Carter Asked to Apply His Human Rights Policy to Syrian Jewry

Abe Dwek, president of the Committee for the Rescue of Syrian Jewry, has asked the Carter Administration to intervene on behalf of the 4500 oppressed Jews in Syria. “In view of the Carter Administration’s outspoken policy on human rights around the world, we wonder why it has failed to speak out on the plight of Syrian Jewry,” Dwek said.

He noted that “Syria is the only country in the world which maintains a total ban on Jewish emigration while non-Jewish Syrians are readily able to emigrate.” Accusing the Syrian regime of “flagrant disregard of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” Dwek declared: “It is high time for the leading nation of the free world to express concern over this legitimate humanitarian issue and to call on the Syrian government to permit these hapless people to emigrate to the United States.”