Leon Dulzin, treasurer of the Jewish Agency, has reported that 60 percent of the Jews presently leaving the Soviet Union are going to countries other than Israel and if this rate of “neshira” (drop-out) continued, the future of Russian-Jewish emigration to Israel would be in jeopardy. Dulzin told a Rotary Club meeting in Tel Aviv that he and other Israeli leaders would be discussing the drop-out problem shortly with the heads of HIAS and the Joint Distribution Committee. Both agencies render assistance to the emigrants.
Dulzin said that the HIAS and JDC leaders have been asked to be present at the Jewish Agency’s General Assembly to be held here next month. He said that of the 130,000 Soviet Jews who emigrated in recent years, 12,000 went to countries other than Israel and 8000 who came to Israel subsequently left for other countries. But the drop-out rate now has sky-rocketed to 60 percent, Dulzin said. He estimated that there are presently 170,000 Jews waiting for exit visas in the Soviet Union.
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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.