Soviet Jews Advised to Avoid Israel; Might Be Hit by Soviet Missiles from Egypt

The Soviet Ovir (visa office) in Moscow has advised applicants for emigration that as of next week they will need invitations to enter the office, reliable Jewish sources reported today. The order was given by one of the heads of the Ovir, a Gen. Shoytob. The sources said the announcement was designed to intimidate Jews into not applying. In a related development, sources reported today that the head of the Ovir in Tchernowitz, the Ukraine, Lt. Col. Yefremov, told Jews Seeking to go to Israel that they would be in danger there of being hit by Soviet missiles from Egyptian territory. It has also been learned that Soviet Jewish activist Mikhail Zand, a professor at the Institute for Eastern Studies in Moscow, lost his job last month after a faculty meeting in which his critics were led by Yosef Braginsky, a Jewish teacher known for strident anti-Israel views. Brag- insky reportedly called Zand a “traitor.” Jewish sources said Braginsky spoke out against Zand after being urged by Israel’s pro-Moscow Rakach Communists to act to prevent Zand from going to Israel. Last month Zand, who specializes in Persian literature, interrupted a pro-Soviet presentation in Moscow’s Choral Synagogue by 60 Soviet Jewish leaders, charging them with being unrepresentative of Soviet Jewry and apologists for the Kremlin.

Zand, a journalist, was dismissed from the Soviet journalists’ association and subsequently was made an honorary member of the Israeli journalists’ organization. Two staff members at the meeting at the Institute for Eastern Studies refused to speak out against Zand. They were identified by sources as Yitzhak Filstinski, who is Jewish, and Tatyana Grigorveva, who is not. Another Soviet Jewish family has been plagued by emigration strictures, Jewish sources reported today. They said the Gait family of Tchernowitz–husband Ulrich, wife Rosa and 23-year-old son Mikhail–received exit papers last month but were told by Yefremov, that Moscow had ordered that Mikhail not be allowed to leave. The family contacted the Moscow authorities, who denied they had issued any such order. But Yefremov held back their visas. Only Ulrich Gait was permitted to leave, and is now in Israel, Rosa and Mikhail Gait are still in Tchernowitz, and have gained an additional problem: They are homeless, as they gave up their apartment when their applications were approved last month. Meanwhile, Glen Richter, national coordinator of the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, reported today that the telephone has been disconnected at the Riga home or Ruth Alsksandroyleh, the 23-year-old Jewish nurse arrested last October 7 and awaiting trial with other Riga Jews for alleged anti-Soviet activities. Richter called the development “ominous.”