May 8, 1947
Reform Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver of Cleveland, an active U.S. Zionist leader, speaks to a special session of the U.N. General Assembly about the future of Mandatory Palestine on behalf of the Jewish Agency as part of a delegation that includes David Ben-Gurion, Moshe Sharett and Nahum Goldmann. Ben-Gurion was supposed to deliver the speech, but his flight to New York was delayed.
Silver played a key role in Zionist fundraising, education and political action throughout the 1930s and 1940s. In 1943 he founded the America Zionist Emergency Council (AZEC), which became American Zionism’s political arm. Under Silver’s leadership, AZEC worked to convince the American public of the need for a Jewish home in Palestine by lobbying public officials. In 1945, he became the president of the Zionist Organization of America.
In early 1947, the British government was faced with increased violence in Palestine, Zionist pressure to allow increased Jewish immigration and pressure from abroad. The British turned to the new United Nations for advice. On May 5, 1947, the United Nations invited both Arab and Jewish leaders to present their cases to a special session.
In the Jewish Agency address, Silver calls on the United Nations to honor the 1917 Balfour Declaration and to recognize the need for Jewish immigration and the ineffectiveness of the Mandate administration. Ben-Gurion and Sharett speak May 12. The United Nations creates the U.N. Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) to investigate the causes of unrest and make recommendations at the next General Assembly session.
