The position of the 6, 000-member Jewish community of Syria is the worst of any Jewry in Arab countries and perhaps throughout the world, a trustworthy Western traveler, who has just arrived from a tour of five Arab countries, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today.
He said the Jews in Damascus, Allepo and smaller communities were living in constant fear”comparable to that of the German Jews in the early days of Nazi rule.” This fear, he stated, was caused principally by Syrian police who arrest and torture Jews on the flimsiest excuses.
He described the position of Egyptian Jews as slightly improved from the all-time low immediately after the start of the Sinai operation last October. He said about half of Egyptian Jews had emigrated since last fall and the number currently remaining was 22, 000. Reporting that Jews were in greater difficulty in Cairo than in Alexandria, he said the two main Jewish problems were unemployment–Jews having been widely fired from their jobs–and low morale. The Cairo Jewish school, he declared, will be out of funds in four months.
He said he found Iraq’s 5, 000 Jews concentrated mostly in Bagdad and called their position “tolerable,” although they were discriminated against when they sought to travel abroad. Any Jew planning such a trip, he reported, must sign a statement before leaving in which he pledges to return by a certain date on pain of confiscation of his properties for failure to return as promised. Lebanon’s 6, 000 Jews are in about the same position as those of Iraq, he said.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
