The Executive of the World Zionist Organization met here today to hear reports from Chairman Louis Pincus about the situation of Syrian and Iraqi Jewry and to discuss problems of assimilation in France. The full Executive, including its overseas members, are in Jerusalem for meetings which will continue for several days, to be followed by a meeting of Jewish Agency’s Board of Governors.
Pincus said that after a period of comparative quiet reports were coming through again of Iraqi persecution of the remaining 400 Jews there, some of whom had disappeared and are feared murdered. The situation in Syria has also deteriorated, he said, with 4000 Jews remaking there forced to live in a ghetto, in conditions akin to the Nazi period. Their freedom of movement is curtailed and their doors are painted with red marks to signify Jewish occupants. Lately some Syrian Jews have disappeared and are believed dead.
The Executive discussed various efforts being made on behalf of oppressed Jews in Arab countries, but details were not disclosed. It was announced that the Executive decided to hold a Zionist General Council session in June 1974.
Members of the Executive voiced concern over assimilation among French Jews and among the North African Jews who live in France. The Executive resolved to strengthen the new French Zionist Federation. The Zionist Federation will be instructed to encourage French Jewish parents to demand that their children in high school be taught Hebrew, Under French law a such a request from parents must be granted.
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