Wjc Charges Ruthless Persecution of Syrian Jews; Appeals to UN Human Rights Body

In a letter to Ambassador Andres Aguilar, chairman of the United Nations Human Rights Commission now meeting in Geneva, the World Jewish Congress called on the Commission to give priority to the item on its agenda dealing with the right to emigrate and to ensure that it will be reached before the meeting adjourns. In the letter, Dr. Maurice L. Perlzweig, who is representing the WJC at the meeting, charged that in some Arab states “the pitiful and defenseless remnants of once great communities are subjected to brutalities which would be incredible if the facts were not fully attested by eye-witnesses.” He declared, further: “The most ruthless persecution is today visited on the few thousand Jews who remain in Syria. They are restricted in their movements, and are not allowed on the streets at night. They are subject to arbitrary arrest and to interrogation accompanied by torture which often results in paralysis or insanity.” Syrian Jews, said Dr. Perlzweig, “maintain a precarious existence in an atmosphere of sustained hostility, stimulated by an educational system whose textbooks are disfigured by the ancient and irrational prejudices of a vicious anti-Semitism. And by a special refinement of cruelty the Jewish children are compelled to use these textbooks.” The appeal took the form of a letter to the chairman of the Commission because under existing arrangements, representatives of non-governmental organizations are not permitted in oral statements or written submissions to make critical references to a specific government.