The Brussels Conference presidium will establish a special center in Paris to coordinate and exchange information on the status of Soviet Jews, Jewish Agency chairman Yosef Almogi said yesterday.
Almogi, who returned last night from a presidium meeting in Zurich, told reporters at Ben Gurion Airport that the presidium has been receiving reports of increased anti-Semitism in the USSR and the intensification of harassment of Jews who have applied for exit visas. He said taxes have been imposed on Jews receiving gift packages from abroad and on those getting financial aid. Many of the Jews who have applied for exit visas are now jobless because they were immediately fired from their posts, he said.
The Second World Conference on Soviet Jewry in Brussels last February ended with a decision to have a permanent presidium and standing committee. Almogi said the group will meet twice a year to consider ways to help Soviet Jews emigrate to Israel.
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