Leon Dulzin, chairman of the World Zionist Organization Executive vowed to use all ways and means to end the phenomenon of dropouts–Soviet Jews who leave the USSR with Israeli visas but opt to settle in other countries after reaching Vienna. In a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Dulzin said he would discuss the problem with American Jewish leaders when he visits the U.S. shortly “to find a solution out of a joint concern for the Jewish people.”
Dulzin said “the rate of Jews arriving in Vienna with Israeli visas who do not go to Israel has reached 50.7 percent compared to 37.2 percent in 1975 and less than five percent in 1973. These data must ring an alarm bell,” he said, “since I see in them a danger for the Jewish awakening in the USSR and the aliya movement from the USSR to Israel.”
Dulzin claimed that “this subject has been frozen in the last couple of years, but it seems to me that all the elements dealing with the subject must re-examine the various options to limit the dropout phenomenon.”
He rejected “the argument that the present situation is a must and cannot be changed.” He insisted “that the subject is of the utmost importance for the entire Jewish people and therefore it deserves a thorough and responsible discussion with the joined responsibility of Jewish leadership in Israel and the diaspora and all other bodies dealing with the subject.” He changed that “rumors, distortions and even libel have been spread recently against those who regard the dropout phenomenon seriously” but did not elaborate.
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.
