Jewish Agency Chairman Simcha Dinitz raised the possibility Thursday that the United States might ease its immigration policies to admit more Soviet Jews if Israel fails to provide adequate housing and employment for emigres from the Soviet Union.
Dinitz, who chairs the World Zionist Organization and Jewish Agency Executives, spoke after meeting with Richard Schifter, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for human rights and humanitarian affairs.
Dinitz said that he was convinced “on the basis of these talks” that there was no change in the strong American support for Soviet Jewish immigration to Israel.
However, he warned, “It would be a grave mistake to assume that the immigration policy of the United States would not change in the future, if the absorption plans of the (Israel) government do not get started soon.”
Until the United States imposed a ceiling in 1989, it was the destination of choice for the vast majority of Jews leaving the Soviet Union, although most of them carried Israeli visas.
Dinitz added that there was no evidence that absorption difficulties are affecting the volume of immigration to Israel, but they might in the future.
The meeting was attended by the U.S. ambassador to Israel, William Brown, and by Princeton Laimen, director of the State Department’s office for refugees.
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