LXXXIV.

SOME ENGLISH PRESS COMMENTS ON THE LONDON ZIONIST CONGRESS (1900)

_Spectator_: “As to the Jews being able to live on the land in Palestine there can be no doubt. Those who have seen a Jewish colony in Syria will testify to the excellent physical and moral and agricultural results achieved. Merely to see the children there is ample warrant of what is done for the Jew by release from the Ghetto.”

_Saturday Review_: “Restoration to Palestine symbolizes the recovery of self-respect, the reattainment of nationhood.”

_Globe_: “Zionism answers the aspirations of the majority of persecuted Jews, but it is important to those Jews who have become completely assimilated to their Christian surroundings, and who ought to have an interest in the raising of the economic, moral and intellectual status of the mass of their unhappy brethren, which raising of status will necessarily be the first outcome of their gathering in the land of their fathers.”

_Daily News_: “Whatever difference of opinion may prevail as to the policy of the Zionist movement, there can be no doubt as to the intense and fervid interest of those who, at no small self-sacrifice, are doing this work of revival.”

_Daily Graphic_: “Zionism appeals to many sides of human thought, but perhaps the final impression it leaves upon the public mind is something akin to Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones which lived again. Is it possible that the dispersed nation, whose career is one of the standing marvels of history, is about to gather itself again and open a new chapter of its romantic annals? It looks very like it. The movement is in the hands of practical and courageous men; it has behind it a stimulus, not only of subjective enthusiasm, but also of objective strife, and it entirely responds to a practical need.”

_Yorkshire Post_: “The striking feature of the meetings was the unity of purpose and enthusiasm which seem to characterize all the delegates. Persons who speak quite different tongues nevertheless fraternize and grow enthusiastic over the prospect of returning as a nation to the land of their fathers.”

_Leeds Mercury_: “This is not wholly a dream.... Several colonies have settled down within their historic territorial limits. A few of them are already self-supporting. The movement is essentially democratic.”

_Nottingham Guardian_: “The movement the Zionist Congress represents is an important one and it may possibly produce momentous results.”

_Newcastle Courier_: “This movement in Jewry is one which readily commands the sympathy of the outsider. It is the voicing of that inarticulate feeling which has for ages silently swayed and sustained forlorn and seemingly forsaken Jews. The inextinguishable hope and the unshaken faith of these stricken people as to their future constitutes a striking object-lesson in these days of scepticism.”

_Liverpool Echo_: “From every point of view, political, social, and religious, Zionism has much to recommend it, and the enthusiasm with which it has been taken up by many of the most prominent thinkers of the Hebrew race affords the best augury for its ultimate accomplishment.”

_Glasgow Evening News_: “Such a scheme as the re-peopling of Palestine, while demanding careful handling at every stage, must be gradually evolved.... If the Zionist movement creates a Jew with the tastes and aspirations of his forefathers it will not have been started in vain.”

_Glasgow Evening Citizen_: “It is a matter of considerable importance, looked at from what side we may. Should any effective system be found of dealing with it, then the present Congress will probably have operated to the advantage of this country quite as much as to the Jews in whose interests it is being held.”

_North British Daily Mail_: “There is no reason why Christians should not wish them well. The movement should provide a refuge for the Jewish race from the Anti-Semitic hate which pursues them in so many countries, and it should help somewhat to restore to its former prosperity the land of Palestine, towards which the Jewish heart ever turns with love and devotion.”

_Review of the Week_: “Why should not this homogeneous, intelligent and powerful race (the Jews) form a State of their own, and thus free themselves from persecution in other States, and enforce respect for their nationality? Millions of Jews have probably asked themselves this question. Trustworthy leaders having been found, a movement has been set on foot for the establishment of a Jewish centre in Palestine. The idea is glorious enough to take possession even of the minds of such a practical, prudent and commercial race as the Jews.”