Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Mary & Winston Churchill, Lord Moyne, Weizmann and Jerusalem

I am going through "A Daughter's Tale: The Memoir of Winston Churchill'sYoungest Child" who is Mary Soames which my daughter bought for me.

Something I found, on page 102:

That winter [1938] my mother went for another cruise as the guest of Lord Moyne in Rosaura - this time to the West Indies.
I have noted here his dandy life.

Lord Moyne was assassinated in November 1944 by two members of the Lechi.

Churchill had told the House of Commons on November 7 from Hansard:

In particular, Lord Moyne devoted himself this year to the solution of the Zionist problem, and I can assure the House that the Jews in Palestine have rarely lost a better or more well-informed friend. I feel sure the House will wish to express its sympathy with the children and relations he has left behind him, and also may I add, even in this time of cruel sacrifice darkening so many homes, that even those who did not know him will share the pain felt by all his friends at the passing of a charming personality and a good and faithful servant of the State.

and this on November 17:


On Thursday last, my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary gave the House a full report of the assassination of Lord Moyne. This shameful crime has shocked the world. It has affected none more strongly than those, like myself, who, in the past, have been consistent friends of the Jews and constant architects of their future. If our dreams for Zionism are to end in the smoke of assassins' pistols and our labours for its future to produce only a new set of gangsters worthy of Nazi Germany, many like myself will have to reconsider the position we have maintained so consistently and so long in the past. If there is to be any hope of a peaceful and successful future for Zionism, these wicked activities must cease, and those responsible for them must be destroyed root and branch. The primary responsibility must, of course, rest with the Palestine authorities under His Majesty's Government. These authorities are already engaged in an active and thorough campaign against the Stern Gang and the larger, but hardly less dangerous, Irgun Zvai Leumi. In particular, the Palestine police have been loyally and effectively carrying out their duties in the midst of constant danger. A number of persons suspected of active complicity in terrorist activities have been arrested, and on 19th October, 251 were deported from the country, where their presence, with the possibility of a large-scale attempt at rescue, only led to increased insecurity. Since then, numerous further arrests have been made, including those of some wanted terrorists.
I am satisfied that the Palestine authorities have all the powers necessary to enable them to deal with the situation. They will, with the help of the military 2243 and the close co-operation of the general officer commanding in chief intensify their activities, but it will be realised that although the primary responsibility is that of the Government, full success depends on the wholehearted co-operation of the entire Jewish community. This, His Majesty's Government is entitled to demand and to receive. I have received a letter from Dr. Weizmann, President of the World Zionist Organisation—a very old friend of mine—who has arrived in Palestine, in which he assures me that Palestine Jewry will go to the utmost limit of its power to cut out this evil from its midst. In Palestine the executive of the Jewish Agency have called upon the Jewish community—and I quote their actual words: to cast out the members of this destructive band, deprive them of all refuge and shelter, to resist their threats, and to render all necessary assistance to the authorities in the prevention of terrorist acts, and in the eradication of the terrorist organisation. These are strong words, but we must wait for these words to be translated into deeds.


That "cooperation" was the infamous 'Saison' period.

By the way, when Mary married, page 343:

The choir could not rise to anything more elaborate that 'Jerusalem'...

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