A young Syrian Jewish woman, testifying under an assumed name, told a Congressional committee yesterday that between 75 and 80 percent of the 4000 Jews remaining in Syria would emigrate to Israel if they had the opportunity. Most of the remaining Jews, she testified, would be those in their seventies and older who feel they are too old to start a new life in another country.
The witness, who gave the name of Simcha Many, told the House Middle East Committee led by Rep. Lee Hamilton (D. Ind.) that she fled from Damascus in March, 1978 by walking during the night and hiding during the day in a neighboring country, which she did not identify. She then crossed the border into Israel where she is now employed as a secretary in Tel Aviv. In making has escape, she said she did not even tell her parents of her plans to avoid possibility of detection.
She said she was using on assumed name to protect members of her family remaining in Syria. Each time a member of her family escaped from Syria, she said, her father was seized by police, taken to jail where he was abused and tortured before being released without formal charges or trial. This happened five times when two uncles and three brothers and sisters fled in about eight years, she said The most important suggestion she could give the committee, she said, is that the Jewish people should be permitted to leave Syria because there is no future for them in that country.
Morris Draper, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Middle East, testified of “notable improvement in the general situation of the Jewish community” in Syria in the post two years, although Jews have experienced ups and downs in treatment. Freedom of emigration, however, remains closed to them, Draper said.
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.
