A California Republican claimed here today that the Soviet Union was charging the full 900 Ruble exit fee for infants and small children of Jewish families leaving for Israel. Rep. Alphonzo Bell said at a press conference that he has sent documentary evidence of that practice to President Nixon as proof “that there has been no permanent relaxation of Soviet hostility to Jews” and that “trade concessions are not deserved” by the Soviet Union.
Bell said Soviet authorities treated infants and small children as if they were travelling alone. He exhibited copies of exit visas allegedly issued for Jewish children. One of them described a three-year-old child as travelling alone. Bell said he has asked President Nixon to reconsider “statements by the Soviet government about the relaxation concerning Soviet Jews.”
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