Ben Gurion said Jewish state was primary goal
The Stratton bill of April 1 1947 proposed to admit up to 4000,000 refugees of all faiths, including Jewish holocaust survivors, into the US but Zionists refused to support the bill. Other possible sanctuaries were also ignored because saving Jewish lives appeared to take second place to building a Jewish state in Palestine.
This was outlined by David Ben Gurion not long after the Evian conference of 1938 which was established to facilitate the settlement of Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria. On December 7 1938, one month after Kristallnacht, Ben Gurion addressed a meeting of Labour Zionist leaders and stated:
“If I knew that it would be possible to save all the children in Germany by bringing them over to England, and only half of them by transporting them to Eretz Yisrael, then I would opt for the second alternative. For we must weigh not only the life of these children, but also the history of the People of Israel.”
Why did Mr. Meleady, who holds a position in the Israeli Embassy, not include this information.
