Congressional anger rose today over Soviet repression of Jewish activists seeking the right to emigrate to Israel as President Nixon prepared to visit Moscow Thursday for summit talks. Twenty Senators consigned a cable to the President urging him to protest to Soviet authorities when he meets them and to “publicly reject these repressive tactics.”
The cable, drafted by Sen. Walter Mondale (D.Minn.). declared that the wave of arrests and beatings of Jews in principal Soviet cities over the past week constituted “an appalling beginning for a visit that is aimed at improving U.S. Soviet relations and easing tensions.”
In a separate message. Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey (D.Minn,), said the arrests and harassments in advance of the President’s visit were “an affront to the United States and severely detrimental to the cause of detente which this trip is designed to advance.” Sen. Humphrey too urged Nixon “to express officially American disapproval of these acts which violate the basic principles of human rights.”
Rep. Jonathan Bingham (D.NY), wrote the President to “protest this dragnet against Soviet citizens” and to immediately ask in Moscow “not only those arrested Soviet Jews be released but also that they be allowed to meet with him during his visit.” Sen. Harrison A. Williams (D.N.J.), urged the President to “take a strong stand” in favor of free emigration for Jews and others in the Soviet Union during his talks in Moscow. Harrison denied that the Jackson Amendment to the Administration’s Trade Reform Bill was “intervention” in Soviet internal policies.
Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger asked for a description of the Soviet position on Jewish emigration, said at a press conference yesterday that “it is a very delicate and sensitive subject.” He said the U.S. had taken the position of pursuing the dialogue on the issue in a way that would not put it in “a precise legal form” between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
Sources here told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Senatorial discussions with Kissinger, involving Senators Henry Jackson, Jacob Javits and Abraham Ribicoff, centered on the level of Soviet Jewish emigration and the nature of reported assurances the Soviet government was prepared to give on such emigration. The Senatorial sources again refused to discuss “numbers” on Soviet emigration and other guarantees from the Soviet Union. (By Joseph Polakoff)
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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.
