The Presidium of the Brussels Conference for Soviet Jewry ended a two-day meeting here today with a decision to hold a world-wide “solidarity week” for Soviet Jews from December 5-12. The occasion will be used for seminars, demonstrations, exhibitions and a public information campaign.
Yosef Almogi, chairman of the Jewish Agency and World Zionist Organization Executives who opened the conference, said the solidarity gesture and other efforts on behalf of Jews in the USSR were needed because the Soviet Union has become “a world center for anti-Semitic propaganda” and responds only to world public pressure.
Philip Klutznick, chairman of the World Jewish Congress Executive Board, said Soviet anti-Semitism was state-organized and manipulated. He cited the Soviet Academy, a government-controlled body, as one of the main disseminators of hate material in the Soviet Union and abroad. He said the Soviets no longer even try to use anti-Zionism as a pretext for their open anti-Semitism.
The conference here examined the consequences of the Helsinki accords and evaluated the prospects of the forthcoming Belgrade conference. It also dealt with the issues of Jewish prisoners in the Soviet Union, anti-Jewish measures and Jewish culture inside the USSR. Participants at the meeting included Jewish Agency Treasurer Leon Dulzin and Rabbi Alexander Schindler, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
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