According to reports here from Jewish sources in the Soviet Union, Jewish prisoners in the USSR will stage a one-day hunger strike next Friday. Dec. 24, the anniversary of the sentences handed down in the first Leningrad hijack trial. The prisoners have asked Jews in Israel to observe a hunger strike on the same date. Dr. Benjamin Halevy, a Knesset member of the Gahal faction, has asked the government to grant automatic citizenship to all Jewish political prisoners in the USSR on the anniversary date. There are about 40 Jews presently in Soviet jails and labor camps.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
