Speech #980254647

A campaign of murderous harassment of the small Syrian Jewish community seemed to be underway. It seemed to me particularly appropriate thenand it remains important todayfor the Senate to state its view of the situation. The Syrian Jewish community is the oldest Jewish community in the world. sadly. it has become clear to the world that the only recourse for Jews in Syria is to emigrate to other countries where they may be permitted to live freely as Jews. For many reasons. the United States is an obvious place of refuge. If the authorities in Syria desire to improve the currently poor relationship with this country. then one way to do it would be to permit those members of the Syrian Jewish community who desire to do so to emigrate to the United States. It is worth noting that passage of this resolution is also meant to convey to the executive branch of our Government the Senates sentiment that Syrian Jews ought to be permitted to receive refuge in this country whenever that may be propitious. I want to express my appreciation to the several members of the Committee on Foreign Relations who have expressed their support for this measure and who have undertaken in recent days to have the resolution reported favorably from committee.