Kuznetsov Says Recent Developments Make Him Hopeful for Soviet Jews

Eduard Kuznetsov, the Soviet Jewish activist who immigrated to Israel last month after nine years in a Soviet labor camp, said yesterday here he is hopeful for Soviet Jews because of the freeing of Jewish “Prisoners of Conscience” and the increased emigration of Jews in recent months. “The USSR’s economy has reached an impasse and needs the Western economy and know-how,” he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency following the conclusion of a two-day meeting of the Presidium of the Brussels Conference for Soviet Jewry. He noted that the Soviet Union is trying to “present an acceptable self image as a humanitarian country that is no threat to the West.”

Kuznetsov stressed that freedom of movement between countries is “a basic human right.” He said that while” Jews would like to see all borders open to everyone,” they are fighting specifically for Jewish emigration “because we don’t have the strength to fight for everyone. If enough democratic forces the world over joined our fight we would only be too happy to join them too.”

DULZIN CREDITS JACKSON-VANIK FOR IMPROVEMENT

During the two-day meeting, Leon Dulzin, chairman of the World Zionist Organization and Jewish Agency Executives who presided over the conference, also pointed to the approximately 4500 Jews that have been emigrating from the USSR every month, an estimated 50,000 by the end of 1979. “The tremendous effect of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment to the foreign trade bill in the United States … has contributed in compelling the Soviets to soften their attitude,” he said. Dulzin stressed the importance of keeping the situation of Soviet Jewry before the public as insurance for additional freedom for Soviet Jewry. While the delegates took note of the increase in emigration and the report by Robert Hawke, president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, that Soviet officials promised the easing of emigration restrictions and the freeing of Jewish “Prisoners of Conscience,” they noted that 16,000 affidavits are sent to Soviet Jews each month and only 45000 of them receive visas and the long wait, up to 10 years. The Presidium said the Soviet Union could prove its good will by granting these people visas immediately.