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'A' Two Policies, Nazism and
Nasserism: Are They Alike?

By MILTON FRIEDMAN

By SAM COHEN

(Copyright, 195G, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)

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WASHINGTON—Why is the
State Department showing so
little interest in the plight of
Egypt's 50,000 Jews?
•
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U. S. officials responded im-
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mediately and generously to
I the needs of Hungarian es-
capees of all faiths. The same
•
officials sincerely wish to assist
et4 Egyptian Jewry. But this de-
1-4 sire is complicated by a prime
t), American diplomatic objective
the wooing of the Arab
5 world. This has caused the
t State Department to do every-
!: thing possible since October to
g" avoid embarrassment of Egypt's
"4 Nasser regime.
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The United States was
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shocked by reports of persecu-
tion of Egyptian Jews. It was
Nazi Germany all over again.
Jews were dragged from their
homes. Property was confis-
cated: Many were deported. In
a Cairo jail 150 Jews were
held as "dangerous." One of
the "dangerous" characters was
Only nine years old
Reports were published that
U. S. authorities were making
approaches to Nasser on be-
half of his Jewish victims. But
State Department spokesman
Lincoln White took pains to
publicly deny this.
Neither ships nor planes
'would take Jewish refugees
without visas from Egypt.
Italian consular authorities
displayed humanitarianism by
granting a number of emerg-
ency visas to help_ Jews es-
cape. T h e • United States,
which acted so rapidly to is-
sue visas for Hungarian es-
capees, did nothing.
One State Department offi-
cial said the JewiSh problem in
Egypt was "exaggerated." In
his view it would do Egyptian
Jews "more harm than good"
if an intercession were made
, with Nasser.

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This, however, was not a
new State Department attitude.
The London Daily Herald re-
ported in 1933 that plans were
complete for "an anti-Jewish
pogrom in Germany on a scale
as terrible as any instance of
Jewish persecution in 2,000
years." The State Department
then said "this government is
disinclined to lend credence to

this report."

Secretary of State Cordell
Hull sent a message in 1933
on anti - Semitism in Ger-
many. He said: "I am of the
opinion that outside inter-
cession has rarely produced
the results desired and has
frequently aggravated t h e
situation." George A. Gor-
don, then U. S. charge d'af-
faires. in Berlin, agreed that
official U. S. intervention on
behalf of persecuted Jews
was undesirable. The U. S.
diplomat added: "As indi-
cated in my Telegram No.
43, March 23 . . . Hitler now
represents t h e element of
moderation in the Nazi Party
and I believe that if in any
way you can strengthen his
hands, even indirectly, he
would welcome it."

American Consul General
George Messersmith, however,
took a very different view. He
reported from Berlin on Nov.
1, 1933, that "it is unquestion-
able that the moderation in the
physical persecution of t h e
Jews was brought about by the
reaction of public opinion in
the rest of the world. . ."

In 1951 the U. S. Embassy in
Baghdad was busily denying in
cables to Washington that there
were any disturbances, anti-
Jewish or otherwise. But a
hand grenade meanwhile flew
into the U. S. offices in Bagh-
dad. Since the State Depart-
ment maintained there was no
disturbance, it was difficult to
understand ho w a grenade
could propel itself into an
American installation, blowing
up four people, in the midst of
such an idyllic scene of love
and brotherhood.

When Soviet anti-Semit-
ism erupted in 1953, the Sen-
ate considered a resolution of
protest. B u t Secretary of
State -Dulles privately told
Senators to obscure the Jew-
ish aspect by broadening the
resolution to include other
groups.

Today Egypt has violated its
obligation under the United Na-
tions Charter to respect human
rights. In this way Nasser re-
warded the support he so
abundantly received in recent
weeks from the United States
at the United Nations.

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Turkey Yields to
Arabs by Cutting
Ties with Israel

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g4IPTOIN
JEWS

(Copyright, 1956, JTA, Inc.)

