A Moroccan Government announcement stating that 4,720 Jews have received emigration passports in the period between July and September of this year was branded today as “without foundation” by a spokesman for the Jewish Agency here.
The spokesman said he did not know how many Jews did receive Moroccan passports during the period, but he stated that “very few have left Morocco.” He charged that the Moroccan Government published “false figures, trying to mislead the public into believing that Morocco is living up to its reiterated promises to permit freedom of movement, whereas it is clear that passports are being withheld from Jews desiring to leave the country.”
As proof of the falsity of Morocco’s announcement, the spokesman pointed to the fact that 1, 230 Jews are still stranded in northern Morocco, unable to leave after they had been caught trying to exit without passports “which they could not obtain.”
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