Jews Are a Matter of Race? And A 'Final Solution'?

On November 13, 1945, Ernest Bevin, the British Foreign Secretary, made a speech in Parliament on the Anglo-American Inquiry Commission.

Somehow, it was all a matter of "race" when Jews were specifically mentioned:

Mr. Janner
I would like to ask the right hon. Gentleman whether, in view of the statement he has made that the responsibility of the Mandate rests upon our shoulders, he proposes that that responsibility should be carried out until some new policy is adopted; and whether he proposes to insist that that should be in the forefront of any new policy; also if he will bear in mind the fact that, at the present time, there are some 1,250,000 people anxious to go to Palestine, and see what arrangements can be made?


§Mr. Bevin
I would say to my hon. Friend that this problem has been one of the most baffling in the world, and I would appeal to him not to introduce racial feeling. From my point of view, I can assure him that I am struggling to the best of my ability as Foreign Secretary to solve this problem, not, I hope, on the basis of the passions involved in the immediate difficulties now facing us. But I am sure that this House and Jewry as a whole, apart from the Zionist organisations, are anxious to see a final solution. I give my hon. Friend my personal assurance, as I gave it to one of the Jewish leaders the other day, that I will stake my political future on solving this problem, but not in the limited sphere presented to me now.

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