State Dept, Challenged on Plight of Syrian Jews

The Committee for the Rescue of Syrian Jewry has challenged a recent assertion by the State Deportment that there is “no verified instance of torture against a member of the Syrian Jewish community and that there are no Syrian Jews presently in detention.” Abe Dwek, president of the Brooklyn-based group, said that in fact, “since 1976 when some restrictions were lifted, no improvement has occurred in the general situation of the Jewish community in Syria, quite to the contrary, the situation has recently been worsening.”

Dwek made his remarks in a letter to Sen. William Brodley (D. NJ), who had conveyed the State Department’s report to the rescue committee. He wrote: “Please be advised that the arrests, detention and torture are continuing. A Jewish man was released from jail with a broken jaw and another with back injuries and mentally deranged. At present there are at least five Jews in jail (Kabariti and Bukai in Damascus, Khafif and a Qamishli Jew, and Joseph Gindi in Aleppo). The latter’s two brothers have just been released after paying $1800 fine each, which constitutes a new penalty in addition to the torture and beatings of relatives and friends for their failure to report to the authorities in advance of the attempted escape.” The State Department report spoke of an “investigation” by the Syrian authorities of the unauthorized departure of a sizeable number of Jews from Syria in the latter months of 1978.

Dwek said his group was “deeply concerned that the Administration’s low key approach to the issue of Syrian Jewry has apparently been interpreted by the Syrian authorities as U.S. acquiescence to the Syrian policy of holding 5000 helpless Jews as hostages in the conflict with Israel.”