Isai and Grigory Goldstein, brothers who waited almost 15 years for visas to leave the Soviet Union, arrived in Israel last Friday with a plea that the Jews they left behind in the USSR not be forgotten.
Isai, accompanied by his wife, Elizabeta and their 15-year-old son, Avi, said at Ben Gurion Airport: “Our dream has at last come true. We want no more publicity. All your attention must now be given to those who have been left behind. There are still hundreds of thousands wanting to leave.”
Grigory, who is 55 and unmarried, said he and his brother, both physicists, were not allowed to emigrate 15 years ago because both had worked on scientific research. They are natives of Tbilisi, the capital of Soviet Georgia. Grigory was exiled to Siberia for a year because of his Zionist activities.
The brothers renounced their Soviet citizenship in 1972, after Arab terrorists massacred members of the Israeli Olympic team in Munich. They charged that Moscow had provided the terrorists’ weapons. Exit visas were granted them earlier this year after Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts intervened on their behalf during a visit to Moscow.
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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.
