In opposition to the vigorous U.S.A. press campaign in favour of the Jews in Palestine the Central Bureau of the Central Verein, a Catholic American news agency, protests vigorously against the silence of the American Press on Cardinal Hinsley's support of the Arabs, reported in the CAruoLic HERALD Rome weeks ago.
A press bulletin of the Central Verein declares: "It would seem more than passing strange that all press services and newspapers should have so completely ignored a recent occurrence of more than average interest,
" The man concerned is certainly a public figure, his statements were to any thinking man astounding, and the occasion was, to say the least, unusual.
"The • cold ' facts are these: the distinguished Cardinal Hinsley, of Westminster, speaking before the Royal Empire Society, expressed a ' deep sympathy ' with the Arabs, promising ' to help them if I possibly can.'
"NEWS OF THE FIRST WATER" "By any journalistic standard, this is news of the first water. But there are even more striking details. The Moderator of the Federal Council of the Free Churches of England, Dr. Robert Bond, Immediately upon the conclusion of Cardinal Hinsley's remarks, characterised the address as ' Christian and statesmanlike.' Others present at the meeting who concurred in the Cardinal's expression were the Anglican Bishop of Stepney, representing the Bishop of London, and Archbishop Germanos, of the Greek Orthodox Church.
FOR A REASON "Whenever the Press without excuse overlooks so outstanding a news account and accords it no mention, the conclusion is inescapable that it was withheld for a reason. " This story, published in a Catholic daily of Switzerland and the London Catholic weeklies, was apparently held up because the Press in our country has taken a stand on the Arab-Palestine situation opposite to that adopted by the Cardinal. " ' The land of the Arabs belongs to them,' Cardinal Hinsley observed, 'and they are suffering because they feel that they are being robbed if others are given this land or given an opportunity of buying them out of the land.' In scorching terms His Eminence alluded to the ' 40,000 or 50.000 Arabs in communion with the Holy See who have suffered grievously and undeservedly. [Italics ours).
TWO SIDES " The Press in our country has led the people to believe there is only one side to the Arab-Jewish question. But quite definitely there are two sides. "For one thing, England has no moral right to ' unload ' a great number of foreigners on to the Arab people, especially since the small country of Palestine has already nearly four times the number of inhabitants per square mile found in the United States.
"Moreover the Jewish immigrants have literally been forced to supplant those occupying the land and virtually to eliminate them if possible. It should be remembered in this connection, however, the moral law recognises occupation only when land is ownerless. In the present controversy two facts stand out, although they are not generally recognised in this country: racially, both the Arabs and the Jews are semitic; and the struggle is in reality a conflict between Arab nationalism and Jewish nationalism. In addition, it is reported, many thousands of Christians have joined forces with the Arabs in helping them to preserve their homes and repel the in vaders.
A SHOCK " To most newspaper readers the knowledge of Cardinal Hinsley's statements must come as a shock, because the Press has so effectually misrepresented the facts of the Palestine uprising. "And since the Cardinal's remarks would tend to disprove this carefully fostered attitude, they were suppressed, as inconvenient truths so frequently are. The situation leads to one definite conclusion: the conspiracy of silence, to which the Holy Father referred not so long ago, is indeed hard at work."