The Israel Government will inform all powers maintaining friendly relations with Iraq of the treatment of the Jews in that country, Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett told the Knesset tonight.
In a review of the situation, the Foreign Minister reported to the Parliament that the bank accounts of Jews in Iraq had been frozen, that all moveable property had been taken from the Jews, that prospective emigrants were being tortured and persecuted and that reports were current that the Iraq Government intended to place all Jews registered for emigration in concentration camps pending their transfer.
The Foreign Minister announced that Israel had informed the United Nations that the value of Jewish property frozen in Iraq by recent government decrees would be taken into account in the final settlement of compensation that Israel had undertaken to pay to the Arabs who fled from Palestine.
He told the house that the government warmly greeted the “exiles of Babylon” now returning to Israel. A total of 104,000 Iraqi Jews had registered for transfer to the Jewish state, he said, of whom 40,000 had already been transferred leaving 64,000 awaiting transportation.
The government, Sharett declared, is making every effort to increase the present rate of emigration so as to clear all the Jews registered for emigration out of Iraq before the end of May. He said that the Jews in Iraq are at the point of starvation. The immigrants arriving from Bagdad, he reported, come hungry and exhausted.
1,000 JEWS WILL BE TRANSPORTED DAILY FROM IRAQ TO ISRAEL
The Knesset’s debate on the budget was shelved to permit the Foreign Minister to make his statement on Iraq. When he concluded, spokesman for all parties made declarations supporting the government’s move to aid the Iraq Jews and calling for the strongest possible measures. A sensation was caused by the Arab Communist deputy, Tewfik Tobi, who assailed Iraq’s “reactionary racial discriminatory policy” and warned that it was hurting the cause of the Arabs everywhere.
Arrangements to step up the Bagdad-Lydda airlift were completed today. With planes shuttling from Bagdad to Lydda Airport three times daily, it is expected that, beginning tomorrow, the airlift will move 1,000 refugees a day. At that rate, it is expected, the operation can be completed before the end of May provided that there are no further interruptions such as occurred yesterday. Airlift planes were grounded yesterday for 19 hours by order of the Iraqi authorities. No explanation was given.
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