Clement Attlee

How the British press covered the establishment of Israel – I looked into the newspaper archives to find out

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, May 10, 2023

The mandate had given Britain administration of the territories of Palestine and Transjordan after the end of the first world war.

Key Points: 
  • The mandate had given Britain administration of the territories of Palestine and Transjordan after the end of the first world war.
  • Asserting its “natural and historic right” to a homeland and recognition by the United Nations, the council declared the establishment of Israel.

Eyewitness account

    • The Manchester Guardian’s eyewitness account, which it ran on page five on May 15 under the headline “Natural and Historic Right”, explained why such support was needed.
    • The proclamation of statehood had taken place “in a subdued atmosphere caused by Jewish military reverses”.

Expert analysis of the birth of the state of Israel and the plight of the Palestinian people.

    • The Daily Telegraph reported that “Britain does not intend, for some time, to grant recognition to the Jewish State of Israel.
    • The Conservative broadsheet explained that these would include “definition of its boundaries and the establishment of a government clearly in control”.
    • The UK’s foreign secretary, Ernest Bevin, thought Britain’s duty was to balance US enthusiasm for Israel with diplomatic sympathy for the Arab case.
    • The Attlee government believed that immediate recognition of Israel by the US was unfair and encouraged by American Jewish opinion.

Reports from the US

    • Moments later, the Jewish Agency for Palestine appealed to the security council to call on the Arab states to “desist from aggression”.
    • It was, Cooke reminded his readers, “the UN Security Council’s first experience with an open and admitted war”.
    • He described Andrei Gromyko, the Russian representative to the UN, sitting in “unflurried silence”, while Dr T.F.
    • Tsiang of China asked how the US could “recognise a Jewish State and, at the same time, seriously ask the Arabs to stop fighting”.

Jewish refugee meets granddaughter of Attlee – the ex-PM who saved him

Retrieved on: 
Monday, November 26, 2018

Reunion of a Jewish refugee and the granddaughter of Clement Attlee, who gave Paul shelter in 1939

Key Points: 
  • Paul breathed deeply, as he read the size of the number and whispered: It brings it all back.
  • He had been a 10-year-old when he and his family fled Germany in 1939 only to be taken in secretly by Clement Attlee, who was then leader of the opposition.
  • To add to the piquancy of the occasion, he had just met Jo, Mr Attlees granddaughter - a union both described as an overwhelming experience.
  • Mr Willer, who lives in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, said he and Mrs Roundell Greene had hugged many times.