Resolution Adopted by the CCAR

Jews in Hostile Countries

Adpoted by the 103rd Annual Convention of
the Central Conference of American Rabbis
San Antonio, Texas, April, 1992

WHEREAS, in the last decade of the twentieth century, there remain Jewish communities in the different parts of the world which are subjected to discrimination, prejudice, oppression and persecution, and

WHEREAS, the governments of numerous countries such as Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Libya sanction or promote such heinous treatment, and

WHEREAS, these governments do not allow the Jewish populations of their countries to join their brethren in Israel,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Central Conference of American Rabbis join with the United Synagogue of America in supporting efforts to remove all barriers to free emigration anywhere in the world, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Central Conference of American Rabbis and United Synagogue of America call upon the Government of the United States and Canada to take all necessary measures to rescue endangered Jews anywhere in the world.

SYRIA N JEWRY

WHEREAS, the population of Syria suffers under a repressive regime, and

WHEREAS, the Jews in Syria are denied basic human rights, including the right to emigrate, and their plight is one of spiritual and physical oppression, and

WHEREAS, Eli Swed and Selim Swed are Syrian Jews who were arrested in November, 1987, and sentenced to additional prison terms of two -and-one-half years on May 21, 1991;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Central Conference of American Rabbis join with the United Synagogue of America to:

(a) call upon the governments of Mexico, Canada and the United States to make urgent appeal to President Hafez al-Assad and the government of Syria to release immediately these Syrian Jewish prisoners in accordance with universally recognized legal standards, and

(b) call upon the governments of Mexico, Canada and the United States to make urgent appeal to the Syrian government to lift all repressive regulations and to permit its Jewish citizens to emigrate freely, in accordance with the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights to which Syria is a signatory.