Syrian Envoy Challenged on Denial That There is an Absolute Ban on the Emigration of Syrian Jews

The Syrian Ambassador to London has denied that there is an absolute ban on the emigration of Jews from his country and has declared that individual applications would be carefully considered by his government. Adnan Omran said this to four British Members of Parliament who called him to discuss the plight of Syrian Jewry. They were Arthur Latham and James Johnson (Labor) and Cecil Parkinson and Tom Normanton (Conservative). Although the meeting took place earlier this year details only emerged over the weekend.

As evidence that Jews were free to travel abroad, Omran is understood to have referred to wealthy individuals he had met shopping in Paris. He estimated that no more than five percent of the community would be interested in emigrating, mostly to join relatives in the United States, there since the 1940s.

However, Syria restricted emigration by professional people in categories vital to her security and economy, but such restrictions apply to all Syrians, regardless of religion, Omran claimed. The Ambassador repeated this in a letter to the Bishop of Birmingham, in which he further stated that Syrian Jews had declined in numbers over the past decade as a result of free emigration in accordance with the law.

The Council for Jews in Arab countries today described Omron’s pledge that individual cases would be considered as “a positive step which should be put to the test.” However, it denied that the restrictions on professionals were relevant to most Syrian Jews. For example, the Council said, none of the 300 of the poor community in the northern city of Kamishli were professionals, yet they had been prevented for years from leaving the country.

As for overseas trips by wealthy Syrian Jews, these had generally been for medical reasons and for limited periods, the Council noted. The travellers had to pay substantial deposits to secure their return and members of their family had to stay behind. The Council also denied that there had been free emigration, as the Ambassador had claimed. Only President Carter’s direct intervention with President Hafez Assad had led to 14 women being allowed to go to the United States last year in order to find husbands.

“We are confident that if emigration were truly free, many more than five percent of Syria’s 4500 Jews would leave,” the Council said. “For example there are 400 women of marriageable age who would leave, as well as many old people.”