In cafes in Paris the British were denounced.
In pubs in London the British were defended.
In Stockholm there were sermons.
In Rome there were debates.
In New York bookies were laying four to one that the Exodus would not sail.
At the end of the second week Ari granted Mark permission to board the ship. Mark picked what he believed to be the ripe moment and arranged it by preset signals. Since he was the first outsider to board the Exodus his next three reports were carried by every newspaper on the front page.
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH EXODUS SPOKESMAN ARI BEN
CANAAN:
KYRENIA, CYPRUS (ANS).
Today I became the first correspondent to interview Ari Ben Canaan, the spokesman for the children on the Exodus. I confronted Ben Canaan with the barrage of British reports maintaining that he was a professional Zionist troublemaker and with other Whitehall accusations. We spoke in the wheelhouse of the boat, the only place aboard not teeming with
humanly Today the children seem still to be in top spirits but are starting to show physical effects of their two-week siege.
Ben Canaan, thirty, and a strapping six-footer with black hair and ice-blue eyes, could be mistaken for a movie leading man. He expressed his gratitude to well-wishers around the world and assured me the children were holding up fine. In reply to my questions he answered, “I don’t care about the personal attacks on me. I wonder if the British added that I was a captain in their army during World War II. 1 admit I am a Zionist troublemaker and I will continue to be one until they keep” their promises about Palestine. Whether my work is legal or not is a matter of opinion.”
I pressed him about the British arguments and the importance of the Exodus. “We Jews are blamed for many things and we are used to it. In anything concerning the Palestine mandate that cannot be explained logically and reasonably they drag out the old excuse that it is some sinister plot of Zionism. I am really amazed that they haven’t blamed the Zionists for the trouble they are having in India. Fortunately for us, Gandhi is not Jewish.
“Whitehall is using that tired whipping boy, the mysterious Zionists, to cover three decades of dirty work, lies to both Jews and Arabs, sellouts, double crosses, and betrayals in the mandate. The first promise they broke was the Balfour Declaration of 1917 which promised a Jewish homeland, and they have been breaking promises ever since. The latest double cross has come from the Labour party, which, before the elections, promised to open the doors of Palestine to survivors of Hitler’s regime.
“I am astounded at Whitehall’s crocodile’ tears over our victimizing of children. Every child on the Exodus is a volunteer. Every child on the Exodus is an orphan because of Hitlerism. Nearly every child has lived in either German or British concentration camps for six years.
“If Whitehall is so concerned about the welfare of these children then I challenge them to throw open the gates of Caraolos to inspection of the newsmen. It is nothing more or less than a concentration camp. People are kept behind barbed wire at machine-gun point with insufficient food, water, and medical care. No charges have been brought against these people. But they are being forcibly detained in Caraolos.
“Whitehall talks of our trying to bully them into an unjust solution of the mandate. There are a quarter of a million Jews in Europe who survived out of six million.
“The British quota of Jews allowed into Palestine is seven hundred a month. Is this their ‘just solution’?
“Finally, I argue the right of the British in Palestine. Have they more right to be there than the survivors of Hitler? Let me read you something.”
With that, Ben Canaan took a Bible from the desk of the wheelhouse, opened it to Ezekiel, and read:
“Thus saith the Lord God; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the nations, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob wherein your fathers abode and they shall abide therein and even they and their children and their children’s children forever.”
Ari Ben Canaan put the Bible down. “The gentlemen at Whitehall had better study their claims further. I say the same thing to the Foreign Minister that a great man said to another oppressor three thousand years ago-LET MY PEOPLE GO.”
The day after his “Let my people go” report Mark followed up with the inside story of Operation Gideon, including details of how British trucks had been used in the escape. British prestige hit a low-water mark.
On Mark’s advice, Ari allowed other newsmen to board the Exodus and they clamored to be let into the Caraolos camp.
Cecil Bradshaw had expected criticism, but he had not reckoned on the furor that had been created. Meeting followed meeting, as for that moment in time the eyes of the world focused on Kyrenia harbor. To allow the Exodus to sail would be completely disastrous now.
General Sir Clarence Tevor-Browne flew secretly to Cyprus to take command and see whether something could be done.
His plane landed in the small hours of the morning under security measures at the Nicosia airdrome. Major Alistair met him and they quickly entered a staff car and it whisked off toward Famagusta headquarters.
“I wanted to speak to you, Alistair, before I took over from Sutherland. Of course I received your letter and you are free to speak.”
“Well, sir,” Alistair said, “I would say that the strain has got Sutherland down. Something has happened to the man. Caldwell tells me he has one nightmare after another. He walks all night long, till dawn, and he spends most of his days reading the Bible.”
“Damned shame,” Tevor-Browne said. “Bruce has been a corking good soldier. I trust what is said will never leave this car. We must protect the man.”
“Of course, sir,” Alistair said.
KYRENIA, CYPRUS (AP) EXCLUSIVE
General Sir Clarence Tevor-Browne of desert fame landed anonymously at Nicosia airdrome last night. Sir Clarence was dressed in civilian clothes and his arrival was marked by secrecy. Tevor-Browne’s appearance on the scene confirms Whitehall’s concern over the Exodus. It could indicate a change in policy if not a change in command.
Mark boarded the Exodus and asked that Karen be sent to the wheelhouse. He was worried as he pushed his way over the crowded deck. The children were looking gaunt and they smelled bad from the lack of water to wash with.
Ari was in the wheelhouse as placid as ever. Mark gave him cigarettes and a few bottles of brandy. “How’s it going out there?” Ari asked.
“Doesn’t look like any change in policy with Tevor-Browne in. The story is still tops all over. Bigger than I expected. Look, Ari, this thing has worked perfectly for you and me both. You’ve done what you started out to do, given the British a black eye. The word I got is that the British are not going to back down.”
“What’s the point?”
“The point is you can top this whole thing off by making a humanity move and taking the ship to dock. We’ll make a big story when the British march them back to Caraolos. It will tear the people’s hearts out.”
“Did Kitty send you in with this?”
“Aw, cut it out, will you. Just look down there at those kids. They’re starting to come apart.”
“They knew what they were in for.”
“There’s another thing, Ari. I’m afraid we’ve hit the mark with this story. We’re on top now, but tomorrow Frank Sinatra may unload a left hook on some columnist in a night club and we’re off page one.”
Karen entered the wheelhouse. “Hello, Mr. Parker,” she said softly.
“Hello, honey. Here’s a letter from Kitty and a package.”
She took the letter and gave Mark one for Kitty. She refused the package as she had refused all the other packages.