The Senate Finance Committee is considering a proposal from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations that it take the full 45 days allowed it by law before acting on a bill granting U.S. trade benefits to Rumania. During this period Rabbi Israel Miller, Presidents Conference chairman, told the committee, “We hope that the Rumanians will demonstrate the kind of positive movement on emigration that will permit favorable action” on most-favored-nation trade treatment and credits for Bucharest.
Rabbi Miller, one of ten witnesses to appear before the committee Friday, said that while for many years, Rumania demonstrated liberal emigration policies for its Jewish citizens, in recent years, “most notably” this year, the rate of Jewish emigration has been “very low” and “a cause for serious concern.” He said many thousands of the 100,000 Jews in Rumania have notified their relatives in Israel of a desire to emigrate.
At Friday’s hearing, Dr. Charles H. Kremer, a New York dentist who is president of the Rumanian Jewish Federation of America, Inc., praised Rumania for her treatment of various religious groups and minorities. While expressing “regret” that Rumania had reduced her emigration quota, he predicted that the Rumanian government “will re-establish the emigration of its citizens, both Jews and gentiles.”
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