Russia’s Anti-israel Campaign May Be Forerunner of ‘trials’ Against Soviet Jews

The president of B’nai B’rith expressed “great anxiety” that the Soviet Union’s “staged press conference” last week, in which 31 Jews denounced “Israel aggression,” may be the forerunner of greater repressions and possible “show trials” of Soviet Jews who have applied for immigration to Israel or have protested anti-Jewish discriminations in their homeland. “The unusual character and intensity of the Soviet propaganda effort raises questions whether its ultimate purpose may be to use Jews as a scapegoat to deflect growing popular disapproval with the Soviet Union’s Middle East policy,” said Dr. William Wexler, president of B’nai B’rith.

He said Soviet authorities are also distressed by the number of non-Jewish intellectuals who have made the grievance of Soviet Jewry their cause. Dr. Wexler said that the “smoke screen nature” of the press conference held in Moscow “was demonstrated by the fact that, with a single exception, none of the 31 ‘Jewish leaders’ who were obviously compelled to participate in it has ever shown the slightest interest in Jewish affairs.” He said it was “revealing” that the Kremlin “has suddenly discovered ‘Jewish leaders’ since there has not been a single central agency for Soviet Jews since the government disbanded Jewish anti-Fascist Committee in 1948.”