[R-G] 1919: 300 American Jewish leaders presented anti-Zionist memorandum to U.S. President Wilson

[Sid Shniad]

http://www.palestine-encyclopedia.com/EPP/Chapter41_1of4.htm 



Memorandum to President Wilson: 300 American Jewish leaders present anti-Zionist memorandum to the U.S. president 



Morris Jastrow, a Professor in the University of Pennsylvania, stated in his book Zionism and the Future of Palestine that "three hundred prominent American Jews, representing all parts of the United States and men in all professions and in the various walks of life signed a memorandum opposing Zionist aims which they forwarded to President Wilson." (6) It is important to record the full text of that memorandum which was handed to President Wilson on behalf of the signers by Congressman Julius Kahn on March 4, 1919 for transmission to the Peace conference at Paris. 



A statement to the Peace Conference 



As a future form of government for Palestine will undoubtedly be considered by the approaching Peace Conference, we, the undersigned citizens of the United States, unite in this statement, setting forth our objections to the organization of a Jewish State in Palestine as proposed by the Zionist Societies in this country and Europe and to the segregation of the Jews as a nationalistic unit in any country. 



We feel that in so doing we are voicing the opinion of the majority of American Jews born in this country and of those foreign born who have lived here long enough to thoroughly assimilate American political and social conditions. The American Zionists represent, according to the most recent statistics available, only a small proportion of the Jews living in this country, about 150,000 out of 3,500,000. ( American Jewish Year Book 1918, Philadelphia.) 



At the outset we wish to indicate our entire sympathy with the efforts of Zionists which aim to secure for Jews at present living in lands of oppression a refuge in Palestine or elsewhere, where they may freely develop their capabilities and carry on their activities as free citizens. 



But we raise our voices in warning and protest against the demand of the Zionists for the reorganization of the Jews as a national unit, to whom, now or in the future, territorial sovereignty in Palestine shall be committed. This demand not only misinterprets the trend of the history of the Jews, who ceased to be a nation 2000 years ago, but involves the limitation and possible annulment of the larger claims of Jews for full citizenship and human rights in all lands in which those rights are not yet secure. For the very reason that the new era upon which the world is entering aims to establish government everywhere on principles of true democracy, we reject the Zionistic project of a6'national home for the Jewish people in Palestine." 



Zionism arose as a result of the intolerable conditions under which Jews have been forced to live in Russia and Roumania. But it is evident that for the Jewish population of these countries, variously estimated at from six to ten millions, Palestine can become no homeland. Even with the improvement of the neglected condition of this country, its limited area can offer no solution. The Jewish question in Russia and Roumania can be settled only within those countries by the grant of full rights of citizenship to Jews. 



We are all the more opposed to the Zionists, because they, themselves, distinctly repudiate the solely ameliorative program. They demand and hail with delight the "Balfour Declaration" to establish "a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine," i.e., a home not merely for Jews living in countries in which they are oppressed, but for Jews universally. No Jew, wherever he may live, can consider himself free from the implications of such a grant. 



The willingness of Jews interested in the welfare of their brethren to aid in redeeming Palestine from the blight of centuries of Turkish misrule, is no acceptance of the Zionist project to segregate Jews as a political unit and to re-institute a section of such a political unit in Palestine or elsewhere. 



At the present juncture in the world's affairs when lands that have hitherto been subjected to foreign domination are to be recognized as free and independent states, we rejoice in the avowed proposal of the Peace Congress to put into practical application the fundamental principles of democracy. That principle, which asserts equal rights for all citizens of a state, irrespective of creed or ethnic descent, should be applied in such a manner as to exclude segregation of any kind, be it nationalistic or other. Such segregation must inevitably create differences among the sections of the population of a country. Any such plan of segregation is necessarily reactionary in its tendency, undemocratic in spirit and totally contrary to the practices of free government, especially as these are exemplified by our own country. We therefore strongly urge the abandonment of such a basis for the reorganization of any state. 



Objections to segregation of Jews as a political unit 



Against such a political segregation of the Jews in Palestine or elsewhere we object: 



1. Because the Jews are dedicated heart and sole to the welfare of the countries in which they dwell under free conditions. All Jews repudiate every suspicion of a double allegiance, but to our minds it is necessarily implied in and cannot by any logic be eliminated from the establishment of a sovereign State for the Jews in Palestine. 



By the large part taken by them in the great war, the Jews have once and for all shattered the base aspersions of the Anti-Semites which charged them with being aliens in every land, incapable of true patriotism and prompted only by sinister and self-seeking motives. Moreover, it is safe to assume that the overwhelming bulk of the Jews of America, England, France, Italy, Holland, Switzerland and the other lands of freedom, have no thought whatever of surrendering their citizenship in these lands in order to resort to a "Jewish homeland in Palestine." As a rule, those who favor such a restoration advocate it not for themselves but for others. Those whoactthus, and yet insist on theirpatriotic attachment to the countries of which they are citizens, are self-deceived in their profession of Zionism and under the spell of an emotional romanticism or of a religious sentiment fostered through centuries of gloom. 



