Mrs. Meir Calls on UN to Investigate Conditions of Jews in Arab Countries

The Knesset today reiterated Israel’s call to the United Nations to hold a full scale inquiry into the condition of Jews in Arab countries. The call was contained in a resolution adopted at a special session marking the first anniversary of the public hanging of nine Jews in Iraq as alleged spies for Israel. The Knesset heard an emotional address by Premier Golda Meir who declared that “Israel won’t be silent and Jewish blood won’t be wantonly shed.” She recited a long list of atrocities allegedly committed against Jews in Iraq, Egypt and Syria. The Knesset resolution, for which all factions except the New Communists voted, concluded that the only way to end the suffering of Jews in Arab countries was to let them emigrate to countries of their choice.

“In view of the facts given by the Prime Minister, it is imperative that the UN accede to Israel’s request to hold a full inquiry into the fate of Jews in Arab countries,” the resolution said. It expressed thanks to international organizations and foreign governments which have offered assistance and said they would admit Jewish emigrants from Arab countries. The text of the resolution will be distributed to all the parliaments in the free world.

IRAQIS SENTENCED TO DEATH WITHOUT DUE PROCESS

Mrs. Meir said that in addition to the nine Jews hanged in Iraq a year ago, 62 other death sentences had been carried out against Iraqis without due process. She said at least eight more Jews died in Iraqi prisons as the result of torture or were executed secretly and that Iraqi authorities boast openly that they are holding the Jewish population as hostages. Mrs. Meir charged that 4000 Jews in Syria are confined to ghettos and are required to carry identity cards stamped “Jew.” She said 100 Jewish heads of families are imprisoned in Egypt under deplorable conditions. According to Mrs. Meir this is about half of the Jewish family heads remaining in Egypt.

In Paris a French group dedicated to the rescue of Jews in the Arab countries reported that at least 19 Jews were executed or tortured to death in Iraq in 1969 and another 60 being held in jail there are “potential victims. The Committee for the Deliverance of Jews in the Middle East, headed by French Senate President Alain Poher who ran against Georges Pompidou for the presidency of France last year charged that the Jewish communities in Iraq, Syria and Egypt were the target of legal or de facto discrimination in violation of the United Nations Charter. The committee charged further that some of the 81 Jews imprisoned in Egypt since the June, 1967 Six Day War are subjected to torture and beatings and that “the 4,000 Jews in Syria are a captive community living in constant fear of virulent public hostility.”