Rep. Leonard Farbstein, New York Democrat, asked Secretary of State Dean Rusk today to continue to pursue the case of Edward J. Levy with the Syrian Government until Syria provides a satisfactory explanation for the maltreatment of the American citizen who had been held incommunicado for almost two years.
Rep. Farbstein, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, stressed that “during the worst days of the cold war, the countries behind the Iron Curtain never treated Americans with such disdain.” He told Mr. Rusk, in a letter, that Mr. Levy should, “as an absolute minimum, be granted adequate restitution by the Syrian Government.
“Unless Syria provides an adequate explanation for its act,” Rep. Farbstein stated, “I feel it is essential that the American Government take full and appropriate retaliatory action. Only such action will remind such countries that they cannot behave in such irresponsible fashion in their relations with the United States.”
Mr. Levy, a resident of New York, is back home now. Syria had handed him over recently to Israeli authorities in a prisoner exchange between the two countries. He had been imprisoned by the Syrians after accidentally wandering into Syrian territory from an Israeli kibbutz, and neither Israel nor the United States knew his whereabouts until the prisoner exchange.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