2. We also object to political segregation of Jews for those who take their Zionistic professions seriously as referring not to "others" but to themselves. Granted that the establishment of a sovereign Jewish State in Palestine would lead many to emigrate to that land, the political conditions of the millions who would be unable to migrate for generations to come, if ever, would be made far more precarious. Roumania - despite the pledges of the Berlin Treaty - has legally branded her Jews as aliens, though many are descended from families settled in that country longer than the present Roumanian government has existed. The establishment of a Jewish State will manifestly serve the malevolent rulers of that and other lands as a new justification for additional repressive legislation. The multitudes who remain would be subject to worse perils, if possible, even though the few who escape might prosper in Palestine. 



3. We object to the political segregation also of those who might succeed in establishing themselves in Palestine. The proposition involves dangers which, it is manifest, have not had the serious consideration of those who are so zealous in its advocacy. These dangers are adverted to in a most kindly spirit of warning by Sir George Adam Smith, who is generally acknowledged to be the greatest authority in the world on everything connected with Palestine, either past or present. In a recent publication, Syria and the Holy Land, he points out that there is absolutely no fixity to the boundaries of Palestine. These have varied greatly in the course of the centuries. The claims to various sections of this undefined territory would unquestionably evoke bittercontroversies. "It is not true," say Sir George, "that Palestine is the national home of the Jewish people and of no other people." "It is not correct to call its non-Jewish inhabitants 'Arabs' or to say that they have left no imageof their spirit and made no history except in the great Mosque." "Nor can we evade the fact that Christian communities have been as long in possession of their portion of this land as ever the Jews were." "These are legitimate questions," he says, "stirred up by the claims of Zionism, but the Zionists have not yet fully faced them." 



To subject the Jews to the possible recurrence of such bitter and sanguinary conflicts which would be inevitable, would be a crime against the triumphs of their whole past history and against the lofty and world-embracing visions of their great prophets and leaders 



4. Though these grave difficulties be met, still we protest against the political segregation of the Jews and the re-establishment in Palestine of a distinctly Jewish State as utterly opposed to the principles of democracy which it is the avowed purpose of the World's Peace Conference to establish. 



Whether the Jews be regarded as a "race" or as a "religion" it is contrary to the democratic principles for which the world war was waged to found a nation on either or both of these bases. America, England, France, Italy, Switzerland and all the most advanced nations of the world are composed of representatives of many races and religions. Their glory lies in the freedom of conscience and worship, in the liberty of thought and custom which binds the followers of many faiths and varied civilizations in the common bonds of political union. A Jewish State involves fundamental limitations as to race and religion, else the term "Jewish" means nothing. To unite Church and State, in any form, as under the old Jewish hierarchy, would be a leap backward of two thousand years. 



"The rights of other creeds and races will be respected under Jewish dominance," is the assurance of Zionism. But the keynotes of democracy are neither condescension nor tolerance, but justice and equality. All this applies with special force to a country like Palestine. That land is filled with associations sacred to the followers of three great religions, and as a result of migrating movements of many centuries contains an extraordinary number of different ethnic groups, far out of proportion to the small extent of the country itself. Such a condition points clearly to a reorganization of Palestine on the broadest possible basis. 



5. We object to the political segregation of the Jews because it is an error to assume that the bond uniting them is of a national character. They are bound by two factors: First, the bond of common religious beliefs and aspirations and, secondly, the bond of common traditions, customs, and experiences, largely, alas, of common trials and sufferings. Nothing in their present status suggests that they form in any real sense a separate nationalistic unit. 



The reorganization of Palestine as far as it affects the Jews is but part of a far larger issue, namely, the constructive endeavor to secure the emancipation of the Jews in all the lands in which they dwell. This movement, inaugurated in the eighteenth century and advancing with steady progress through the western lands, was checked by such reactionary tendencies as caused the expulsion of the Poles from Eastern Prussia and the massacre of Armenians in Turkey. As directed against Jews these tendencies crystallized into a political movement called Anti-Semitism, which had its rise in Germany. Its virulence spread (especially) throughout eastern Europe and led to cruel outbreaks in Roumania and elsewhere, and to the pogroms of Russia with their dire consequences. 



To guard against such evils in the future we urge that the great constructive movement, so sadly interrupted, be reinstituted and that efficient measures be taken to insure the protection of the law and the full rights of citizenship to Jews in every land. If the basis of the reorganization of govemments is henceforth to be democratic, it cannot be contemplated to exclude any group of people from the enjoyment of full rights. 



