“Little chance” exists that the Soviet Union will repeal its exit tax on prospective emigrants, Rep. Benjamin Rosenthal (D. N.Y.), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Europe, said Friday after a seven-day visit to Moscow and Leningrad. The Soviet position “hardened” in 1972 when more than 30,000 Jews left the USSR for Israel, for two reasons, Rosenthal said.
One is “the official Soviet judgement that extensive emigration of Jews will cause unrest among other Soviet minorities, and serve to strengthen Israel.” The other is the conviction that President Nixon can easily control the political forces in the United States to prevent the issue of Soviet Jews from interfering with trade and other “detente” developments.
“I think the Soviets seriously misunderstand our political system by forgetting the role of Congress in passing trade legislation,” Rosenthal said. “I am convinced that these trade ties are useful to both countries, and to the cause of world peace. But both the President and the Soviets must understand that normal relations between our two countries cannot proceed while Soviet Jews are harassed.”
Rosenthal, who visited the Soviet Union to assess present “detente” politics and the “outlook for further improvement in Soviet-American relations,” said that he did not believe the Soviets will try to eliminate emigration but rather to limit the exit of highly educated Jews. “There is enough flexibility in their exit tax law so they can grant exemptions easily–if they want. But the active Soviet harassment of vocal Jewish dissidents has increased since our elections in Nov.”
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