Responding to reports that seven Jews were killed a week ago in Baghdad, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and the American Zionist Federation termed this cold-blooded murder.
Jacob Stein, chairman of the Presidents Conference, accused the government of Iraq today of “committing genocide” against the remaining Jewish community in Baghdad. In a telegram to Secretary of State William P. Rogers, Stein urged the U.S. diplomat to intercede with Iraqi officials and “demand an end to the murders, the kidnappings and the arrests that are destroying what remains of the Iraqi Jewish community.”
Continuing, Stein said: “The silence of responsible Iraqi officials in response to repeated demands for information about the fate of the Jewish prisoners must call forth upon that government the most severe condemnation for barbarism and brutality that shock the human conscience.”
Rabbi Israel Miller, president of the AZF, said he was “shocked and horrified” at the reported cold-blooded murder of the seven Jews. He told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that “this act of bestiality brings sharply into focus the plight of Jews living in despair in the Arab countries.” The world community, he added, “has taken little notice of the brutal treatment of Jews by both Iraq and Syria. “The hostage Jews must be enabled to leave for safety, and nations and people of good will must raise their voices in their behalf.”
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