The Southern Jewish weekly. [volume], May 21, 1948, Image 1

About The Southern Jewish weekly. [volume] (Jacksonville, Fla.) 1939-1992

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AW INDEPENDENT WEEKLY SERVING AMERICAN CITIZENS OF JEWISH FAITH
THE OLDEST AND MOST WIDELY CIRCULATED JEWISH PUBLICATION IN THIS TERRITORY
VOL. 24 - NO. 17
Many Southern Communities to Proclaim Jewish State Day
Capital Spotlight
by CHARLOTTE WEBER
(Copyright, 1948, JTA, Inc.) j
WASHINGTON—
The House Foreign Affairs
Committee hearings on Palestine,
which will probably begin next
week, should be a good gauge to
Congressional thinking on the dif
fleult problem of the Holy Land.
For, although many millions of
words have been spoken on the
floors of Congress on the Palestine
question, neither the American
people ror our policy makers have
any definite idea of how far or
in what way Congress would be
willing to commit the resources of
this country to creating a solution
for the problem.
Chairman of the Committee
Charles A. Eaton, announcing the
decision to hold hearings on Pal
estine, said they would “reopen
the question of the U. N. and its
ihHtty to maintain peace and pre
vent aggression.” They would
ilso, he said, cover the question
*f what role the U. S. would be
(tiled upon to take, including the
question of whether or not to lift
the embargo on shipment of arms
t» the Middle East. Stressing the
Importance of the subject In re
htlon to world peace Eaton said:
"As I see it, Palestine might be
Die starting point for another
tar.”
The hearings were scheduled as
* result of pressure brought by a
■Uitant group of about 80 House
who have sought in
•veral letters to President Tru
and Secretary of State Mar
■til daring the past year, to get
*«ne clarification of U. S. policy
• Palestine. Led by Congressman
acob Javits the group asked the
Foreign Affairs Committee to plan
™ale hearings on the Palestine
T tter and to investigate especi
-1 the State Department’s hand
of the problem and relation
the oil interests to the develop
fedtion lnCe the NOV * 29 partitlon
J I Jj t Congressional resentment
ne Administration’s handling
too e problem is extremely high
ndicated in previous Commit
earings on amending the U.
JfarA teF ' Secreta ry of State
U M n! and U ' S ‘ to the
n, ’ arren Austin testified one
J n aiTd afternoon on the U.
reo!!? ! m ' Chairm an Eaton had
to cnnf 6 the Commit tee members
ter I” 6 then,selves to the mat
ask ” . discussion and not to
it nr °‘ Ues^ons °n Palestine ince
tafc. w Set ° ff for - a se Parate hear
ken JavH firmly shushed Congress
men ii 3 morning session
tarv u attem P ted to ask Secre
& N . arshall a Question on the
1,1 the „ f . relation to Palestine. But
ttoabu f ernoon session Ea ton was
Udti 0 con trol the barrage of
hurled at Ambassador
Mayor of Jacksonville
Proclaims Sunday,
Jewish State Day
WHEREAS on May 15, 1948
by proclamation of the Jewish
people there did come into ex
istence the Jewish State of
Israel and
WHEREAS the President of
the United States did on the
same day recognize the crea
tion of the State of Israel and
did thus welcome this newest,
democracy into the society of
nations and
WHEREAS the Jewish peo
ple of the city of Jacksonville
are formally celebrating on
Sunday evening, May 23, 1948
this historic event, and
WHEREAS this demonstra
tion of support and recognition
of the new Jewish State is of
great interest and importance
to the citizens of Jacksonville,
I, therefore, as Mayor of the
City of Jacksonville, do hereby
proclaim, Sunday, May 28, 1948
as JEWISH STATE day In
Jacksonville and do call upon
our citizens to commemorate
this event by all appropriate
means.
(signed)
C. FRANK WHITEHEAD
Mayor of the City
of Jacksonville
Jewish War Vets
Visit Hospital
The Lt. Meyer Leibovitz Post
199, Jewish War Vets of the U. S.,
visited the Lake City Veterans
Hospital last Sunday, bringing
cigarettes, cigars, candy, chewing
gum and other gift items to the
patients.
Awarded Fellowship
-1
isl ®. a
.* * ,+, l|pg» <
pi$: : : : : ; : : : : : : : : : : : : : : ,Vv.
Lr. Reuben Wallenrod of the
faculty of the Teachers Institute
of the Jewish Theological Semin
ary of America, has been awarded
a fellowship for studies in the field
of modem Hebrew Palestinian lit
erature by the John Simon Gug
genheim Memorial Foundation.
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA, FRIDAY, MAY 21, 1948
First President
Os Jewish State
ml '
' s •'*, A 'ryy'
iHHfSaSjkfo v r
Dr. Chaim Weitzmann
Dr. Chaim Weitzmann, 73, world
famous chemist and outstanding
Zionist leader for many years, will
be the first president-of the new
Jewish state, Israel.
His selection has met with
world-wide approval among Jew
ish people everywhere.
He was elected president of the
37-member council of government
this week, which makes him, in
effect, Israel’s chief executive.
David Ben Gurion, Israel’s prime
minister, supported Dr. Weitz
mann.
All members of the new govern
ment except one are Palestinians,
who automatically become citizens
of Israel upon formation of the
new state. The exception is Dr.
Weitzmann, a British subject. It
is presumed here he has accepted
his new post.