ANKARA—The Turkish gov-
ernment's decision to recall its
Ministers from Tel Aviv has
called forth strong criticism in
many political quarters in the
capital and in the press.
Two opposition parties, the
Freedom and the National Par-
ties, have separately submitted
petitions to Parliament asking
the government to explain its
policy after the recent Baghdad
meeting, including its decision
to recall the Minister from
Israel.
Feridun Ergin, leading figure
of the Freedom Party and an
authority on foreign affairs,
told me his party considers the
decision "an error." He ex-
pressed the view that Turkey
should be impartial and con-
ciliatory on the Palestine prob-
lem.
Ahmed Bilgin, Secretary
General of the National Party,
also told me his political group
does not agree with the gov-
ernment's decision.
T h e • Republican Party's
view was expressed by a for-
mer Cabinet Minister, Cemil
Sait Barlas, in this way: "We
do not approve the govern-
ment's move, nor can we ex-
plain its reason. "We cannot
support a pro-Arab and pro-
Islamic policy which will not
serve us."
Another former Cabinet Min-.
ister, Shukru Kaya, writing in
the newspaper Hurriyet, said:
"The maintenance of Israel-
Turkish relations will serve
Middle. East peace and the
Arabs' own interests, more
than the severance of these
ties." In a front-page editorial
the Ankara daily Son Havadis
pointed out that Turkey should
try to remove the causes of
discord between Israel and the
Arab States. "This, the paper
said, cannot be achieved by
taking sides. After all, Turkey
has no interest at all in siding
with the Arabs."
The government's decision
has also caused disappointment
among many Democrat MPs
and high government officials.
Authoritative sources say the
decision was taken by Premier
Adnan Menderes at the Bagh-
dad meeting on the insistence
of Iraq. Menderes believes
that this move will arouse
sympathy towards Turkey not
only in Iraq, but also in Leb-
anon and Saudi Arabia and
will thus cause the two states
to trust Turkey and divert
them from the Syrian-Egyptian
combine.
Turkish observers doubt
that this will be achieved by
simply recalling an envoy
from Israel. They see con-
fusion in the Turkish policy
as Turkey hurts a friendly
nation and a state which is
anti-Russian, while it sup-
ports Arab leaders who side
with the East _rather than the
West. They admit that this
move will encourage t h e
Arabs in their designs against
Israel.
Foreign Office officials say
although Turkish-Israeli rela-
tions are entering a "cool
phase," the complete break-off
of these relations is out of
question. Both in Tel Aviv
and Ankara, charges d'affaires
will carry on and commercial
ties will not be affected by the
move. This was made clear to
the Israeli Minister Maurice
Fisher before he left.

Two -Ships Reach Italy
with Egyptian Refugees

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ROME, (JTA) — Two Ital-
ian ships arrived at Venice and
Genoa from Egypt carrying
French, Italian and stateless
Jews. The refugees expressed
apprehension for the fate of
15,000 stateless Jews in Egypt.
They reported that many are
in concentration camps,

Jewry's Tragedy in Egypt

By SAUL CARSON
J. T. A. Correspondent at the United Nations

(Copyright; 1956, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)

UNITED NATIONS, N. Y. —
It has become commonplace by
now, even among those who
condemn Israel of "aggression"
for its defensive attack on the
Sinai Peninsula and Gaza, to
admit that Egypt's president,
Col. Gamal Abdel Nasser, is
"probably a dictator." But only
this week positive proof has
come forth showing what kind
of dictator Nasser is. He works
strictly in the Nazi tradition.
His title of "two-bit Hitler" is
now well earned. What he did
in regard to the Egyptian Jews
entitles him to entry in the
black book of history alongside
the name of Adolf Hitler.
There were in Egypt, as of
the time Israel marched into
the Sinai Peninsula, approxi-
mately 50,000 Jews. Of the to-
tal, 19,000 Were Egyptian na-
tionals. Many of these were
members of old families, some
of their roots going back to the
early days of the diaspora„ some
reaching back even further, to
the days of the Second Temple
when flourishing Jewish com-
munities in Alexandria and
later in Cairo enriched the en-
tire world. It is - retailed that
Moses Maimonides himself was
one of the brilliant intellectuals
of the "new" capital of Cairo
when that city was being de-
fended against the Christian
"crusaders" by the Sultan Sala-
din.
Suddenly, these Egyptian
J e ws had become aliens;
16,000 Jews- of foreign na-
tionality—many of them hold-
ing Greek or Italian passports
—and about 15,000 stateless
Jews, had become suspect. In
the Nazi tradition, Nasser de-
cided to do away with them.
True, we have not as yet
heard of gas chambers, but
the pogroms were swift and
as brutal as any in history.
What irks some observers at
the United Nations is the fact
that the UN did not react to
these anti-Jewish persecutions

