Page:Zionism 9204 Peace Conference 1920.pdf/55

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Zionism]
JEWISH COMMUNITY
43

the moderation of present Zionist demands, these may be supported, or at any rate not opposed, by the Board of Deputies and the Anglo-Jewish Association. The irreconcilables formed themselves into a 'League of British Jews' so as to protect each other against the insinuation that they are aliens in the land of their birth, and that, as Jews, they cannot be Englishmen! The League is believed to have achieved no great success; and the Zionists, while denying that there is any ground for their fears, retort that those who wish to stay in the wilderness may stay there.

In Germany the Hilfsverein der Deutschen Juden was founded in 1901 for the relief of oppressed Jews abroad, and ultimately ousted the German branch of the Alliance Israelite. The Hilfsverein founded and supported schools in Palestine, and, largely owing to the liberality of two of its prominent members, Herr Jacob Simon and Dr. Paul Nathan, acquired very considerable influence there. At first it encouraged the use of the Hebrew language as the vehicle of instruction, but eventually it demanded, perhaps at the instigation of the Wilhelmstrasse, that Hebrew should for the most part be replaced by German. This method of German propaganda was attacked in August 1913 by a meeting of the Palestinian Teachers' Union held in Jaffa. Over a hundred teachers from all parts of Palestine attended, and almost unanimously passed a resolution that 'the principles of national education demand that all subjects of instruction shall he taught in the Hebrew language. and this meeting pledges the members of the Teachers' Union to fight with all energy against the instruction of secular subjects in a foreign language'.[1] In January 1914 the new Haifa Technical Institute, which drew its support from Jewry all over the world, especially from America, Russia, and Germany, was threatened with ruin by the bitter controversy which ensued. A suggested compromise only succeeded in fanning the indignation

  1. The German Attack on the Hebrew Schools in Palestine, by Israel Cohen (London, 1918)