Trial Balloon Lofted? Soviet Ship Answers Distress Call from Israeli Freighter

A routine incident at sea, reported in an obscure Soviet medical journal, is being viewed by observers in Moscow as a possible trial balloon lofted by Kremlin leaders to test the possibility of improved relations with Israel. The incident involved the response of a Soviet ship to a medical distress call from an Israeli freighter in the mid-Pacific recently. The doctor of the Russian ship, a woman, boarded the Israeli vessel to treat an injured seaman.

Such incidents at sea are commonplace. The fact that it was the subject of an article in the Medical Gazette two weeks ago seemed to be of significance to Jews and others in the USSR. The headline over the article, “Ships Change Course” seemed to them to have political significance in line with the fact that the article appeared just as President Anwar Sadat of Egypt arrived in Moscow for talks on the Middle East.

The name of the ship’s doctor suggested that she was of Jewish origin and the article noted that the ship concerned belonged to a nation “with whom better relations could be desired.” That in itself appeared to be an unusual formulation with reference to Israel, Students of the Soviet Press have long noted that important policy changes are often hinted at first in second rank newspapers so that reaction can be gauged on a small scale before the leadership commits itself. The “balloon” can easily be hauled down if it is seriously challenged.

The article in the Medical Gazette was filed by its correspondent in Vladivostock. It reported that the Israeli crew experienced a change of heart toward the Russians and appreciated the doctor’s dedication and good intentions. “So it should be,” he wrote, adding, “Soviet humanism carried the day.”