Garelik Calls for Diplomatic, Economic Sanctions Against Arab Nations, USSR Until Jews There Are Tre

Sanford Garelik, president of the City Council, called last night for diplomatic and economic sanctions against Syria, Iraq and “even the Soviet Union” until Jews in those countries “are treated with the fairness, dignity and equality that is their due.” Garelik was one of a number of high ranking city officials and Congressmen addressing a rally of some 4,000 Jews at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza opposite the United Nations to protest the oppression of Jews in Syria.

“Our job here this evening and every hour of every day is to shake the conscience of the world,” Garelik said. “We must make every individual everywhere conscious of the plight of Syrian Jews–conscious of the unspeakable horrors they endure. To be guilty of silence now is to be guilty of crimes against humanity,” he said, adding: “No nation guilty of such shocking immoralities should be permitted to be a member of the world community of nations in the United Nations.”

Sen. Henry M. Jackson (D., Wash.) sent a message to the rally in which he declared that “The attempted exodus of Jews from Syria has come about because the Syrian government has refused to protect the rights of its Jewish citizens who are forced to live under constant threat of imprisonment and physical assault. Americans must draw upon our traditions of freedom and respect for law in registering before the world community an indictment of the Syrian government for its treatment of its Jewish citizens.”

Congressman Bertram L. Podell (D.,N.Y.) urged George Bush, US Ambassador to the UN, to speak out in that international body in condemnation of Syria’s actions, which he described as “nothing short of spiritual and cultural genocide.” He further urged the Nixon administration to “Put aside its ‘even handed’ Middle East policy and speak out against the Syrian tyrants. There can be no ‘even handedness’ when Jews are languishing in Arab dungeons.”