Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett today handed to the U.S. Ambassador and British Minister here a note reviewing the situation of the Jews in Iraq and informing the American and British Governments of the decision of the Israel Government to retaliate against Iraq’s freezing of Jewish property in the final settlement of compensation that the Jewish state has agreed to pay to Arabs who fled from Palestine.
The Jewish Agency executive today discussed a plan presented by Levi Eshkol, treasurer, for the immediate erection of 20,000 barracks to house the thousands of Jews who will be taken out of Iraq and brought to Israel on planes at an average daily rate of 1,000 immigrants. Carrying out this plan would cost the Agency about $21,000,000.
Berl Locker, chairman of the Jewish Agency executive, reported on his talk with a delegation of Iraq Jews now living in Israel. Following the report, the executive decided that the joint Coordination Committee of the Jewish Agency and the Israel Government should meet to consider urgent measures necessary to alleviate the situation of the Jews in Iraq and to hasten their transfer to the Jewish state.
2,000 JEWS FROM IRAQ DEMONSTRATE IN TIBERIAS; ASK ISRAEL TO RESCUE RELATIVES
Two thousand Jews from Iraq demonstrated today before the government buildings in Tiberias in a demand for Israel Government action to rescue their brethren in Iraq. The demonstrators carried banners with the slogan, “Save our brethren from the second Hitler-Haman.” A delegation was received by the district commissioner who assured its members that the Israel Government was doing everything possible to aid the Jews remaining in Iraq.
A 19-hour interruption in the Bagdad-Lydda air service on Sunday was explained today as due to the inability of the Iraqi authorities to cope with the large number of applicants for travel documents. Assurances have been given, it was reported here, that in the future, the formalities attendant on the emigration of the Iraqi Jews, will keep pace with the requirements.
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