Algerian Jewish organizations met today in the offices of the Algiers Jewish community and formed a committee to handle requests from Jewish families for aid in plans to emigrate to France as terrorist attacks mounted against Algerian Jews.
A terrorist, presumably from the Algerian FLN rebel movement, shot and wounded Isidor Kalifa in the Bab el Oued area where many Jews live. Effraim Malek, 64, an official interpreter for a military tribunal, was stabbed to death.
During the 24-hour period of last Tuesday, four other Algerian Jews were killed by FLN terrorist. One was Salomon Cohen, a carpenter, who was murdered in Sidi Bel Abbes at the door of the local synagogue where he had attended services. Two others, Albert Attal, an electrician, and Andre Sultan, a pharmacist, were killed on Constantine. The fourth, whose name was not obtained, was killed in Algiers.
Anxiety among Algerian Jews was particularly strong in Constantine where Jews indicated fears that the killings were showing a specific anti-Jewish character. There were 17,000 Jews in Constantine when the Algerian independence effort began. There are now less than 5,000. The others have left for France or Israel or have moved to Algiers where the security situation is considered less hazardous.
The Jews still in Constantine and in outlying small towns also were reported considering emigration, having decided there is no security left for them. An additional factor is the increasing penetration by Moslems into all administrative offices and Algerian trade and industry.
Many Jews have responded to threats from Moslems by packing up and departing out of fear of physical attacks. They sold their homes and shops to Moslems. Growing numbers of Algerian Jews have left for France in recent days. Some of them move on to Israel from France.
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.
