Israel's Trarel Tax Penalizes
2
Middle Class, Air Official Says; I LONDON (JTAl—A sec-
, and Jew has been murdered
%l ottre for Threat Questioned
recently in Iraq. a spokes-
More Iraqi Jews Reported Slain.
•
port Minister Shimon Peres man for the British section
said afterward that IATA I of the World Jewish Congress
had no right to intervene in : told the Jewish Telegraphic
any government's taxation A gene y. The spokesman
policy. Israel's travel tax , identified the victim as Jacob
amounts to $145 plus 10 per I Abdul Aziz, a prominent
cent of the air fare, depend- member of the Baghdad
Jewish community.
ing on destination.
The murder of another
Di Palma, a tax lawyer
and an executive of Trans- B a g h d a d Jew, Abraham
World Airlines, said the Saigh, was reported earlier.
Israeli tax was invalid be-
According to the WJC
caused by taxing travel to spokesman, Aziz disappeared
foreign countries Israel was j recently along with seven oth-
a s s u to i n g extraterritorial er Iraqi Jews. There is anxi-
rights it did not have.
ety in the Iraqi Jewish corn-
He said the tax was "anti- munity, as recent events
social because the rich will have aroused fear of a new
travel in any case" and be- anti-Jewish campaign.
cause "certain segments of
(In Paris the WJC report-
the population are exempted ; ed the murder of a third
and others are reimbursed Iraqi Jew. He was identified
A spokesman for Trans- because it is tax-deductible." by the surname Rajwan and
According to Di Palma, said to be one of the Iraqi
"the travel tax largely vio- Jews reported missing.)
Gov't. Beats Back lated the middle class work-
Alarmed at the deteriorat-
ers' freedom to travel." He ing situation of Jews- in Iraq,
No-Confidence
said discrimination resulted Jacob Stein, chairman of the
Motion OverVered, because Israel permits Lpe- conference of presidents of
cial tax reductions on travel Major American Jewish Or-
JERUSALEM (JTA I—For to certain countries such as ganizations, urged that "the
the second time in two Cyprus, Romania, Kenya and American Jewish community
weeks, the government has Ethiopia.
spare no effort in utilizing all
decisively defeated a no-
The IATA official said he its resources" to protect the
confidence motion by opposi-
visited Israel in 1965 and several hundred Jews who
tion factions over alleged
1967 to try to have the travel remain in Iraq.
scandals in the operations
"It is tragic indeed," Stein
tax rescinded. During his
of the state-owned Vered current visit, he did not re- said. "that once again Jews
water resources development quest meetings with govern- are suffering for being Jews
company.
ment officials.
and that the sense of human-
Last week's motion, stem-
Di Palma did not specify ity and respect for the rights
ming from charges by the what type of sanctions his of the person have been
Gahal and Free Center fac- subcommittee would recom- abandoned by a member of
tions of bribery and kick- mend.
the United Nations family."
backs to Israeli officials, was
Stein called on the Iraq
An El Al spokesman said
voted down 55-29. The pre-
government
to return the
vious motion which sought that the threat of "legal missing Jews to their homes
sanctions
and
proceedings"
to blame the government
against Israel may be aimed and families and to expedite
for Vered's financial col-
arrangements for those who
lapse also ,as rejected by a at harming the Israeli car- wish to leave the country.
rier by limiting Its landing
large margin of votes.
Meanwhile, Bnai Brith has
rights. T h e spokesman,
Agriculture Minister Halm Moshe Eilat, said El AI of- announced that it asked the
Gvati, who has over-all re- ficials were uncertain what Justice Department to grant
sponsibility for Vered, ac- motives
1 a y behind the Syrian Jews parole authority
cused the opposition of flout- threat.
to enter the U.S. as refugees.
ing State Comptroller Vies.
David M. Blumberg, Bnai
Israel has been pressing
hak Nebenzahl's request not
Brith president, stated in a
to publicly debate the "brok- hard for additional landing letter to Atty. Gen. Richard
ri g hts
United
a es
erage money" which Vered
Kleindienst that a ruling be
officials allegedly paid to in- for El Al to put it on a com- applied to Syria's 4,000 Jews
petitive basis with other
similar to that by former
Gahat charged last week foreign airlines and with Atty. Gen. John Mitchell
that Vered paid out $6,000,- Trans-World Airlines, the waiving immigration quotas
000 in bribes to secure con- American flag carrier, its to authorize entry of Soviet
tracts in Africa and else- principal competitor. Di Pal- Jews.
where and alleged that some ma is a TWA executive.
Blumberg said in his let-
El Al said today that its
__
of this money may have
been "kicked back" to the managing director had re-
ceived a cable from Knute
Israeli go-betweens.
Gvati said the opposition Hammarskjold, director-gen-
was harassing the govern- eral of IATA in Geneva, say-
ment after losing the first ing that Di Palma's state-
vote on a no-confidence mo- ment was made on his "per-
sonal responsibility" and did
tion.
not reflect the views of
IATA. A transport ministry
spokesman said that any
• IATA decision must be un-
animous and that it was not
likely that El Al would vote
against
its own government
We are looking for tenant
if the issue was raised by
investors for a modest-
IATA.
sized medical building to
El Al recently said that its
rights are presently limited
be built in Southfield.
to
New York's Kennedy Air-
Excellent location, five
port. The carrier is seeking
minutes from Providence
additional landing rights on
Hospital, Sinai Hospital
the U.S. West Coast and at
a Middle Western urban
and Mt. Carmel Mercy
center. TWA 'enjoys rights
Hospital. Adequate park-
for traffic to and from
ing space. Tenant investors
Israel in eight large Ameri-
can cities on both coasts and
may participate in design
the Midwest.
of Building.
JERUSALEM (JTA)—An
official of the International
Air Transport Association
(IATA) said that its taxa-
tion subcommittee would re-
commend "legal sanctions or
proceedings against the state
of Israel" to force revoca-
tion of its travel tax, said to
he the highest in the world.
Joseph Di Palma, subcom-
mittee chairman, issued the
warning at a meeting of lo-
cal international airline re-
presentatives in Tel Aviv.
He told a press conference
that the tax was "antisocial.
prohibitive and discrimina-
tory" and said it violated
ac-
aviation
international
has
cords which Israel
signed.
ter that the situation of Syri-
an Jews was "more griev-
ous" than that of Soviet Jews
and that an American com-
mitment to provide them a
haven would do much to
maintain their morale.
Meanwhile, a Lebanese
Jew was kidnaped by two
armed men on a main street
in downtown Beirut but was
' released the following day.
It is believed here that
Selim Halam was kidnaped
by Palestinian terrorists
after having been mistaken
for someone else.
The kidnapers apparently
realized their mistake and
returned Halam to his home.
The sources said that the
Lebanese authorities used all
the means at their disposal
during Halam's disappear.
ance to trace him.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
12—Friday, Nov. 17, 1972
Repartee is a duel fought
with the points of jokes.—
Max Eastman.
IF YOU TURN THE
UPSI
FIN DE DOWN YOU WON'T
D A FINER WINE THAN
Everyone is a moon, and
has a dark side which he
never shows to anybody.—
Mark Twain.
Milos Wieoriog, Dotro;t, Mich.
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