The Russian Orthodox Church in Holland has taken up the cause of about 150 emigres from the former Soviet Union who came here from Israel during the past year and now face expulsion.
Church officials have asked the Dutch Justice Ministry to allow them to remain in the Netherlands until they can find another country willing to accept them, preferably the United States or Canada.
The Dutch authorities have returned more than 50 former Soviet Jews to Israel after denying their request for asylum on grounds they were not in danger of persecution in Israel.
Some of the emigres now say they are in fact Christians and claim they suffered discrimination in Israel because of that. A few turned up at a Russian Orthodox Church Christmas service in The Hague.
Rabbi Benjamin Jacobs of the Inter-Provincial Chief Rabbinate of the Ashkenazic Congregation here charged that many of these Russians immigrated to Israel on forged documents falsely claiming they were Jewish.
The Dutch authorities, meanwhile, are investigating reports that a Russian travel agency is selling would-be immigrants a list of Dutch families willing to put them up as tourists while they apply for political asylum, which they are unlikely to be granted.
The travel agency is said to charge $2,500 for the list, a sum the average Russian cannot pay. The people who have utilized the agency’s services are believed to have raised the fee through criminal activity.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