As to the future of Palestine, it is our fervent hope that what was once a "promised land" for the Jews may become a "land of promise" for all races and creeds, safeguarded by the League of Nations which, it is expected, will be one of the fruits of the Peace Conference to whose deliberations the world now looks forward so anxiously and so full of hope. We ask that Palestine be constituted as a free and independent state, to be governed under a democratic form of government recognizing no distinctions of creed or race or ethnic descent, and with adequate power to protect the country against oppression of any kind. We do not wish to see Palestine, either now or at any time in the future, organized as a Jewish State. (7) 



The full text of this Memorandum was published in The New York Times on March 5, 1919 under the headline, "Protest to Wilson Against Zionist State; Representative Jews Ask Him to Present It to the Peace Conference." The Times stated: 



Acting on behalf of a committee of thirty-one prominent Jews, Congressman Kahn of California, in Washington today presented to President Wilson a petition on behalf of the Zionist organization for the consideration of the Peace Conference. President Wilson acknowledged the petition in a few words and agreed to have the matter put before the conference after his arrival in Paris. (8) 



Although the Memorandum to Wilson was signed by 300 top Jewish leaders, a committee of thirty-one Jewish leaders signed it when it was sent to The New York Times. They are the following: 



1) Congressman Julius Kahn, of San Francisco, California, who was then ranking Republican on the Military Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives; 

2) Henry Morgenthau, former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey; 

3) Simon Rosendale, Attorney General of the State of New York and a founder of the Jewish Publication Society of America and the American Jewish Historical Society; 

4) Simon Wolf, former U.S. Consul in Egypt and representative of B'nai B'rith in Washington who "opposed governmental attempts to identify Jews as a group and was vociferous in denying Zionist aspirations, a matter in which he claimed assurances from President Wilson; 

5) Max Senior, first President of the National Conference of Jewish Charities; 

6) Lee M. Friedman, attorney of Boston, Massachusetts who was later President of the American Jewish Historical Society; 

7) Seligman J. Strauss, Judge of Common Pleas, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; 

8) Morris Jastrow, Jr., "Professor of Semitic Languages of the University of Pennsylvania and the Librarian of the university. One of the most eminent orientalists of his time and a leader in the study of the history of religion, he was the author of more than 200 books and articles on Semitic languages, religions, and literature, and on contemporary political questions"; 

9) Rabbi Henry Berkowitz, the first Secretary of the Central Conference of American Rabbis; 

10) Rabbi David Philipson, a founder and past President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis; 

11) Edward Max Baker, President of the Cleveland Stock Exchange, Cleveland, Ohio and member of the national board of the American Jewish Committee; 

12) L. H. Kempner, Mayor of Galveston, Texas; 

13) Jesse Isidor Straus, president of Macy's Department Store in New York City and later U.S. Ambassador to France; 

14) Edwin Robert Anderson Seligman, Professor of Political Economy and Finance at Columbia University, New York City, founder and past president of the American Economic Society, and Editor in Chief of the Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences; 

15) Jacob H. Hollander, Professor of Political Economics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland and formerly President Theodore Roosevelt's Special Commissioner to the Dominican Republic; 

16) Adolph Simon Ochs, publisher of The New York Times and of the Chattanooga, Tennessee, Times; 

17) Lessing Rosenthal, lawyer and president of the Civil Service Reform Association of Chicago and trustee of the Brookings Institute in Washington, D.C. and of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland; 

18) Abraham Kochland, Jewish leader in Boston, Massachusetts; 

19) Jacob R. Morse, lawyer in Boston, Massachusetts; 

20) Daniel Peixotto Hays, head of the New York City Municipal Civil Service Commission. A lawyer of an old Sephardic Jewish Family in New York, Hays was on the executive committee of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, a trustee and Secretary of the Jewish Publication Society, and President of the Young Men's Hebrew Association; 

21) Louis Stem, National President of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds, President of the National Jewish Welfare Board, member of the Board of Governors of the American Jewish Committee and a member of the Rockefeller Foundation Commission to Study Voluntary Health and Welfare Agencies; 

22) Rabbi William Rosenau, President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and a member of the Board of Governors of Hebrew Unioncollege; 

23) Rabbi William Landsberg, Rabbi of Rochester, New York; 

24) M, C. Shloss, Judge of San Francisco, California; 

25) Dr. Julius Rosenstein, Surgeon, Mount Zion Hospital, San Francisco, California; 

26) Isais Wolf Hellman, founder of the Union Trust Company in Los Angeles, California. He was one of three contributors of the land for the establishment of the University of Southern California. He was also on the Board of Regents of the University of California for 37 years; 

27) Josiah Cohen, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and a life trustee of the Carnegie Institute and a founder of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and a director of the Federation of Jewish Charities of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; 

28) Horace Stem, lawyer who was later Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of Pennsylvania, a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania, President of Dropsie College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, director of the Philadelphia Federation of Jewish Charities and vice president of the Jewish Publication Society of America; 

29) Julius Walter Freiberg, member of the Cincinnati, Ohio Charter Commission and past president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations; 

30) Rabbi Abraham Simon, one of the organizers of the Washington, D.C. Chapter of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, a past president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and a founder of the Synagogue Council of America; and, 

31) Isaac Wolfe Bernheim, distiller of Louisville, Kentucky and noted philanthropist. He was treasurer of the American Jewish Committee from 1906 to 1921. "Particularly hostile to Zionism, in 1918 he addressed a letter to the Central Conference of American Rabbis urging the founding of a 'Reform Church of American Israelites' to consist of ' 100 percent Americans,'"' (11)