U.S. Tells Syria It Will Welcome Syrian Jews to the U.s., and Will Make Available Immigrant Visas

The United States “has made known directly” to the Syrian government “its willingness to welcome Syrian Jews and to make available immigrant visas for those with relatives in the United States,” the White House has said in a letter made public today. “Though the post-Munich climate is not helpful.” Richard K. Cook, Deputy Assistant to President Nixon for Congressional Relations, wrote to Rep. Edward I. Koch (D.NY) who had asked for White House intervention for the approximately 4000 Syrian Jews, “I understand that this initiative has not yet been officially rejected.”

In addition, according to Cook’s letter to Koch who made it available, the US has been making “quiet diplomatic efforts through third governments and other organizations to urge the Syrians to allow the emigration of Syrian Jews” and has been “expressing its concern” in the United Nations and other forums regarding their “plight.”

Syria broke off diplomatic relations with the US as a result of the Six-Day War. At present, Syrian authorities are holding an American citizen of reported Jewish origin, Jonathan Bates of New York, on an espionage charge, and an American military attache, Major Robert H. Barrett, who was arrested while in transit from his post in Amman to Beirut.

“Over the years,” Cook pointed out, the “experience of our government and others with whom we consult on this matter, such as the United Hebrew Aid Society and leaders of the Syrian Jewish community in New York, has been that public pronouncements or undue publicity simply do not work with the Syrian government. In some Instances, this has been counter-productive and stiffened hostility.” Describing Cook’s response as “encouraging,” Koch in his reply asked him to make it known to the Syrians that the Attorney General “would exercise parole authority so as to include those without the necessary US family relations.”