HC Deb 01 February 1939 vol 343 cc193-4
29. Mr. Vyvyan Adams

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that anti-Jewish discrimination persists in the German Reich; that the consequent environment is injurious to the rising generation of Jews and that Palestine is the natural refuge of persecuted Jewry; and whether, in light of these facts, he will now withdraw his refusal to allow 10,000 German-Jewish children to enter Palestine?

The Secretary of State for the Colonies (Mr. Malcolm MacDonald)

I cannot add anything at present to the answers which I gave on this matter on 14th December last.

Mr. Adams

As this is a matter of considerable urgency, may I ask my right hon. Friend whether these 10,000 children could not be admitted now, and an allowance made for this number in any future figure of Jewish immigration into Palestine?

Mr. MacDonald

The whole question of future immigration into Palestine is one of the most important subjects to be discussed at the Conference next week, and we cannot anticipate what the result of those discussions may be.

Mr. Adams

My right hon. Friend does not suggest, does he, that 10,000 more Jews are not going to be admitted into Palestine in any case? Why, therefore, cannot these children be admitted now?

Mr. Mander

Will not the right hon. Gentleman take the earliest opportunity of bringing before the Conference, on humanitarian grounds, the possibility of allowing these 10,000 children to go in now?

Mr. MacDonald

I have already given an assurance that the Government will keep that possibility in mind. I cannot go beyond that.

Mr. Leach

Has the right hon. Gentleman any idea of how many subjects he has now promised to keep in mind, and does he feel sure that his mind will stand the strain?