British Protest Plight of Jews in Arab Countries, Ask Humane Treatment

Demands that Jews in Arab countries be accorded their basic human rights or be permitted to leave were made here today at a protest meeting on the plight of the Jews in those lands. The meeting was organized by the British section of the World Jewish Congress. Poale Zion and the Association of Jewish Journalists. Itzhak Korn, general secretary of the international Labor Zionist movement, told the gathering that Israel acted on its moral obligation when it urged the United Nations to conduct a humanitarian investigation of Jews in the Arab countries. He said the Arab governments did not confine themselves to persecution of their own Jewish citizens but in recent years had embarked on a massive propaganda campaign against all Jews. The hate campaign is fed to their populations by newspapers, radio and television, he said.

Another speaker, Itzhak Nathani, chairman of the British Mapam Party, said that while everyone must protest emphatically against the inhuman treatment of Jews in Arab countries, Jewry should acknowledge the stand taken by President Habib Bourguiba of Tunisia who not only ended anti-Semitic excesses in his country but urged the Arabs to find a new approach in their relations with Israel and the Jews. Mr. Nathani also praised the Italian Government for its intervention on behalf of persecuted Jews and aid to them.