Actions on Behalf of Soviet Jewry

In a bid to dramatize the plight of Anatoly Shcharansky, the Soviet Jewish activist who faces treason charges, two members of Parliament left for Belgrade last night carrying with them a Bible addressed to Shcharansky and inscribed by more than 300 members of Parliament, including government minister.

Greville Janner, Labor MP, and Tim Sainsbury, Conservative MP, both leaders of the All-Party Parliamentary Committee for Soviet Jewry, said before their departure that they intend to present the Bible to the chief Soviet delegate to the conference dealing with the Helsinki Act and to ask him to deliver it to Shcharansky in Lefortovo prison in Moscow where the Jewish activist has been held since March.

At a ceremony earlier yesterday, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Donald Coggan, signed the Bible on the first page of the Book of Exodus. At a press conference in the House of Commons, Avital Shcharansky detailed the plight of her husband. She left the Soviet Union for Israel in 1974, after one day of marriage but Anatoly was not allowed to accompany her. Sainsbury described the Bible as “a symbol of the universal concern and anxiety felt on all sides of the House of Commons for the state of this courageous young man.

REPRESENTATIONS AT BELGRADE PARLEY

In other Soviet Jewry related events, torch light parades were held in Berne, Basel, Geneva and Zurich this week to demonstrate Swiss Jewry’s solidarity with Jews in the Soviet Union. The Swiss Committee for Soviet Jewry said it planned to collect signatures on a petition protesting the Soviet government’s breach of the human rights provisions of the Helsinki agreement. The petition will be delivered to the Swiss delegation attending the conference in Belgrade which will be asked to raise the question of the treatment of Jews in the USSR.

Another delegation representing the national committees for Soviet Jews in Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg left for Belgrade for meetings with the representatives of those three countries at the Helsinki compliance conference. Socialist Deputy Andre de Groeve, president of the Belgian committee, told reporters in Brussels that a number of important personalities and groups, such as the Belgian League for the Rights of Man, are backing the delegation.

Meanwhile, the Soviet Embassy in The Hague refused to accept a petition demanding adherence to the Helsinki Act and equal rights for all citizens of the Soviet Union. The petition was delivered by Rabbi Avraham Soetendorp, honorary secretary of the Dutch Solidarity Committee for Soviet Jewry, and the Rev. Dr. Albert Van Den Heuvel, secretary general of The Netherlands Christian Councils of Churches. The petition was subsequently sent to the Embassy by registered mail.

STUDENTS IN 15-DAY HUNGER STRIKE

In Toronto, 14 York University student, in the eighth day of a 15-day hunger strike on behalf of Soviet Jews, have sent a telegram to Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau demanding that the Canadian government publicly denounce the Soviet Union for its violation of the human rights provisions of the Helsinki accords.

The group, representing the Jewish Student Federation of York University, also called on Trudeau to speak out against injustices perpetrated against Soviet Jews and specifically, to make “direct representations” to Moscow over the continued imprisonment of Shcharansky.

A spokesman for the strikers told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today that Trudeau promised that Minister of State Norm Cafik will meet Saturday with members of Shcharansky’s family living in Toronto to discuss the basis for direct representations. He said that 40 relatives of Shcharansky live here constituting a “Canadian connection” with the case.

In Washington, 36 members of Congress from both major parties have asked Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev to allow Lev Ovsischer, a Soviet aviation hero in World War II, his wife and daughter to emigrate to Israel “as soon as possible.” The letter pointed out that the Ovsischer family had applied to emigrate four years ago and that since then Ovsischer has been “harassed, threatened and lost his military pension.”