As President Nixon prepares for his mid-May summit meeting in Moscow, the White House is being deluged with calls to intercede with the Soviet leadership on behalf of Soviet Jews, it was reported to the Executive Committee of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council, meeting here yesterday.
According to the report by Theodore R. Mann of Philadelphia, chairman of the NCRAC’s Commission in International Community Relations Concerns, one or both houses of at least 25 state legislatures have adopted resolutions deploring Soviet denial of rights to Jews and urging the President to seek the right of emigration for those Soviet Jews who wish to leave Russia. Similar resolutions are awaiting committee action in a number of other legislatures. Many governors, mayors and other public officials have issued proclamations with identical appeals.
The NCRAC report also stated that with five weeks remaining before the President leaves for the Soviet Union, the goal of a million signatures on petitions making the same request is well within sight. Many thousands of petitions already have reached the White House or are on their way by mail. In about 100 cities, April 30 will be observed as Solidarity Sunday for Soviet Jewry. Hundreds of thousands of participants, non-Jewish as well as Jewish, are expected to take part in public events, the NCRAC stated.
Albert E. Arent, NCRAC chairman, told the Executive Committee that a National Assembly on Soviet Jewry in Washington, sponsored by the National Conference on Soviet Jewry, has been set for May 15.
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