— The Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) has declared that the rescue of Ethiopian Jews, known as Falashas, is an “urgent priority” and that it will intensify all efforts to ensure that community’s safety.
This declaration was contained in a resolution adopted unanimously at the CJC’s national executive meeting in Montreal where reports on the situation of the Falashas were presented by Bruce Gottlieb, chairman of the Canadian Association for Ethiopian Jewry, and Irwin Cotler, CJC president. There are approximately 25,000 Falashas who are caught between war and revolution and are subjected to discrimination and persecution, according to spokes-men for the Falashas here and abroad.
The CJC resolved to: intensify all efforts to ensure the safety and rescue of Falashas as a matter of “pikuach nefesh” (saving a life); call upon the World Jewish Congress to spearhead an international effort on behalf of Ethiopean Jewry; and to commend the efforts of Israel and other involved organizations, and to continue to cooperate with them in this regard. The CJC resolution also said it wants to “assure our Ethiopian brethren that the CJC will not rest until the safety and rescue of Ethiopean Jewry is secured.”
Late last year the CJC officers resolved that the CJC approach the National Budgeting Conference of Canadian Jewry to obtain an understanding that funds necessary for the release of Falashas be made available from the organized Canadian Jewish community.
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.
