Sen. Henry M. Jackson, Democrat of Washington State, has urged Secretary of State William P. Rogers to “convey to the Soviet government the sense of outrage of the American people at the senseless and inhuman oppression of the Jewish population of the Soviet Union.” In a letter to Rogers, Jackson reminded him: “Once before, the cruel persecution of an innocent people took place while the world stood by. It must not happen again. We as a government cannot remain silent.” The Senator recalled that last Dec. 29 “the Senate expressed its grave concern over the injustices to which the Jewish population of the Soviet Union was then–and is now–subjected.” and that it “called upon the President to convey to the Soviet government the concern of the American people.”
There was “ample reason,” Jackson continued, to believe that the Senate resolution, public demonstrations and expressions of concern throughout the world had a “considerable” effect on the Kremlin, since “the death penalties were commuted and three trials involving 23 other Jews were indefinitely postponed.” But, he said, those trials have since been resumed, with closed courts and apparent manipulation of witnesses, such as labeling a “confession” a letter from defendant Ruth Aleksandrovich expressing a desire to live as a Jew. “The trials continue,” Jackson stated to Rogers. “The persecution continues. And the simple desire of many Russian Jews to emigrate to Israel continues despite the risks to life and limb that the expression of that desire entails.”
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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.
