THE ARAB EXPULSION
siR,—Is it not astounding to find in the Spectator a sweeping statement like that made by your correspondent Miss Elinor Moore; " I have it on good authority that every Jew is taught to regard himself as worth more than many Gentiles " ? Does she not know that " every Jew is taught the law of Moses, and that throughout the ages the great spiritual leaders of the Jewish faith, men like Maimonides, Moses Men- delssohn and Einstein, have taken pains to interpret the law in the spirit of humanism, teaching, as the " Sage of Cordoba" did in the twelfth century, the equality of men of all races and religiens ? I suggest that the "good authority " upon which Miss Moore bases her accusation is Mein Kampf.
As to the alleged " brutal indifference of the Jews to the Arab refugees," it is well worth noting that, on the same day as her letter appeared, the newspapers reported that thousands of Jewish refugees. from Arab countries in North Africa arrived in Marseilles "in the most deplorable condition." Jewish relief organisations such as O.S.E. and Youth Aliyah (which has already taken care of thousands of Jewish children from these countries) are " unable to cope with the ever- increasing influx." Without embarking on the controversial political issue of the true responsibility for the wave of hatred and persecution that engulfs the Near and Middle East, I cannot help feeling that relief for the Arab refugees is primarily the duty of the Arab States, some of which, like Egypt, are among the wealthiest countries in the world. But during the war, when I was stationed in Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia, I came to realise that none of these States makes the slightest attempt to care for its own poor. The principal task of the young Israeli State, of course, is to rehabilitate the remnants of the concentration camps, where (as Miss Moore seems to have overlooked) six million of their brethren perished, and to offer a home to those who are still living in insecurity, menaced by " the old Nazi policy reborn," and Miss Moore's letter suggests that even in this country certain elements are not entirely immune to the outworn slogans of Nazi propaganda.—Yours faithfully,
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