Denial of religious liberty, complete restriction of movement, and the ruthless hounding of all classes of the Jewish community in Afghanistan, are now coming to light in reports brought here by refugees from Kabul and in letters which are evading the strict censorship.
It appears that the new King, Mohamed Zahir Khan, who succeeded his father last November, has embarked upon a definitely active anti-Jewish campaign.
These facts of systematic Jewish persecution are all the more surprising in view of the predominant British influence in the country, which is under the political aegis of the Indian government. Moreover, Afghanistan is a member of the League of Nations.
Eye-witnesses have brought distressing accounts of the intolerable condition of the Jewish community at Kabul and the other sixty towns in which they are concentrated. Their numbers have decreased from about 40,000 at the outset of the twentieth century to 5,000 at present. Their nearest refuge is Persia, but some have wended their way to Palestine, in which a few dozen families have settled in the past year.
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