International Jewish Parley Seeks U. N. Action on Jews in Egypt

Immediate United Nations action to prevent the destruction of Egypt’s 50, 000 Jews by Nasser, charged with acting on the advice of “notorious Nazis” and using techniques “elaborated on by totalitarian regimes was unanimously demanded today by leading spokesmen of Jewish communities throughout the world.

Meeting in an all day international emergency session at the Waldorf Astorta Hotel, they asked specifically that the General Assembly “request the Secretary General to conduct a full scale investigation of the situation and to report on it to the General Assembly.” At the same time, they called upon all governments to offer asylum to those who have been compelled to leave.

Participating in the discussions were representatives of 30 national organizations, spokesmen for Jewish communities in eight countries on five continents, including the United States, Britain, France, Canada, Germany, Australia, Argentina and South Africa.

In a statement of position unanimously adopted, the conference expressed its solidarity with Egyptian Jewry and warned that “the attack on the Jews only inaugurates a process which is intended eventually to strike down every group which could stand in the way of Islamization and the consolidation of a regime whose ambitions look far beyond the frontiers of Egypt. “

The events in Egypt, they said, “hold a solemn warning for the democratic world. We hope this warning will not go unheeded. ” Hitler, too, they underscored ‘began his campaign of genocide by singling out the Jews as his first victim. Thereafter he proceeded against men, women and children of all faiths. Nasser seems bent on pursuing the same strategy if his hand is not stayed”

U. N. PRESTIGE WOULD SUFFER IF ACTION IS NOT TAKEN, GOLDMANN SAYS

The discussions which preceded the adoption of the statement were led by Dr. Nahum Goldmann, president of the Jewish Agency; Baron Alan de Rothschild of the Conseil Representatif des Juifs de France; Barnett Janner, Member of the British Parliament, for the Board of Deputies of British Jews; Sydney Einfeld of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry; Levi Becker of the Canadian Jewish Congress; Dr. Israel Goldstein, president of the American Jewish Congress and Irving Engel, president of the American Jewish Committee.

Dr Goldmann, who presided, compared the Nasser and Hitler programs, and warned: “Twelve years after the defeat of Nazism, we are again in the unhappy position of warning the world that if Nasser is not stopped the moral order everywhere will be placed in the gravest jeopardy. Failure by the United Nations to stay the hand of Nasser and to mobilize all the moral resources at its command, to halt the persecution of Egyptian Jewry would result in the decline of UN prestige. “

Presenting a bill of particulars on the fate that has over taken the once prosperous community of ” 50,000, the conference charged that Egyptian denials are “calculated deceptions and that the Egyptian Government is: pillaging and decimating its Jewish community; arresting Jews in droves without charge or judicial process; interning them under inhumane conditions; and expelling them, but demanding signed statements that they left voluntarily, and denuding expellees of all possessions, except trivial sums

The conference also charged Egypt with taking hostages from every Jewish family to silence those who have escaped; sequestering Jewish property (estimated value $450, 000, 000); deliberately impoverishing the Jews by denial of means of livelihood dismissing Jews from all public posts and services, and withdrawing the right to practice from Jewish professionals including doctors, dentists, lawyers, etc A once prosperous community has been reduced to penury, charged the group. “Only the efforts of the International Red Cross and other philanthropic bodies stand between them and starvation, ” while the principal preoccupation is with escape, the conference stated.

Delegations coming from abroad included representatives of Alliance Israelite University (France); Anglo- Jewish Association; Board of Deputies of British Jews; British Section – World Jewish Congress, all of Britain; Canadian Jewish Congress, Central British Fund, Conseil Representatif des Juifs de France; Council for the Protection of the Rights and interests of Jews from Germany; Delegacion de Asociaciones Israelitas Argentinas (DAIA); Executive Council of Australian Jewry, South African Jewish Board of Deputies; and Fond Social Juif Unifie de Paris.

The American Jewish Community was represented by spokesmen for the American Jewish Committee; American Jewish Congress; American Trade Union Council for Labor Israel; American Zionist Committee for Public Affairs; American Zionist Council B’nai B’rith; Central Committee Labor Zionist Organization of America; Hadassah Jewish Agency for Palestine; Jewish Labor Committee; Jewish War Veterans of the United States; Mizrachi Organization of America; National Community Relations Advisory Council; National Council of Jewish Women; Union of American Hebrew Congregations; Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America; United Synagogue of America and the Zionist Organization of America.