Dulzin Calls for Intensifying Struggle on Behalf of Soviet Jewry

Leon Dulzin, chairman of the Jewish Agency Executive and chairman of the Presidium of the World Council on Soviet Jewry, called yesterday for “intensifying” the struggle and campaign on behalf of Soviet Jewry.

Addressing a special meeting of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in celebration of the release of Anatoly Shcharansky, Dulzin said that “the lesson” of Shcharansky’s release is that “we should never give up our struggle and efforts” to release the other Prisoners of Zion in the Soviet Union and help all other Soviet Jews who want to emigrate to Israel to do so.

Expressing “gratitude” to President Reagan and Secretary of State George Shultz for the role they played in bringing about Shcharansky’s freedom, Dulzin said that Shcharansky is a “symbol” of Soviet Jewry as a whole in its continued fight for human rights and emigration. “Mazel Tov, it’s a day of celebration for all of us,” Dulzin said, referring to Shcharansky’s release and his beginning of a new life in Israel.

Morris Abram, chairman of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry, who also addressed the meeting, said that Shcharansky’s release is not a signal that the oppression of Soviet Jews is about to end, and that the fight for Soviet Jewry must continue.

Observing that Shcharansky’s departure was the result of “quiet diplomacy” on the part of the Reagan Administration as well as the public campaign and protests in the United States, Abram called “to keep the pressure” of the public campaign in order to give the President the “backing” he needs when he negotiates with the Soviets. He said that Congress should demand that the issue of Soviet Jewry be brought up again at the U.S.-Soviet summit meeting scheduled for later this year.