Jews Made America Go To War

CONCLUSIONS of a Meeting of the War Cabinet held at 10 Downing Street, S.W. 1, on Monday, October 13, 1 9 4 1 , at 5 P.M.

2. In connection with an inaccurate statement broadcast by

the B.B.C. as l o the Moscow Conference (see Telegram No. 1279

from Moscow^ the Minister of Information undertook to circulate

to the War Cabinet a paper showing the present organisation of

the B.B.C. and what it would be a f t e r the intended reorganisation

had taken place.

3. The Minister of Home Security reported that on the

previous night enemy bombing had been widespread in Lancashire

and Yorkshire, but not on a heavy scale. Thirteen people h a d been

killed at Oldham and 200 rendered homeless. The total casualties

reported for the night had been 18 killed and 123 seriously injured.

The War Cabinet took note of the above statement.

4. After a short discussion as to whether the time and place

of meetings of Parliament should be made public beforehand, the

War Cabinet agreed—

To adhere to the present practice whereby such information

was not published in advance.

5. The War Cabinet had a short discussion as- to whether

P a r l i a m e n t should adjourn for a fortnight towards the end of this

month.

The W a r C a b i n e t (

1) Agreed that such a n adjournment was most desirable, and

took note t h a t the P a r t y Leaders would endeavour to

secure its ready acceptance.

(2) Agreed that, in this event, the present Session should be

brought to an end on the 11th November and a new

Session begun on the following day.

6. The War Cabinet had before them a Memorandum by the

Secretary of State for the Colonies (W.P. (G) (41) 105 (Revise)).

The main points in this Memorandum, which set out the results of

consultations with the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the

Minister of State and the Secretary of State for War, were as

follows :—

(i) While the raising of Jewish contingents, p a r t l y in the

, U n i t e d States, would be open to some political objection,

t h e matter should be decided on m i l i t a r y grounds.

(ii) The Secretary of State for War opposed the scheme

strongly on military grounds, namely, that, in the

present Supply situation, we could not spare equipment

for troops of doubtful value.

(iii) As an alternative to refusal, we might accept

Dr. Weizmann's offer if war service of a different kind

could be substituted, e.g., technical personnel of various

types for which

6. The War Cabinet had before them a Memorandum by the

Secretary of State for the Colonies (W.P. (G) (41) 105 (Revise)).

The main points in this Memorandum, which set out the results of

consultations with the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the

Minister of State and the Secretary of State for War, were as

follows :—

(i) While the raising of Jewish contingents, p a r t l y in the

, U n i t e d States, would be open to some political objection,

t h e matter should be decided on m i l i t a r y grounds.

(ii) The Secretary of State for War opposed the scheme

strongly on military grounds, namely, that, in the

present Supply situation, we could not spare equipment

for troops of doubtful value.

(iii) As an alternative to refusal, we might accept

Dr. Weizmann's offer if war service of a different kind

could be substituted, e.g., technical personnel of various

types for which there was a n unsatisfied demand for war

purposes.

The following were the main points made in discussion :—

(1) I t was not possible to defer a decision again. Indeed,

Dr. Weizmann had said that he would prefer a definite

refusal to further postponement.

(2) I t was, of course, open to Jews to enlist in American,

Canadian or B r i t i s h Units, and many had done so. But

it was understandable that the Jews, who had been so

harshly attacked by Nazi Germany, should wish to see

specifically Jewish u n i t s raised.

(3) Although Dr. Weizmann and his supporters were not now

asking that the proposed Jewish Units should be

stationed in Palestine, this demand was certain to come

later on. Some of Dr. WeizmamVs supporters, indeed,

hardly, troubled to disguise the fact t h a t a Jewish army

would be useful after the war in securing a settlement

of the P a l e s t i n i a n question on Zionist lines.

(4) Nevertheless, on balance there was much to be said for

meeting the present demand by increasing the enrolment

of Jews in Palestine. The Secretary- of State for the

Colonies said that the rule formerly in force, whereby

p a r i t y was maintained between Arabs and Jews in the

recruitment of the P a l e s t i n i a n Forces, h a d been changed.

No limit was now imposed. There were to-day 17,000

Jews in the P a l e s t i n e Police and Defence Forces.

(5) To carry this process further would not involve us in any

serious political difficulties; it would save transportation;

and it had the strong logical justification that it

would be wrong to refuse the Palestinian Jews the

means to defend themselves if the war reached Palestine.

(6) I t must not be taken as certain that the recruitment of

Jewish Units for general service would meet with a

favourable political reception in the United States. In

any case, the P a l e s t i n i a n Jews were a better field of

recruitment.

of Jewish U n i t s for general service on the lines

summarised in p a r a g r a p h 3 of W.P. (G) (41) 105.

(b) Invited the Secretary of State for the Colonies to encourage

the enrolment of additional P a l e s t i n i a n Jews u p to, say,

5,000 to 10,000 men, in the military and police forces

i n P a l e s t i n e p r i m a r i l y for purposes of local defence. If

practicable, it would be desirable that a few purely

Jewish u n i t s should be formed, provided that this could

be done without undue publicity.

(c) Invited the Secretary of State for the Colonies, when communicating

this decision to Dr. Weizmann, to inform

h im t h a t the three Defence services in t h i s country were

in urgent need of skilled technical personnel, and that

we should welcome the help to our war effort which

would result from t h e recruitment of Jewish technicians.