Jewish Congress Appeals to Eisenhower to Save Egyptian Jewry

The American Jewish Congress has renewed its appeal to President Eisenhower to intervene with the Nasser regime to halt the Egyptian Government’s policy of oppression aimed against its Jewish population. The American Jewish Congress also called upon the United States delegation to the United Nations to “take the lead in the General Assembly” in pressing for action against Egypt’s violations of fundamental human rights and urged the U. S. Government to offer haven to Jewish expellees from Egypt.

These three actions were advocated in a report disseminated at a two-day Conference on International Affairs which concluded here last night. In presenting the report, Dr. Joachim Prinz, chairman of the AJC Commission on International Affairs and on Israel, cited up-to-date evidence that the anti-Jewish campaign in Egypt is continuing, and warned that “unless the free world acts decisively and immediately, the Jewish community of Egypt is doomed.”

The document, issued in the form of a “Black Record,” cites a mass of data, including eye-witness accounts of victims of Egyptian persecution. It deplores the failure of the United Nations to take any public action with respect to the protection of the human rights of Egyptian Jewry despite the fact that Egypt’s anti-Jewish program is a contravention of the Geneva Convention of 1949, of which Egypt is a signatory.

The American Jewish Congress report also expressed disappointment at the failure of the American Government, both in and out of the United Nations, to press vigorously for action that would end the persecution of Jews in Egypt. “The conscience of the American people has been outraged by Egypt’s persecution of an innocent and powerless minority and by its flagrant assault on those principles of freedom and human dignity all free nations cherish. Civic groups, church bodies, and labor and professional associations have urged the United States to take more effective diplomatic action than it has thus far,” the report stated.

Pointing out that the American Jewish Congress since early last December has addressed several appeals for remedial measures to President Eisenhower, the Secretary of State and Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, the “Black Record” concludes with the following AJC suggestions:

“1. The President of the United States should remind the Government of Egypt directly of its obligation as a member of the United Nations and of the civilized community to abandon its present course of inhuman oppression of its Jewish population, to cease and desist from its acts of arrest, economic strangulation, persecution and deportation.

“2. The U. S. delegation to the United Nations should take the lead in the General Assembly in calling for action consistent with the Charter of the United Nations and with the several international compacts to which Egypt is a signatory that expressly guarantee respect for fundamental human rights.

“3. The Government of the United States should extend this country’s tradition of sanctuary and haven to the Egyptian refugees. It should use the existing authority exercised by the Attorney-General under the immigration laws on behalf of Hungarian of ugees in a similar fashion on behalf of those Jews and stateless persons in Egypt who have been deported or compelled to leave.”