Exodus of Jews from Egypt is at Standstill, United Hias Official Reports

The movement of Jews from Egypt has come to a standstill after “many hundreds” were permitted to leave the country in the months following the Six-Day War, Gay-nor I. Jacobson, executive vice president of the United Hias Service, reported today. Speaking at a conference of country directors of the international Jewish migration agency and leaders of agencies concerned with refugees and migrants, Mr. Jacobson said that there were still an estimated 200 Jews in prison in Egypt. He expressed the hope that they would be released and permitted to rejoin their families.

The United Hias executive said that most of the Jews of Poland were anxious to be reunited with their families in overseas countries. “We trust that necessary measures will be taken by the governments concerned to facilitate such family reunion,” he declared. He noted that many Jews in various countries in Eastern Europe and the Middle East faced a “distressing and precarious situation” and said that United Hias faced “serious challenges” in meeting resettlement service needs in the coming months.

Barbara M. Watson, acting administrator of the State Department’s Bureau of Security and Consular Affairs, told the three-day workshop conference that the 1965 immigration law, which takes effect July 1, “removes the last vestiges of racial discrimination in U.S. immigration and fosters family reunion.” She said that under the new law there had been a 60 percent increase in immigration from Eastern Europe, mainly for family reunion. The figure would have been “considerably higher,’ she said, “except for difficulties encountered in obtaining passports and exit permits in many Eastern European countries.”

Harry M. Friedman, assistant secretary and comptroller of United Hias, warned the conference that the agency’s 1968 budget of $2,375,000 “might well be exceeded.”