In a telegram to United Nations Secretary General Kurt Waldheim, Sol Kanee, president of the Canadian Jewish Congress, and Saul Hayes, executive vice-president of the CJC, said that “Canadian public-opinion is deeply distressed by reports of further murders of Jews in Iraq.” The two leaders stated that the 16 Jews reported murdered by Iraqi security authorities in the past few months “are well known citizens and must be presumed innocent of any crimes whatsoever.”
Continuing, Kanee and Hayes wrote: “We appeal to you to request the government of Iraq to cease these barbaric acts contrary to the norms of civilized standards which offend the principles of the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man. Please urge the Iraqi government to permit Jews who wish to leave Iraq to do so.” The CJC asked Waldheim to confirm his intervention with the government of Iraq on behalf of the Jews.
NEWS BRIEFS
Officials in Jerusalem expressed deep satisfaction Friday at Nixon’s state of the world message in its reference to the Mideast. They particularly stressed the fact that Nixon still clearly believed, as Israel does, that direct negotiations would be the only way to solve the Mideast issue.
Five Moscow Jews staged a silent demonstration Friday in front of the Izvestia offices to protest what they said was Izvestia’s slanted picture of the situation of Soviet Jews. Angry passersby tore up the banner they held, but the Jews were not arrested. The Jews said they had all been denied visas for Israel. It was reported that Soviet authorities refused to permit the Associated Press to distribute through its news wire service a photograph of the demonstration. A Soviet official was quoted as saying that the photograph would harm Soviet-American relations.
A Federal Court judge in Brooklyn denied Mrs. Hermine Braunsteiner Ryan’s move to avoid extradition to West Germany to face charges that she murdered inmates of a Nazi death camp. Judge Jacob Mishler rejected her petition for a writ of habeas corpus, and now an appeal is expected to be filed with the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Sir Arnold Weinstock, a prominent Anglo-Jewish industrialist, was blackballed by Brooks, an exclusive London men’s club. The two members who proposed him–Lord Aldington and Charles Villiers–promptly resigned from the club. Sir Arnold, chairman of the British General Electric Co., identifies himself as Jewish, and while not active in the Jewish community, he supports Israel in an unobtrusive manner. According to election procedures at the club, one blackball can deny membership. Two blackballs were cast.
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.
