President Nixon was urged today to intervene personally on behalf of Jews in Iraq and Syria. A resolution will be introduced in the House of Representatives tomorrow calling for an extension of the Attorney General’s parole authority so that Jews from those countries can be admitted to the United States. Pennsylvania’s two Senators, Hugh Scott and Richard S. Schweiker, and eight Philadelphia area Representatives urged Nixon to intervene personally “to halt the inhuman treatment of Jewish minorities in Iraq and Syria.”
In a letter to the President, the bi-partisan group said it recognized that the United States government does not have diplomatic relations with Iraq and Syria and that the State Department has “made substantial efforts” on behalf of the Jews in those two countries. “Now, however,” the letter added, “is a time when your personal intervention would be extremely helpful. We urge you to use your good offices, through whatever means you consider appropriate, to aid these helpless persons.”
Rep. Edward I. Koch (D.NY) postponed until tomorrow his introduction in the House of a resolution condemning the Iraqi and Syrian governments “for their harsh and inhuman treatment of their Jewish countrymen” and urging extension of the Justice Department’s parole authority to admit Jews from those two countries into the U.S. Fourteen other Congressmen from 10 states are co-sponsors of the resolution. Both the letter to the President and the resolution referred to the hangings in 1969 of Iraqi Jews and the reported recent executions in an Iraqi prison of nine or ten Jews.
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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.
