U.S. Informs Egypt of Its Concern over the Deportation of Jews

The State Department officially announced yesterday that it had informed Egypt of U.S. concern about reports that large numbers of Egyptian Jews face deportation from Egypt.

Confusion about whether the U.S. had or had not taken action over reports of Egyptian mistreatment of Jews resulted this week when State Department press spokesmen denied that any U.S. move had been made toward Egypt, while sources within the Department indicated that they had.

Egypt has denied any official mistreatment of Jews as a religious group. According to U.S. officials, Egypt told U.S. diplomats that if there were any excesses, they were committed by overzealous minor officials. The State Department is inclined to believe that if there were any Egyptian mistreatment of Jews it was not ordered by top Egyptian officials. The Department believes further that the situation has improved within the last few days.

Meanwhile, Rep, Isidore Dollinger, who had protested the reported Egyptian deportation of Jews, received a letter from Assistant Secretary of State Robert C. Hill. Mr. Hill told Rep. Dollinger that President Eisenhower and Secretary of State Dulles shared Rep. Dollinger’s concern over reports of “the expulsion of large numbers of persons from Egypt.” Rep. Dollinger had asked that a program be set up to admit Egyptian deportees into this country. Mr. Hill did not reply to this suggestion in his letter.