Political report of the Executive of the Jewish Agency submitted to the ... Zionist Congress and the ... session of the Council of the Jewish Agency · 1937-08-01 · 8.1937 · p. Seite 123

123 speeches referred to in the Report were the customary funeral orations and were not provocative. On the contrary, the Acting Mayor of Tel Aviv addressed the funeral procession and urged the public to maintain calm and dignity in the face of provocation. Two other Municipal Councillors, Mr. Z. Lubyaniker and Mr. D. Pinkus, also spoke. The former said, inter alia : "Our reply to murderers is not an 'eye for an eye' but to build and once again to build". The latter said : "Our work should be continued in complete peace and quietness. We must warn the public against hasty deeds and demonstrations. It is absolutely essential that we preserve calm and refrain from irresponsible acts." After the interment, a young man who was known to belong to the Revisionist Group asked for permission to speak. This was granted to him and he called upon those present to maintain order and disperse quietly. During the funeral procession there may possibly have been a few cries from irresponsible youngsters against the Government, but these clearly made no impression on the crowd. It is untrue that the police were stoned during the funeral procession.. Nor can it be maintained that a party of Jews "started to move towards Jaffa" except in the theoretical sense that by walking down the particular street of Tel Aviv in question it is possible ultimately to reach Jaffa. According to the information of the Jewish Agency, after the funeral procession and interment, all of which passed off peacefully, a handful of young men returning from the cemetery, marched away in a group. This small group was met by the police, who, it is alleged by eye-witnesses, were unduly hasty in using their batons. It was in consequence of this baton charge and then only that stones were thrown at the police. Numerous responsible persons present have made statements to the effect that there was no reason for the police to believe at this juncture that this group of Jews intended to go to Jaffa. Indeed, it would have been incredibly foolhardy for a small group such as this to have gone to Jaffa empty-handed as they were. The responsible Jewish press, whilst deploring the fact that the police had not maintained its restraint in handling the procession until it had dispersed, condemned the handful of irresponsible young men who had acted in a manner which did no honour to the memory of the dead. The only other note struck by the Jewish press after the funeral was that there was a strong feeling prevalent in Jewish circles that Government was not taking adequate measures to assure security of life to peaceful citizens and that it was this feeling which had prompted the handful of youngsters who were marching down the street in question. That the impression conveyed in the Report of there having been a danger of Jews invading Jaffa or making any attack on it was unfounded, is apparent from the Arabic press itself. The "Ad-Difaa" of April 18th (the day after the Khazan