More Soviet Jews reached Israel last month than in September, 1976 but the dropout rate reached 55 percent in September, 1977 compared to 51 percent in August, Uzi Narkiss, director of the World Zionist Organization’s immigration and absorption department reported at the weekly meeting of the WZO Executive yesterday.
Narkiss said that 763 immigrants from the Soviet Union arrived last month compared to 495 in the same month last year. He attributed the increase to attempts by the Soviet authorities to improve their image while the conference on compliance with the Helsinki Agreement human rights clauses meets in Belgrade.
But the total number of immigrants arriving in September increased only slightly from one year ago. The figures were 1852 against 1746, Narkiss reported. With respect to the dropout problem, he said most dropouts came from the larger Soviet cities, as they have in the past. He said that of 336 Jews who left Odessa in September, only three came to Israel.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
