The Jewish Agency has notified various authorities maintaining contact with Morocco that Israel is ready to accept immediately all Jewish survivors of last week’s Agadir earthquake disaster, it was reported here today.
Thousands of Israelis of Moroccan origin who have relatives in Agadir are urgently trying to obtain information on their kin through various indirect channels since no direct contact with Morocco is possible from here. Morocco broke off postal communications with Israel several months ago in compliance with the Arab League’s anti-Israel boycott.
Israel’s willingness to receive all Jewish survivors of the Agadir earthquake disaster was stressed at a press conference today by Yaacov Tsur, member of the Jewish Agency executive. He termed as “inhuman” the fact that Moroccan Jews in Israel cannot contact relatives in Agadir to ascertain their fate.
(Two-thirds of Agadir’s Jewish population perished in the earthquake and tidal wave, David Moryouffes, president of the Agadir Jewish community in Casablanca, said yesterday. He estimated that only 700 of 2,200 Jewish residents of the Moroccan coastal town survived the disaster. He said he had lost his entire family. He estimated that 80 percent of the houses in the Jewish section collapsed.)
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
