520,000 Pounds of Passover Goods
Sent by JDC to Eight Countries

Victim's Kin, Urging Action Hangings,

Notes 'Trial' Took Just Five Minutes

An emotional plea by the brother
of an Iraqi hanging victim — de-
livered at a memorial and protest
meeting in New York recently—is
being circulated among the mem-
ber organizations of the Detroit
Jewish Community Council, along
with a letter urging unceasing ef-
forts to win the freedom of remain-
ing Iraqi Jews.
The address, relating the bestial
treatment and medieval trial of
nine Jews accused of espionage for
Israel, was delivered by Reubin
Horesh, brother of victim Charles
Horesh. Copies of the speech have
been distributed nationwide by the
National Community Relations Ad-
visory Council.
Locally, Council - affiliated or-
ganizations are being urged to pro-
test the continued hangings in Iraq
and to press for an exodus of the
remaining Jews in Arab lands.
• • •

-'0-60 Jews in Iraqi Jails;
Reign of Terror in Syria

LONDON (JTA)—Fifty or sixty
Jews arrested in Iraq at the time
of the Six-Day War are still held
in prison and other Jews are sub-
jected to a variety of restrictions
and are not permitted to leave
the country, the Sunday Times re-
ported.
According to the paper, Jews
possessing passports were forced
td turn them over to police. Jewish
businessmen were required to sur-
render stocks, and to receive a
monthly allowance of $264. Accord-
ing to the Times, 11 Jews have had
telephones disconnected.
Political sources said that re-
ports have reached Jerusalem that
11 Jews scheduled to have been in-
cluded in the latest Iraqi spy trials
were spared apparently as a result
of worldwide protests against the
hanging of nine Iraqi Jews on Jan.
27. Seven Iraqis were executed
last week on charges of spying
for Israel, none of them Jews.
Reports in Israel of a reign of
terror over Syria's remaining 4,000
Jews were attributed Sunday to a
Greek tourist who visited Syria re-
cently. According to the tourist,
Syrian authbrities_ appointed spe-
cial controllers over the Jewish
communities, each responsible for
several families, following the Six-
Day War.
Officially they were supposed
to safeguard the Jews but they
have become the "chief oppres-
sors," the tourist said. Jews must
stay near their homes and head-
counts are regularly taken, he
said.

Organizations were asked to write
President Nixon and UN Secretary-
General U Thant, asking that they
use every pressure to bear on the
Iraqi authorities to stop the hang-
ings.
"The tragedy of the thing,"
said Horesh in his address, "is
that my brother Charles Horesh
considered himself to be an
Iraqi first and a Jew second. He
always liked his country. He was
a family man allotting all his
time to his family and work.
Never at any time in his life did
he have anything to do with poli-
tics in any way, same as with
the other victims of last Mon-
day. He always trusted his Arab
friends and for that he paid with
his life."
Describing the anti-Jewish legis-
lation in Iraq and his own escape
from the country, Reubin Horesh
said that "Zilkha, the man sup-
posed to be the head of the so-
called plot, who was 'waging germ
warfare in Basra, who was dyna- .
miting bridges, who was planning
the overthrow of the government
in Baghdad, and who was appoint-
ing a new regime in Baghdad in
order to make peace with Israel,'
this Zilkha is an illiterate man.
who cannot read or write, nor can
he drive a car. This is the Zilkha
who is supposed to wage germ
warfare in Basra, by himself, with-
out laboratories and without help."
Horesh related what occurred at
the trial of his brother, as report-
ed in the London Times:
"Charles' trial took just five
minutes, of which the prosecutor
took four minutes. The case against
Charles was that he had been in
communication with a Pakistani
in Basra, that he had received a
letter from this fellow for which
he gave the messenger Stg. 200.
Charles' reply to this was that he
had not known or had any deal-
ings whatsoever witVjae) man, had
never seen the me senger or re-
ceived a letter or given anyone
Stg. 200. Charles was then told
that he had a brother in Israel; to
which he replied he had no brother
there—he had one in America, but
had never corresponded with him.
The judge then ordered him to
leave the court."
Horesh said his brother left a
pregnant widow, 2-year-old son
and 78-year-old mother. If they
are not allowed to leave Iraq,
said Horesh, "I appeal to the
Baath of Iraq to kill my mother
as a mercy killing . . . What
she must have seen . . . is more
than enough." He said the re-

Thousands Petition for Exodus of Jews

Preparing petitions to be sent to the United Nations, calling for
immediate action to ensure a safe exit for all Jews who remain in
Arab countries, are /from left) Mrs. Samuel Linden, vice president of
the Jewish Community Council; Gary Alter, director of the Bnai
Brith Metropolitan Detroit Council; and Isadore Shrodeck, chairman
of the Zionist Council of Detroit. The petition drive was initiated at
the protest-memorial meeting Feb. 2 at the Jewish Center, following
the public executions in Iraq. More than 14,000 signatures were col-
lected. What effect such protests have had—particularly in the area of
U.S. foreign policy—will be discussed by I. L. Kenen at the Jewish
Community Council Delegate Assembly 8:30 p.m. March 12 at the
Jewish Center.

,

_____ • • ■ •: 11 • • • • • !

45` .

V, -IP

maining 3,000 Jews "are doomed
to be slaughtered."
Detroit's Council has sent 14,000
names on protest petitions to the
United Nations since the Iraqi
hangings were first announced.
Local ad hoc group, the Com-
mittee for Humanity in Iraq, also
sent out a protest letter this week,
denouncing the newest hangings of
seven Iraqi citizens, and urging un-
ceasing efforts to call a stop to the
barbarities.

