The Jews of Algeria would be despised if they yielded to demands of the FLN, the Algerian rebel organization, to deny their French citizenship, the Algerian Jewish Committee for Social Studies warned in a statement today. The statement was issued after the FLN called on Algerian Jews to affirm as Algerians their adherence to the cause of independence from France.
The Jewish committee stressed that the Jewish collectivity of Algeria was not a political or juridical entity and that therefore no group could speak in its name “but nothing nor no one can dispute the factual and legal position” that Jews are French citizens. The statement added that Algerian Jews had always struggled for their French citizenship and have always been attached to it.
The statement also noted that Algerian Jews, faithful to their traditions, had always called for complete equality and peace among all elements of the Algerian population.
Considerable damage was caused last week when a bomb exploded near the premises of a Jewish photographer in Algiers. The proprietor of the establishment, whose name was not given, is highly esteemed by the local Jewish community for his work on behalf of the United Jewish Appeal and the Keren Haycsod.
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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.
