[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR:]
Brodrick has done well to explain his objections to Zionism. He now states that his whole contention is (a) that the Jews are not a nation but a religious body, and (b) that uncon- trolled Zionism does constitute a danger to the Britism Empire.
As to (a), Mr. Brodrick has the usage of mankind against him when he imagines that Jews are only a religious body. Every one understands what is meant by a Jewish atheist, or even a bap- tized Jew. Jews born in various countries are distinguishable because they are a race with special mental and physical charac- teristics. Generally speaking, you can with more certainty tell a Jew by looking it him than you can an Englishtnan.
My reference to the German attack on the Hebrew schools in Palestine is decidedly relevant to the issue, because it shows that not only the Palestinian Jews but nearly the whole of Jewry under the Zionist impulse rallied to the cause of Hebrew and Jewish nationality against the ambitions of Germany. ' This language struggle made it abundantly clear that Jewish nationalism wants nothing more in Palestine than freedom to develop on its own lines. It would accordingly resist in the future, as it has resisted in the. past, any attempt to substitute a non-Jewish culture in place of its own. It follows also that British Colonial policy. Which stands out unrivalled for the generous measure of local self-government which it grants to its Protectorates and Colonies, will find in a Jewish National Home in Palestine unstinted loyalty and support, not only from the Jews ot Palestine itself, but from all Jeaes in whom the national consciousness is still alive. It requires a very perverted view of things to see in such nationalism a danger to the British Empire.
However, it is possible that when Mr. Bredrick speaks of the danger of uncontrolled Zionism he merely wishes to point out that Germany might try to profit by Zionism by holding out to the Jewish people all kinds of fair promises. I can readily agree that the intentions of Germany in Palestine need careful watching. Ile current issue of Palestine, the organ of the British Palestine Committee, shows in a very interesting article that the present policy of the German Government is to build up in Palestine a flourishing Turkish province. British policy, on the other hand, as announced by Mr. Balfour, is to help to rebuild a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. It is obvious, therefore, that ZiOTtiRDI iS in full harmony with British policy. A Jewish Palestine, so far from being a danger, is indispensable to Great Britain, which needs a progressive non-Turkish population in Palestine to protect the Suez Canal and the road to India.—I am,
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