A petition campaign, seeking human rights for Soviet Jews was launched by the Community Relations Committee’s Commission on Soviet Jewry when Dr. Alexander Luntz, one of the activists who initiated the petition in Moscow, visited here last month. The campaign is part of a world-wide movement to stop Soviet violations of the Helsinki accord.
Luntz, a distinguished scientist and a key spokesman for activists when he was in the Soviet Union, was released last February and is currently touring key cities in the U.S. to mobilize support for the “refuseniks.”
The petition campaign, launched at a special meeting of the Commission, was signed by Sen. John Tunney (D.Calif.), Mayor Tom Bradley, and members of the Los Angeles City Council, led by Councilmen John Ferraro and Zev Yaroslavsky. Leading members of the Christian clergy, who met with Dr. Luntz at a meeting arranged by the American Jewish Committee, also signed the petition and indicated they would seek support from the Christian community.
The petition, addressed to Soviet Communist Party Secretary Leonid Brezhnev calls on the USSR to carry out specific positive actions with regard to the human rights of Soviet Jews. One million signatures are being sought nationwide.
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