The emigration of Moroccan Jews to Israel is an “antinational” act, Hadj Omar ben Abdel Jellil, a leader of the nationalist Istiqlal Party, today told a Jewish audience here. At the same time, he stressed the Istiqlal pledge of full equality of rights for Moroccan Jews, which the party adopted at its last congress.
Addressing a meeting of Jewish Istiqlal members, Hadj Omar, a founder and executive member of the part, said that taking Moroccan capital out of the country must also be regarded as an “antinational” act. He urged the Moroccan Jews to stay here and “help build a better future.” He said that Moroccan Jews could not at the same time be Israeli citizens and Moroccan citizens. Jews should be linked to Israel by religious and cultural ties, he said, but not by political bonds.
He and Andel Khalek Torres, leader of the Istiqlal Party in Spanish Morocco, urged the Jews to join in the “national tasks” of building a Morocco based on democracy and economic and social progress. M. Torres pledged that under the Istiqlal there would never be a ghetto for Jews. Answering questions from the audience, Hadj Omar said that the Istiqlal program included establishment of a national legal code which would be modern in conception, although based on Islamic teachings. It would provide for Jewish judges in the same way as it will provide for Moslem jurists, he said.
He reported that a conference will be held between the Moroccan Government and the Alliance Israelite Universelle in Paris to reach an agreement about the Alliance schools in Morocco which, he acknowledged, existed in some cases even before the protectorate over Morocco. He said it was hoped to gradually come to the point where all Moslem and Jewish children would attend the same school and receive the same instruction, except for special arrangements for religious instruction. He said that eventually the Arabic language would be introduced into the schools and taught together with French. He paid tribute to the Alliance’s educational activities.
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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.
