The ascension of Yuri Andropov and his colleagues in the Soviet hierarchy “is a very bad sign” for Soviet human rights, according to Elliott Abrams, Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs.
Testifying before the subcommittee on Human Rights and International Rights of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, Abrans said that the U.S. “is deeply concerned about the downturn in emigration” of Soviet Jews “which seems brought out of the closet once again,”
Abrans told the jointly sponsored hearing that “the issue has been raised with the Soviets at every appropriate opportunity” in public forums and in bilateral talks. Secretary of State George Shultz, Abrams said, has placed particular stress on this and other human rights issues during his discussions with the Soviet Foreign Minister Andre Grom yko.
Abrams said: “In the short run, our goal must be to help as many individuals as we can, to limit discriminatory practices, and to secure freer emigration. Over the long term, we have to obtain a Soviet system that is more open to outside influences … a peaceful evolution of that society into one that is easier to live with as well as to live in.”
SPECIFIC ACTION URGED
Lynn Singer, president of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews, recommended that the U.S. take the following steps to help reduce the increased harassment of Soviet Jews: that President Reagan raise the issue of “virulent anti-Semitism” directly with Andropov and in bilateral trade negotiations and other areas of cooperation; that the U.S. Consulate in Kiev be reopened to protect both American tourists and Soviet refuseniks; and that the U.S. Embassy in Moscow work with the embassies of U.S. allies in setting up informal meetings with Soviet human rights activists.
Also testifying before the committee was Igor Tufeld, 26, fomerly of Moscow whose sick parents have been denied exit visas to Israel repeatedly since 1977 when Tufeld emigrated. Tufeld, who now lives in Jerusalem, flew to Washington to present his testimony, and to refute the charges of the “Anti-Zionist Committee of the Soviet Public” that all Soviet Jews who wish to emigrate have already done so.
Meanwhile, some 500 persons rallied last week outside the Soviet Consulate in San Francisco to protest the statements by the Anti-Zionist Committee. Protesters lined the sidewalk and lifted a 90-foot long computer printout sheet with the names of thousands of refuseniks, some of whom have been waiting to leave the Soviet Union for more than 15 years. The demonstration was sponsored by the Bay Area Council on Soviet Jewry and the Jewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco, Marin and the Penninsula.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
