The United States policy on the emigration of Soviet Jews has shifted from “quiet diplomacy” to what was described today by State Department spokesman Charles Bray as “invisible diplomacy.”
Last month, after President Nixon met with 32 Jewish leaders in New York, Presidential press secretary Ronald Ziegler said that the US finds that the best approach to the question of the Soviet head tax is to conduct quiet diplomacy rather than public confrontation and public debate.
Today, when Bray was asked whether the State Department had been informed of any policy change by the Soviet Union regarding the head tax, be replied: “On this whole subject we have declined to comment in any way in the belief that invisible diplomacy will be more effective.”
In response to another question. Bray said he did not know the source of press reports that the Soviet Union is setting aside the head tax in the case of some Jews who are receiving permission to emigrate.
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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.
