Calling the Committee of Concern “our last hope and our last chance,” Mrs. Gabrielle Tawfik pleaded today for the release of her father, 68-year-old Albert Elia, who is believed to be held by Syria. “All our hopes” lie with the Committee, she told a press conference, referring to the nonsectarian humanitarian organization created to help “alleviate the plight of minorities in Arab countries.”
Elia, secretary general of the Lebanese Jewish community, was reported kidnapped by terrorists last Sept. 6 between his home and his synagogue office. Since then, Mrs. Tawfik said, she has learned reliably from the Lebanese government that her father is imprisoned in Syria. The Damascus government has repeatedly denied this.
According to Mrs. Tawfik’s information, Arab extremists believed Elia was illegally aiding the emigration of Syrian Jews to Lebanon, and wanted to end his influence. “Admittedly he helped these people,” she said, “but his was no political organization. He was a humanitarian, and he acted as a Jew on behalf of a compassionate community.”
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