Carl Glick, president of HIAS, responded today to recent statements by Leon Dulzin, chairman of the World Zionist Organization Executive, who urged world Jewry not to extend aid, directly or indirectly, to Jewish emigrants from the Soviet Union who opt to go to countries other than Israel after arriving in Vienna from the USSR.
“It is the essence of Jewish morality that all Jews who need help are provided with such help by their fellow Jews,” Glick declared in a statement released by HIAS world headquarters here. Dulzin, who is also acting chairman of the Jewish Agency, expressed alarm over the high rate of “drop outs” among Soviet Jews reaching Vienna and contended that it jeopardized the existence of the emigration movement in the Soviet Union. HIAS and the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) are the principle organizations assisting Soviet Jews after they reach Vienna or Rome.
Glick’s statement said: “The Jews of the Soviet Union are in great danger. Newspaper articles and eyewitness reports document an alarming increase in anti-Semitism and problems inherent in being a Jew. It is critical that all USSR Jews who wish to leave be enabled to leave whatever their destination. It is the essence of Jewish morality that all Jews who need help are provided with such help by their fellow Jews. Modern history in the form of the Holocaust has provided a lesson on the need to provide help without question. We do not agree with Mr. Dulzin that the choice should be to stay in Russia or to go to Israel.”
STRESSES FAMILY RE-UNIFICATION
Apparently referring to charges that HIAS, by rendering assistance, influences Soviet Jews reaching Vienna to go to countries other than Israel, Glick observed that “Almost all Jews exiting the Soviet Union have decided on their destination before leaving. Over 80 percent of the Soviet Jews who come to the United States or Canada are being reunited with their families. The major rationale for permitting Jews to leave the Soviet Union is for the purpose of family reunion.”
Glick also noted that if the HIAS and JDC closed down in Vienna, “their activities would be taken over immediately by other American voluntary agencies authorized and funded by the United States Government to provide help and assistance to refugees. In the opinion of the Board of Directors of HIAS and the American Jewish communities, it would be immoral to farce Jewish refugees to seek and obtain help from non-Jewish agencies,” Glick said.
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.