The Joint Distribution Commit-
tee has shipped close to 520,000
pounds of matzo and other Pass-
over supplies, almost all of it to
Europe, for distribution to Jewish
communities before the holidays,
it was announced by Sa-muel L.
Haber, JDC executive vice-chair-
man.
The first Passover seder will
take place this year on Wednesday
evening, April 2. Funds for Pass-
over relief and other JDC health
and welfare programs are pro-
vided mainly by the campaigns of

Jewish Organizations Denounce
Murders of Moslem Iraqis

NEW YORK—The Conference of
Presidents of Major American Jew-
ish Organizations organized dem-
onstrations and special prayer
services for the 14 Iraqi Jews,
Moslems and Christians, hanged
Jan. 27 for allegedly spying for
Israel.
The events Wednesday marked
the end of the traditional 30-day
mourning period. Demonstrations
were held in front of the Iraqi,
Syrian and Egyptian missions to the
United Nations. Arthur J. Gold-
berg, president of the American
Jewish Committee, called the ex-
ecution of three Iraqi soldiers by
firing squad and four civilians by
hanging "an act contrary to all
civilized behavior and a direct vio-
lation of human rights."
Dr. William A. Wexler, presi-
dent of Bnai Brith, said the "con-
tinued barbarity" of the Iraqi
government "emphasizes the sorry
state of political freedom and hu-
man rights" in that country and
"also points up that there is no
future for the defenseless remnant
of a Jewish community trapped
there."
Rabbi Arthur J. Lelyveld, Am-
erican Jewish Congress president,
declared, "It does not lessen our
outrage at these brutalities that no
Jews were included among the
latest victims. Whether the vic-
tims are Jews, Moslems or Chris-
tians, our concern is with the ab-
sence of even minimal justice in
the secret military trials that con-
demned them and the degenerate
manner in which their bodies were
shown to the public."
Baghdad radio, which an-
nounced the executions and re-
ported that the bodies were dis-
played in the capital's Liberation
Square, said that nine defend-
ants had been condemned for
espionage on Feb. 11 by a three-
man military tribunal.
The death sentence of one was
commuted to life imprisonment
because he cooperated with author-
ities and the other was reported to
be at large, the radio said. Last
Jan. 27, 14 Iraqis—nine of them
Jews—were hanged in Baghdad
and Basra on the same charges,
and their bodies were publicly
displayed.
Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, a
foreign ministry official said that
five Jews have died in Iraqi jails
recently. But Shlomo Hillel, assist-
ant director general of the ministry,
did not specify the cause of death.
Hillel spoke at a press conference
called to introduce the English
edition of a book that describes
the treatment of Israeli prisoners
in Syrian jails prior to the Six-Day
War.
Authoritative sources in Canada
denied a report published Monday
that the Canadian government has
decided to accept Iraqi Jews if they
are permitted by the Baghdad gov-
ernment to emigrate. The original
report had said that admission of
a "generous" number would depend

on clearance of exit visas by Iraq.
The sources said that the govern-
ment has the issue under consider-
ation but that no decision has been
made. It was reported that officials
were "favorably inclined" to ac-
cept Iraqi Jewish refugees.
In Hartford, Conn., a resolu-
tion expressing "vital concern"
Over the public hangings in Iraq
was unanimously adopted by the
Connecticut House of Represent-
atives and forwarded to the
United Nations and to President
Nixon.
The resolution was offered by
Rep. Morris N. Cohen of Bloom-
field, Conn. Dr. Cohen contrasted
the secret trials and mass execu-
tions in Iraq with the open trial
now under way in Los Angeles of
Sirhan B. Sirhan, the young Jor-
danian immigrant accused of as-
sassinating Sen. Robert F. Kenne-
dy.
Meanwhile, the independent trade
union movement in Argentina has
denounced the hangings in Iraq a
statement issued Tuesday. The
group declared that world opinion
regarded the executions as "brutal
reprisals" carried out against
Iraqi Jews merely because they
were Jews.

the United Jewish Appeal.
As in the last two years the
largest amount, 386,000 pounds,
will go to Romania, Haber said.
This includes 326,000 pounds of
matzot, 59,600 pounds of matzo)
meal, and 440 pounds of shmura
matzo. JDC has also provided
funds for a shipment of Passover
wine to Romania.
With the exception of the ship-
ment to Romania and 12,000
pounds of matzot which went, to
Melilla in Spanish Morocco, the
Passover supplies have been ship-
ped to seven Jewish communities
in Western Europe — Belgium,
France, Greece, Italy, Portugal,
Spain and Yugoslavia.
In addition, Haber said, special
grants will be issued to needy
Jews in Morocco, Tunisia and
Iran to enable them to purchase
locally produced Passover supplies.
Because of technical difficulties in
Tunisia, Haber said, it may
become necessary to purchase
so me 85,000 pounds of matzot
abroad for distribution there.

Israel Helps Malta

JERUSALEM — Three thousand
saplings of pine, cypress and aca-
cia were recently air freighted
from Israel to Malta by the Jew-
ish National Fund, in the frame-
work of technical aid extended to
afforestation projects in Mediter-
ranean countries. Some 50,000 sap.
lings will have been sent by the
end of the present season.
In contrast with the opinion of
British and Italian foresters, who
regarded afforestation in Malta un-
feasible, Israel's foresters found
certain areas suitable for planting.
The saplings are succeeding.

It is well for the heart to be
naive and for the mind not to be.
—Anatole France.

14—Friday, February 28, 1969
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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