3 Soviet Jewish Hunger Strikers Urged to End Action for Reasons of Health but Decline to Do So

Two Jewish leaders and one Christian leader sent a cable to the three Moscow Jewish activist hunger strikers urging them to end their week-old action in order to avoid becoming seriously ill. The cable, signed by Richard Maass, chairman of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry, Rabbi Israel Miller, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, and Sister Ann Gillen, director of the National Interreligious Task Force on Soviet Jewry, was sent this weekend to David Azbel, Vitaly Rubin and Vladimir Galatsky who began their hunger strike Feb. 15 in Azbel’s Moscow apartment.

The cable stated that “your desperate plight has been brought to the attention of the American people and your appeal (issued and released last week) to the Senate of the United States has been forwarded to all Senators. We are gravely concerned about your strength. People of good will are standing with you, and many Americans have joined in sympathy hunger strikes. You are not abandoned even though your phones have been disconnected by Soviet authorities and you are out of contact. Be assured that Jews and non-Jews alike stand with you in solidarity in this desperate hour.”

The NCSJ reported today that the hunger strikers responded that they would not end their action until they were “united in Israel.” The NCSJ said it had been informed that the three activists are suffering from the effects of the hunger strike, particularly Azbel. The three have been subsisting solely on water. The Soviet Jewry group also reported that the three hunger strikers urged continued efforts to get their telephones back in working order.

Meanwhile, the Academic Committee on Soviet Jewry, in a cable signed by its chairman, Prof. Hans J. Morgenthau, expressed solidarity with Azbel, Rubin and Galatsky “as you and your colleagues seek implementation of the universally recognized right of free emigration. The refusal to grant you exit visas violates international morality and law and runs counter to the policy of detente.”