An unidentified official at the Soviet Embassy here, discovering a petition left by two American university students with whom he had discussed Soviet Jewry, angrily hurled the petition out on the street behind the departing pair.
The petition called on the Kremlin to permit Jews to emigrate and was signed by some 700 students who had come to the capital last week to lobby Congress. The lobbying effort was part of the ninth annual Washington meeting of the Student Coalition for Soviet Jewry, sponsored by B’nai B’rith International.
The SCSJ was founded at Brandeis University Hillel from which it expanded nationwide. Most of the students are leaders of their college B’nai B’rith Hillel Foundation.
The two students who went to the Embassy were Debbie Ornstein and David Shapiro, both of Brandeis University. Ornstein, of New York, said they talked with an official in the Embassy for some 15 minutes.
But according to Ornstein, when the pair “got too specific” about Soviet treatment of Jews, “we were eased out. “While they were departing, she left the petition behind. A few minutes later she heard the official shout at them and throw the petition into the street in front of the Embassy. Since he spoke in Russian, she was unable to understand what he said, Ornstein said.
IMPORTANCE OF LOBBYING STRESSED
Earlier, the students heard Avital Shcharansky, wife of refusenik Anatoly Shcharansky, and Gerald Kraft, president of B’nai B’rith International, stress the importance of student lobbying for Soviet Jewry.
Kraft, who gave an overview of the status of Jews in the USSR, pointed out that the United States and the Soviet Union are scheduled to hold arms talks in Geneva next week and stated that now is a critical time to lobby on their behalf.
Rep. Steven Bartlett (R. Tex.), SCSJ honorary co-chairman, told the students who came from more than 60 colleges in some 40 states that the issue of human rights is not restricted to one or even several countries. Human rights, Bartlett declared, are universal and called for constant enforcement.
During the afternoon, the students split up into dozens of groups to lobby their local Congressmen and Senators. The largest group, of about 150, heard aides of Sen. Daniel Moynihan (D.NY) describe letters Moynihan and Rep. Jack Kemp (R.NY) were sending both to their colleagues and President Reagan.
ADMINISTRATION ACTION URGED
The letters were similar to those sent by Bartlett, Rep. Robert Garcia (D.NY) and Sens. Paul Simon (D.III.) and John Danforth (R.Mo.) which were sent to members of both Houses.
All of the letters discussed the desperate situation of Soviet Jews, pointed out that the United States has a unique role in that, alone among the nations, it can affect permanent change regarding the plight of Soviet Jews. They called for immediate action on behalf of Soviet Jews. Moynihan and Kemp were scheduled to deliver their letter to the White House tomorrow.
Bartlett, Garcia, Simon and Danforth declared in their letters: “If we cannot secure the right of Soviet Jews to emigrate, the existence of the refusenik community and Jewish cultural life in general will be increasingly jeopardized. The world has lost so much. Let us do our part, we who live in freedom, to reach out to those who remain enslaved.”
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.
