A group of Canadian legislators, rallying to a cause swiftly moving up the agenda of world Jewry, have launched the Parliamentary Group for Syrian Jewry to advocate freedom for the Jews of Syria.
The group, formed Dec. 3 in Ottawa, is chaired by Conservative M.P. Bill Attewell. John Fraser, speaker of the federal House of Commons, is honorary chairman.
“Advocacy on behalf of Syrian Jewry will become much more public in Canada with the formation of this parliamentary group,” said Ottawa’s Rabbi Reuven Bulka, chairman of the National Jews in Arab Lands Committee of Canadian Jewish Congress.
A CJC delegation was in Ottawa to meet with the group’s founding executive at the official launching.
The group was to meet this week with officials from the Department of External Affairs to discuss the issue of Syrian Jewry. Representation will also be made to the Syrian ambassador in Washington, who is also accredited to Canada.
M.P. Svend Robinson of the New Democratic Party, one of the group’s vice chairmen, said he would like to see a delegation of Canadian lawmakers travel to Syria. Robinson has in the past been an outspoken critic of Israel’s settlement policy and a supporter of Palestinian national aspirations.
The group intends to launch a high-profile campaign for Shabbat Zachor, the annual day of commemoration for Syrian Jews, which falls this year on March 14.
SUPPORT FROM CABINET MINISTER
As Soviet Jews reach Israel in record numbers, the plight of Syrian Jewry is receiving increasingly more attention from Jewish and other communities worldwide.
Some 4,500 Jews in Syria are effectively being held hostage by the regime of Syrian dictator Hafez Assad.
They are segregated in ghettos and, in violation of Article 13 of the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, are not allowed to emigrate. Mail from abroad is censored and their telephone conversations are monitored.
The Syrian secret police, many of whom are Palestinian nationals fluent in Hebrew, keep a clandestine watch on the activities of the community.
Jews are occasionally imprisoned without trial or disclosed charges and there have been incidents of brutality, torture and even murder against community members.
The Canadian Jewish Congress, through its Jews in Arab Lands Committee and National Task Force for Syrian Jews, has received support from Secretary of State for External Affairs Barbara McDougall.
Canada’s ambassador to Syria, Martin Collacott, personally intervened last June in the case of the Swed brothers, Eli and Selim. He appealed for clemency for the men, who had spent three and a half years imprisoned without charge and were sentenced in May to an additional six and a half years in jail.
Rabbi Bulka feels that “with the help of a high-profile parliamentary committee, the issue will be given more attention than ever before.”
Help ensure Jewish news remains accessible to all. Your donation to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency powers the trusted journalism that has connected Jewish communities worldwide for more than 100 years. With your help, JTA can continue to deliver vital news and insights. Donate today.
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.
