The existence since May, 1948, of a “general reign of terror directed against residents of Egypt who are citizens of foreign countries, non-Moslems and Jews” was charged in a press interview today by Joseph M. Proskauer, president of the American Jewish Committee; Jacob Blaustein, chairman of the organization’s executive committee; and Joel D. Wolfsohn, director of overseas operations for the American Jewish Committee
The officials cited a memorandum prepared by the legal and overseas staffs of the Committee, which pointed out that rigid Egyptian censorship has largely obscured the situation, but that official government documents and reliable eye-witness reports have revealed the nature of government decrees and press-incited mob violence which have in a few months gone far to destroy the security and position of foreign national and of the 75,000 Jews living in Egypt.
The American Jewish Committee officials have called for American diplomatic intercession with the Government of Egypt against these threats to the security and interests of American and other nationals in Egypt and against the invasion of the rights of Jews and other non-Moslems there. Pointing out that Egypt had voted for the Human Rights Declaration and had signed the Genocide Convention at the last session of the U.N. General Assembly, they called for United Nations action against Egyptian violation of these basic charters. They also urged action by this country, saying:
“In common with all the United Nations, the United States has a vital stake in protecting human rights as essential to world peace. In contrast to the recent adoption of the Declaration of Human Rights by the U.N. General Assembly, the situation in Egypt stands as a shocking challenge to world opinion. This issue overshadows the fact that foreign business interests, including those of Americans, totaling $512,800,000 are jeopardized by the reign of terror now prevailing in Egypt.”
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