The international president of B’nai B’rith, the worldwide Jewish service organization, expressed concern here over the increasingly desperate plight of Jews in Iraq and Syria and called for the massive intervention of world leaders.
David Blumberg of Knoxville. Tenn., addressing the annual meeting of the International Council of B’nai B’rith, declared that unless there is outside intervention, it is only a question of time before both of these beleaguered communities–hostages of the Middle East conflict–disappear.
“There is incontestable evidence,” he said, “that the barbaric anti-Jewish policies of these governments stand in clear violation of the provisions of article 2 of the U.N. Genocide Convention, which defined genocide as acts committed with the intent to destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.” Blumberg made an urgent appeal to the U.N. Secretary General Kurt Waldheim and “all friendly governments” to intercede immediately on behalf of the Jews in these countries.
About 50 delegates, representing 40 countries, attended the two-and-a-half-day session. It was the first time in nearly a decade that the Council has met on the European continent.
CAUTION URGED ON PHANTOMS TO SAUDI ARABIA
Dr. William A. Wexler of Savannah, Ga., chairman of the Council urged the U.S. government to exercise caution in its planned sale of Phantom jets to Saudi Arabia and possibly Kuwait. “We recognize that neither nation has been directly involved in the Middle East conflict, even though both have been violently anti-Israel and have supported Egypt’s belligerence and El Fatah terrorism. But the Phantoms can fly from Saudi Arabia to Israel, for the first time, giving the Saudis direct access to Israel. There is always the possibility that the present regime will be replaced by a radical one or that the planes will be transferred to another Arab state,” Dr. Wexler said. “The prudent course for the U.S. is to control the flow and kind of weapon delivered to the Saudis with an eye on the shifting conditions in that volatile region.”
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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.
