Israel called on world political and religious leaders today to “act immediately to save the remaining Jews in Iraq, Syria and Egypt” by making it possible for them to leave those countries. Foreign Minister Abba Eban said last night that there would be further trials and executions in Iraq on trumped up spy charges unless all the weight of world opinion is brought to bear on Iraqi authorities. He disclosed that Israeli envoys abroad had been alerted to approach the heads of state and of international humanitarian agencies in that connection.
The Knesset announced that it will convene in extra-ordinary session next Thursday to discuss the situation of Iraqi Jews at the request of the Government. The Knesset is presently in recess.
The Jewish Agency Executive held a memorial meeting today for the two Jews hanged in Baghdad. They were identified as Itzhak Eliahu Dallal, a small shopkeeper and Raphael Yehezkel Yaacob, 55, who was engaged in trade and commerce and was once among the richest Jews of Basra. Both were married. Mr. Yaacob was the father of three children. Chief Rabbi Itzhak Nissim said today that the Iraqi executions were a “warning to mankind” to do something about “a state which lives by the sword and destruction and continues to sit together with the United Nations.”
In Tel Aviv last night, the Association of Iraqi Jews in Israel held a mass rally at which appeals were made to world leaders to help save Iraqi Jews facing the gallows. The names of the 15 Iraqis executed today were not the same as the 12 men and women whose arrest on spy charges was announced by the Baghdad radio on Aug. 17. Two Jewish brothers were in the latter group. Their fate is unknown and it is presumed that they and the other accused are awaiting trial and execution.
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.
