Some 400 Soviet Jews Reported to Have Signed Petitions Demanding Right to Emigrate

Some 400 Soviet Jews so far have signed petitions and open letters with their full names and addresses demanding the right to emigrate to re-unite with their families in Israel, Hebrew University president Avraham Harman disclosed here today. Mr. Harman spoke in his capacity as president-designate of the Public Council for Soviet Jewry which will hold its founding conference here July 13. A pamphlet issued by the new organization stated that its aim was “to join its voice to the all-embracing Jewish protest movement which is growing among Jewish communities throughout the world.” The chairman of the Council’s executive committee is S.Z. Abramov, a Knesset member representing the Gahal faction. Mr. Harman stressed at a news conference today that the aim of the Council is not anti-Soviet. “We are not trying to create a front or a movement aimed against the Soviet Union. All we demand is that the Jews of the Soviet Union should enjoy the rights to which they are entitled under the Soviet Union’s own constitution, namely to leave their country of origin and reunite with their own people,” he said. Mr. Harman said the Israeli Council for Soviet Jewry will be part of a world-wide movement that has grown up in Britain, Switzerland, Australia, Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, France, Belgium and Italy. In the United States, he said, several organizations are active in the field.