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it wasn't intended that way, but that's the way it was on reflection-- I said, “Take care of all the children.” And then we left.

The reason I dwell on this story is that the morning before we went here I had spoken with the highest Syrian official who saw us, whose name is Dr. Immadi, who was the economics minister, finance and economics minister, and he spoke English. And when we were introduced to him the day before, he was very friendly and he said that he had gone to New York University, and I said, “oh, then we're brothers. I went to New York University, and I lived four blocks away, and we're brothers.” It was sort of silly, but I wanted to sort of convey a little feeling so I could talk to him. I raised the question of the plight of Syrian Jews with him, and he just denied that there was any problem -- they had the same rights, and he wouldn't know where the Jews lived, and it's just an outrage that Syria is being attacked. And I said, “Well, why don't you let them go? Let them go.” “They don't want to go.” I said, “Well, offer to let them go. Those who want to go will go. Those who don't want to go won't go. But in the meanwhile, whether or not you are persecuting them -- and I'm not suggesting you are [that's the new tack on the part of the Jewish community, not to attack them, because that hasn't gotten any place] -- let them go. You've got a very bad reputation, and you can end that bad reputation by letting them out if they want to go. Those who don't want to won't go.” Okay.