Jewish Leaders Express Concern About Sharp Drop in Soviet Jewish Emigration

World Jewish leaders meeting here over the weekend expressed serious concern about the sharp drop in the number of Soviet Jews permitted to leave for Israel during the first four months of this year and the continuing harassment of Jews who apply for exit visas. The matter of Soviet Jews topped the agenda at the meeting of the Presidium of the Conference of Jewish Organizations (COJO) attended by Israeli leaders and representatives of Jewish communities all over the world.

The COJO agenda also included the plight of Jews in Syria and other Arab countries; the position of diaspora Jewry in various lands; and the status of Jewish education in the diaspora. There and Soviet Jewry are the areas of concern with which COJO has been engaged for the past few years as a coordinator and sponsor of various activities.

The weekend’s meeting was presided over by Mrs. Charlotte Jacobson, acting chairman of COJO and chairman of the World Zionist Organization-American Section. Participants included Leon Dulzin, acting chairman of the Jewish Agency and WZO Executives; Jacques Torczyner, chairman of the World Jewish Congress-American Section; Rabbi Israel Miller, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations; and Stanley Lowell, chairman of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry.

Dulzin, who presided at the session on Soviet Jewry, described the meeting as a “demonstration of Jewish unity” called to take stock of the situation. The meeting was addressed by Sonia Lerner, 20-year-old daughter of Prof. Alexander Lerner, who was allowed to emigrate to Israel although her father, a Moscow activist, is still denied a visa. “Only pressure from abroad has made it possible for people to leave the Soviet Union.” she said.

DECLARATION ON PLIGHT OF SOVIET JEWS

That the pressure must be increased was noted in a COJO declaration adopted after the meeting. It stated: “There has been a sharp reduction in the number of Soviet Jews allowed to leave for Israel during the past four months despite the fact that the total of those who requested and received affidavits from relatives in Israel and still have not been allowed to leave has risen to 135,000 and the backlog increases by thousands every month.

According to figures supplied to COJO, only 6270 Jews left Russia in the first four months of 1974 compared to 10,270 in the same period of 1973. The declaration cited examples of harassment of visa applicants and declared: “We demand of the Soviet authorities to remove the restrictions on Jewish emigration to Israel; humanize the administrative procedures for exit permits: halt the torment of hundreds of families who for years have been denied exit permits. We call upon the Soviet authorities to release the Jewish prisoners of conscience. We condemn the continuation of irresponsible anti-Jewish propaganda in the Soviet press. We urge the Soviet government to allow the exercise by Jews in the USSR of their national religious and cultural rights.”

The declaration expressed appreciation for “the continued strong support which the fight for the rights of Soviet Jews is receiving throughout the world” and resolved “to intensify our efforts on behalf of Jews in the Soviet Union.”

Addressing a press conference after the meeting, Dulzin accused Soviet authorities of double-dealing on the emigration issue. He said that while the authorities claim that 95 percent of visa applications are granted, would-be applicants are barred from making their applications by crude bureaucratic devices and many others are deterred by fear of harassment.

SOVIET JEWS DISCUSSED WITH KISSINGER

Rabbi Miller disclosed that during the meeting in Washington April 25 between a score of leaders of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger the problem of Soviet Jews was the main topic of discussion. Lowell, who also attended the meeting with Kissinger, said American Jews placed great hope in the Jackson Amendment. Kissinger opposes the amendment because he feels it will harm detente. “But human freedom comes before detente,” Lowell said. (After the April 25 meeting a statement was issued noting that the meeting “particularly focused on the Secretary’s forthcoming visit and negotiations in the Middle East” but did not indicate that the issue of Soviet Jewry had been discussed.)

Mrs. Jacobson told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency: “We are living in times of tension and stress, always coping with urgencies as they arise, but there is a need for Jewish leaders, both in Israel and in the diaspora to meet from time to time and discuss issues in depth, and reflect upon the need to adjust policies and notions to the changing times and conditions. Hence, the importance of the meeting we are holding.”