A lengthy anti-Israel article by one of the 12 Russian Jews who constituted the first organized tourist group from the Soviet Union, published in a Moscow evening paper, led Israel newspapers to charge today that publication of such articles was the main reason the Soviets had permitted the group to visit Israel.
The article, reported at length in most Israel dailies, described the alleged suffering of new immigrants and imaginary long queues in front of the Soviet Embassy of former Russian Jews trying to arrange for their “return to the homeland.”
The Israel dailies also asserted that the fact that the Soviets considered it necessary to send a group of Jews to Israel and to publish such “reports” was an indication that the desire of Russian Jews to emigrate to Israel continued undiminished. Previously, it was noted, Soviet propaganda had been content to publish and disseminate imaginary letters from Israel by new immigrants describing their “desperate” situation and claiming a desire to return to Soviet countries.
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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.
