The largest coalition of Jewish organizations in this country has issued an appeal to Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger on behalf of Soviet Jews. A public statement released by Rabbi Israel Miller, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, and Stanley H. Lowell, newly elected chairman of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry, noted alarming reports of decline in Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union had been confirmed “on the eve of the departure of the Secretary of State to the Soviet Union.”
On behalf of nearly 40 member organizations and hundreds of local community councils, the Jewish leaders stated their unanimous support for the Jackson Amendment because they were “mindful of the impact of pending trade legislation on the emigration of Soviet Jews.” The two coordinating bodies issued the joint statement to also help clarify recent news accounts regarding the views of the Jewish community on emigration and on the Trade Reform Act before the Senate.
Lowell and Rabbi Miller requested Kissinger to continue this administration’s efforts and try to convince the Soviet Union that the roots of the problem and the resolution of the issues are in Moscow.
At the same time, a spokesman for the NCSJ and the Conference of Presidents said that Kissinger had also been given an updated list of Soviet Jews whose efforts to get exit visas for Israel have been rejected by Soviet authorities. Kissinger reportedly was asked to get a promise from Soviet leaders to permit Jews on the list to leave.
The spokesman said that a memorandum was also sent to Kissinger detailing the position of the Soviet Jewish community and emphasizing the need for the USSR to end its harassment of those Jews seeking to emigrate, ending the trials against these Jews and ending geographical and occupational discrimination in issuing exit visas. Last year, Kissinger was given a similar list which he presented to Soviet Communist Party Secretary Leonid I. Brezhnev.
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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.
