Blum Charges That the Plight of Soviet Jews is Getting Worse

Israel charged today that the plight of Soviet Jews has worsened in the last year and accused the Soviet Union of closing its gates to Jewish emigration and conducting an anti-Semitic campaign against its Jewish citizens.

Addressing the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee (The Third Committee), Ambassador Yehuda Blum of Israel charged that in the last year the Soviet authorities “have shown themselves even more callous in their attitude toward the Jews in their midst, more brazen in their flagrant disregard of international legal norms, and more contemptuous of their international obligations as well as of the opinion of the civilized world.”

Blum said that while in 1982 the Soviet allowed 2,700 Jews to emigrate, in “the current year, as of 30 September 1982, fewer than 1,100 have been granted permission to leave.”

He charged that the halting of Jewish emigration “has by no means meant a relaxation of the pressures upon Soviet Jews.” He said that the Jews in the Soviet Union are discriminated against and are denied their religious and cultural rights, including their right to study Hebrew and to have Hebrew text books or publications on Jewish history.

URGES END TO ANTI-SEMITIC INCITEMENT

Continuing, Blum said that Soviet Jews are subject to “the increasing volume and ferocity of the anti-Semitic incitement in the government-controlled media, masquerading as anti-Zionism, which has recently introduced an ominous new element into the plight of Soviet Jewry.”

The Israeli envoy declared: “In the name of decency and common sense, we call upon the Soviet government to put an end to this ominous campaign of anti-Semitic incitement. We call upon the Soviet authorities to conform their policies and practices regarding Soviet Jews to the international obligations of the Soviet Union as well as to Soviet law and, in particular, to end their discrimination against the Jewish minority.”

THE JEWS OF SYRIA AND YEMEN

Turning to another issue, the plight of the remnant Jewish communities in Syria and Yemen, Blum called on the governments of those countries to allow their Jewish citizens to emigrate. He said that Syria “as a rule” denies Syrian Jews the right to emigrate. Those few who are granted exit permits, Blum charged, are forced to deposit some $5,000 and leave their families behind in Syria as a guarantee of their return.

“We call upon the government of Syria to fulfill its commitments under the Helsinki Accord by honoring the fundamental human rights of the Jewish community there and by permitting unrestricted emigration for those who wish to leave,” Blum stated.

He charged that the human rights of the members of the tiny Jewish community in Yemen are “gravely violated.” “They have been forbidden any postal communications with relatives and Jewish communities outside Yemen,” Blum said, adding:

“They are not permitted to leave Yemen, whether temporarily or permanently. Moreover, the authorities have denied entry visas to Jews of other countries who wish to visit relatives in Yemen.” Blum also said that the Jewish community in Yemen must be allowed to receive religious articles from abroad.