In a Moscow-to-New York telephone call yesterday, Israeli Ambassador Yosef Tekoah was asked by Joseph Kazakov, father of the young man conducting a hunger strike here on behalf of Soviet Jewry, to urge his son to desist and leave the question of Soviet Jewish emigration to the Israeli authorities. Mr. Tekoah reported, however, that the elder Kazakov said he had received no further word on the processing of the family’s emigration request, which has thus far been refused. Mr. Tekoah, who formerly was ambassador to Moscow, spoke with the father in Russian and Yiddish. The ambassador promptly renewed the Kazakov plea with Secretary General U Thant. Mr, Thant was said to have expressed “interest” in the Kazakov family’s plight.
Ambassador Tekoah met with Mr. Thant today also to present him with a letter from 18 Soviet Georgian Jewish families endeavoring to emigrate to Israel asserting that “100 days have elapsed” since their original plea for assistance and that “our situation has not changed.” Mr. Tekoah emphasized to Mr. Thant, that a covering letter from the families stressed the necessity for the Secretary General “to fulfill his duty” in their plight. The families urged immediate action “because time is short.” Mr. Tekoah also submitted to Mr. Thant a letter from a 50-year-old Georgian SSR citizen charging that his visa to emigrate to Israel was holed up in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a year until he appealed directly to Premier Alexei Kosygin, after which “I was unexpectedly informed…that the exit permit has been totally refused to me.” The writer, Yosif Khikhinashvili, called on Mr. Thant to intervene in his behalf.
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