-
man, Deinard and Markell rep-
resented Welfare Fund communi-
ties, Dpvid Sulzberger represented
the N. R. S.
The totals thus far allocated are
as follows: $5450,000 for the J. D.
C„ $3425,000 for the U. P. A.
and $2,750,000 for the N. R. S.,
with the understanding that
$50,000 for the latter is a con-
tingent item to be redistributed
by the Allotment Committee in
the event that a specific project
cannot be carried out
The 1940 United Jewish Appeal
resulted in an allotment of funds
to the three organizations as fel-
lows: $6,050,000 to the J.. D. C.,
$2,900,000 to the U. P. A. and
$3,400,000 to the N. R S.
It is understood that Professor
Eli Ginzberg, Columbia University
economist who acted as Research
Director for the Committee, stres-
sed the inadequate contributions
of American Jewry to the United
Jewish Appeal as a handicap to
the fulfillment of essential obli-
gations. - * .
ROME BROADCASTS TO
ARABS TO COUNTERACT
SMUTS* TALK
Geneva (JPS)—In an attempt
to counteract the speech of Jan
Christian Smuts, Prime Minister
of the Union of South Africa who
declared in a broadcast to Pales-
tine that “the Balfour Declara-
tion will live" on the occasion
of its 24th anniversary, the Rome
radio declared to its'Arab listen-
ers in an Arabic broadcast that
all the Arabs are pro-Axis and
that they do not recognize either
the Balfour Declaration or the
Palestine Mandate.
U /tut,
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White, D. H. Jewish Herald-Voice (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 36, No. 39, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 13, 1941, newspaper, November 13, 1941; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1101907/m1/4/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 12, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .