15 OCTOBER 1948, Page 1

The Case of Mr. Sylvester

The monstrous sentence of seven years' imprisonment passed by a Jewish court in Jerusalem on a British subject, Mr. Sylvester, is a political gesture which is not likely to encourage a rapid recognition of Israel by the British Government. Mr. Sylvester is an official of the Jerusalem Electric Corporation, one of the five Englishmen

kidnapped by Jewish terrorists on July 6th, subsequently handed over to Hagana and tried on a charge of espionage. The only point established—and it had already been freely admitted—was that the Englishmen in question had kept in touch with other groups of Englishmen in the city by means of radio. No doubt the case would have been dropped fairly early on if it had not been for the atmosphere of neurotic Anglophobia from which all Jewish Palestine, and Jerusalem in particular, has been suffering. As it was, four of the accused were acquitted. The anomalies of the case are almost too obvious to need pointing out. Even if the Jewish Provisional Government Lad any valid claim to jurisdiction in Jerusalem, the manner of the arrest, the nature of the charge,*and the sentence itself Would still be an outrage on justice. The episode is, in its way, as clear an indication as the murder of Count Bernadotte of the powerful influence which the terrorist mentality has in the life and policy of the Jewish State.