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.