Mrs. Meir Urges Hambro to Aid Soviet Jews in Their Effort to Emigrate

Israeli Premier Golda Meir beseeched General Assembly President Edvard I. Hambro to “use your good offices with the government of the Soviet Union and urge it to respond with sympathy and understanding to the applications of Jews who seek reunion with their families and their people in Israel.” United Nations sources said following their meeting on Friday that Dr. Hambro, Norwegian ambassador to the UN and a man with Jewish ancestry, probably will bring up the matter with Soviet authorities but generally does not want to rock the political boat over it. Mrs. Meir presented Dr. Hambro with a copy of a recent letter from 77 Moscow Jews to Secretary General U Thant, the UN Human Rights Commission, the Israeli government and the Soviet government. The letter appealed to them to “raise your voices in protest against the trampling of human rights and justice” and to “take effective steps for the implementation of the rights of the Jewish people to return to the land of Israel.”

Mrs. Meir noted to Dr. Hambro that “The files of the United Nations Secretariat are filled with heart-rending appeals” similar to that one. Soviet Jews’ pleas to Soviet authorities are “of no avail,” she said. “The applications are rejected, time and time again, without explanation or reason being given. Of the innumerable applicants for exit permits to Israel, only a few have received favorable replies.” Mrs. Meir said she hoped Dr. Hambro would raise the issue with Soviet authorities “at an early date, in the spirit of the Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” Mrs. Meir who appealed to Dr. Hambro by letter as well as in person, concluded by saying: “I hope and pray that your humanitarian efforts will bear fruit and help bring redemption to the great host of Jewish families who call in despair for aid by the United Nations.”