Stop Extermination
of Egyptian Jewry,
Rhodes' Plea to Ike

Samuel J. Rhodes, president
of the Jewish Community. Coun-
cil, has sent an appeal to Presi-
dent Dwight D. Eisenhower to
intervene with the Egyptian
government in behalf of 50,000
Egyptian Jews to whom the in-
famous Nazi Nuerenberg laws
are now being applied in Egypt.
Rhodes said that "events in
the last several days taking
place in Egypt culminating . in
the imprisonment of thousands
of innocent Egyptian Jews, the
seizing of men, women and chil-
dren as hostages, the confisca-
tion of property, the expulsion
of helpless men, women and
children," is revolting to every
American. He pleaded with the
President to inform the Egyp-
tian dictator that "our Govern-
m e n t, profoundly concerned
with the rights of man, demo-
cratic and decent in its relation-
ships to all men, cannot but
protest and act strongly against
such foul and inhuman barbari-
ties."
Rhodes also asked the Presi-
dent, the Secretary of State, the
head of the U.S. Mission to the
United Nations and the chair-
men of the Senate and House
Committees on Foreign Affairs
to petition the United Nations
to send observers to Egypt to
investigate the "bestial" mis-
treatment of Jews by the Egyp-
tian government. He stated:
"We urge that earnest consid-
eration be• given to extending
to the victims of Khrushchev's
ally Nasser the same emer-
gency aid as has been given to
the victims of red barbarism in
Hungary."

by Nasser. Certainly the facts
were known here. Israel's dele-
gation chairman, Abba Eban,
brought the early reports to the
attention of the General Assem-
bly. Later, Mrs. Golda Meir,
the Israel Foreign Minister,
spread the details on the min-
utes. Every delegate received a
copy of the dossier on Nasser's
cruelties submitted by Mrs.
Meir.
Approximately 900 individuals
were taken from as many fam-
ilies and held as hostages, be-
ing sent to concentration camps
located secretly "somewhere in
Egypt."
Members of the ancient
Jewish community councils—
the Kehillahs—in Cairo and
Alexandria were arrested en
•bloc. The Grand Rabbi of
E gy pt, the venerable Dr.
H aim Nahoum, physically
weak and nearly blind,
showed himself as spiritually
strong and all-seeing in spirit.
When his resignation was re-
fused—and he had sent the
resignation directly to Col.
Nasser — old Rabbi Nahum
rejected the pressures put
upon him by the Minister of
the Interior, It is interesting
to note that a cousin of the
Minister of the Interior is a
Nazi-trained publicist who
had been called into the
ministry to help put the anti-
Jewish program into effect.
Egypt's Foreign Minister, Dr.
Mahmoud Fai,vzi, virtually ad-
mitted in oily tones, in a
speech before the General As-
sembly, that his country was
sequestering Jewish monies and
property. The Cirucel, Chemla,
Hanau and Chalons department
stores were taken over by
Egyptians, and all Jewish em-
ployees were dismissed. Ail
four of these stores are owned
by old Egyptian families; one
of them, Cirucel, is owned by
the family of the in-laws of
France's former Prime Min-
ister, Pierre Mendes-France.
At the United Nations, in
the press corps, a corres-
pondent for one of Egypt's
most influential newspapers
disappeared the day t h e
Egyptian persecutions against
Jews became known. The
man is an Egyptian Jew, the
scion of an old Jewish family
in his country; last year, he
married an American girl, a
Jewess. Everyone knew why
this man disappeared so sud-
denly. Officially, the was "ill";
it was a diplomatic sickness.
The man returned after a
week's absence. But col-
leagues noted that he was re-
luctant to discuss the situa-
tion of the Jews in Egypt.
It wasn't for nothing that
Nasser had provided some of his
officers—those who were liter-
ate — with copies of Hitler's
"Mein Kampf" in Arabic trans-
lation. The Israeli troops cap-
tured some of these books —
along with Russian-built tanks
painted with the hated Swas-
tika. Nasser, the "great revo-
lutionary" hailed by Russia and
by India, was using Hitler's
gospel as his text. And when
it came, to action, he used Hit-
ler's methods of anti-Jewish
persecution as his model.
Still Nasser is the man in -
whom our own State Depart-
ment places reliance, lining up
with democracy's mortal en-
emies from the Soviet bloc and
with all the Arab autocracies.
Only Israel is open to the
Jews undergoing the new ex-
odus from Egypt. Mrs. Meir
and Mr. Eban announced here
immediately that those Egyp-
tian Jews who are able to do
so, and willing, may enter Is-
rael and take refuge there. But
the United Nations stammered,
halted and was shy. Once
again, Jews were the scape-
goats on the altar of power
politics.

