The Jewish Agency reported yesterday that about 14,000 immigrants will have arrived in Israel by the end of this year, 4,000 more than arrived in 1981. According to Rafael Kotlowitz, chairman of the Agency’s immigration and absorption department, the rate of immigration in October was 34 percent greater than in the same month last year.
Kotlowitz reported that a total of 2,600 Jews left the Soviet Union this year but only 750 of them immigrated to Israel. He blamed Jewish communities abroad which aid emigres who choose to go to countries other than Israel. Kotlowitz claimed that Moscow regarded the growing number of Soviet Jews heading for the U.S. as a breach of “an unwritten agreement with Israel” and therefore cut down drastically on emigration permits.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