The leader of the world’s newest
state is now under the care of a
physician in New York City. The
nature of his illness has not been
disclosed.
Dr. Weitzmann, one of the out
standing figures in world Jewry,
is credited with having played one
of the major roles in the estab
lishment of the new Jewish state,
having fought nearly all his life
for Zion.
His services to Great Britain
during the first World War are
said to have been the basis for the
Balfour declaration of 1917, in
! which the British government
pledged to provide a "national
home” for the Jews in Palestine
after the war.
He is a past president of the
World Zionist organization, which
was recognized by the League of
Nations, in granting Britain a
mandate over Palestine, as the
supreme Jewish authority for the
Holy Land. He was said to have
been one of those chiefly respon
sible for establishment of the
mandate.
' He long served as president of
the Jewish Agency, official spokes
man for Palestine Jews.
Jacksonville Jewish State Day
Slated for Sunday, May 23rd
Jewish communities throughout the South will proclaim a
Jewish State Day for their cities in celebration of Eretz Israel, the
new Jewish Homeland. Many Jacksonville Jewish organizations are
joining together in a special JEWISH STATE RALLY to be held at
the Roosevelt Hotel on Sunday, May 23rd. There will be no admis
sion charge, and the general public throughout this vicinity is cor
dially invited to attend the affair, which will celebrate Jacksonville
Jewish State Day.
I The state of Israel was born last
Friday. The Provisional Jewish
Government, meeting in Tel Aviv
ion the eve of the Sabbath, on the
'fifth day of Iyar, 5708—May 14,
,1948—announced to the world:
“We, members of the National
|
Council representing the Jewish
people in Palestine and the Zionist
movement of the world, met to
gether in solemn assembly on the
day of the termination of the Brit
ish Mandate for Palestine, and by
virtue of natural and historic right
of the Jewish people, and by reso
lution of the General Assembly of
the United Nations, hereby pro
claim the establishment of a
Jewish state in Palestine to be
called ‘lsrael.’
“As from the termination of the
mandate at midnight tonight, and
until the setting up of duly-elected
bodies in accordance with the Con
stitution to be drawn up by the
Constituent Assembly not later
than the first of October, 1948, the
present National Council shall act
as the Provisional Government of
the state of Israel.
“The state will be open to all
Jewish immigrants, will promote
the development of the country
for all its inhabitants, will be
based on the precepts of liberty,
justice and peace taught by the
Hebrew prophets, will uphold full
social and political equality for all
its citizens without distinction of
race, creed or sex, and will guar
antee full freedom of education
and culture.”
The proclamation of the state of
Israel also promised to safeguard
all religious shrines and Holy
Places in Palestine and pledged
the new state to dedicate itself “to
the principles of the Charter of
the United Nations.” The state of
Israel also appealed to the United
Nations to aid the Jewish people
in building the state and asked
for admission to membership in
the international body.
Extending peace to the Arabs of i
the neighboring countries, the '
proclamation called upon the Arab
inhabitants of Israel to return to
j the ways of peace, promising them'
full and equal citizenship and reo
resentation in the state’s bodies
and institutions.
Exactly 1,848 years after the
destruction of the Second Temple
in Jerusalem by the Romans and
50 years after the launching of the
political Zionist movement, the
- centuries-old dream of the re
establishment- of the Jewish state
was realized.
The declaration of Jewish state
hood came at a solemn and for
boding time. Reports of Arab
Gives $250,000 to United
Jewish Appeal in Tribute
To Jewish State
A $250,000 gift to mark the
establishment of the Jewish
State, which was proclaimed in
Tel Aviv on Friday, has been
made to the $250,000,000 United
Jewish Appeal by Abraham
Mazer, New York paper manu
facturer and communal leader,
it was announced by Henry
Morgenthau, Jr., General Chair
man of the UJA.
In a letter to Mr. Morgen-
Mazer wrote that “it
is for me a source of the deep
est personal satisfaction that
this great moment has come
within my lifetime. In this
hour of great celebration, we
are mindful of the generations
who has brought us to this day
have labored and died to bring
this dream to reality.
“On this occasion we pay
tribute to the pioneers who
even today are building this
state on their own bodies. On
this occasion I am impelled to
express my gratitude to God
who has brought us to this day
and to our people who have
been thus rewarded.”
armies poised on Palestine's bor
ders and preparing to strike with
full force at the infant state Im
mediately following the expiration
of the Mandate increased. Mili
tary censorship was clamped down
in some of the Arab states, while
the Yishuv was ordered by the
Provisional Government to be
ready for an all-out onslaught of
regular Arab armies. At this
writing, no news of actual foreign
incursions had as yet reached the
United States, although claims
that “volunteers” were already
engaged in battle with Haganah
in the Negev were made by the
Egyptian Government.
The first major defeat for the
'Jews in the Arab-Jewish fighting
since the U. N. partition resolu-
I tion was announced came hours
before the proclamation of the
Jewish state. Kfar Etzion, five
miles south of Jerusalem, an Or
thodox Laborite settlement that
has suffered numerous attacks in
the past, was captured by heavily
armed units of the Arab Legion
after several days of intensive
fighting. Jewish sources reported
that 100 Jews in the colony have
been killed and wounded, while
Haganah conceded that the settle
ment and five adjoining colonies
had been cut off.
$3.00 A YEAR