Hias Official Says Jewish Communities in Iraq, Egypt Have Almost Ceased to Exist

Two of the most ancient Jewish communities–those of Iraq and Egypt–have virtually ceased to exist, it was reported here today by Gaynor Jacobson, executive vice-president of the United Hias Service, the international agency aiding Jewish migrants. Addressing the Hias’ annual conference, Jacobson disclosed that in the course of 1971, Iraq finally allowed its Jewish subjects to leave to join their families all over the world with the result that only 500 Jews remain in Iraq compared to 2500 a year ago and more than 150,000 before the establishment of Israel in 1948.

Jacobson said that in Egypt, too, Jewish life has come to an end. One of the last Jews to leave that country was Chief Rabbi Douek, who is being assisted by the Hias office in Paris to emigrate to the US, Jacobson said. The only Arab country where there is practically no progress to report is Syria where 4000 Jews have been deprived of their basic liberties and are held virtual hostages, the Hias official said. He noted that 13,000 Jews were permitted to leave Soviet Russia in 1971, the same number that left during the entire preceding decade. Almost all went to Israel, but about 200 were aided by Hias to emigrate to the US and other countries. Hias assists Jewish migrants whose destination is other than Israel. Jews emigrating to Israel are aided exclusively by the Jewish Agency.

Jacobson estimated that there are tens of thousands of pending applications for visas to emigrate to Israel from Russia. In addition, he reported, Hias has a case load of well over 5000 applications from relatives of Soviet Jews, notably in the US, who want to bring their relatives over.

The two-day Hias conference is being conducted by the agency’s president, Harold Friedman, with the participation of staff and lay leaders. Also attending the sessions are representatives of governmental, inter-governmental and community agencies concerned with refugee resettlement problems. Speakers included John Thomas, director of the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration; James Carlin, chief of the Refugee and Migration Section in the US Mission; Charles Mace, deputy UN High Commissioner for Refugees and Ruth Murphy, executive vice-president of the American Immigration and Citizenship Congress. In a message, Barbara Watson, administrator of the Bureau of Security and Consular Affairs of the US State Department, affirmed the continued interest of the US government in facilitating the immigration of Soviet Jews to the US once they are granted exit visas by the Soviet authorities. She stressed that no Jew or other Soviet citizen granted an exit visa would be stranded merely because of delays in US visa issuing procedures.