Rabbi Meir Kahane, the former Knesset member and Jewish Defense League founder who was assassinated Monday night, was eulogized Tuesday in Brooklyn as a man who stood up for Jewish pride and principles. “He was the second Moshe Rabbeinu — Moses took the Jews out of Egypt and Kahane took the Jews out of anti-Semitic… More ▸
American Jewish groups have applauded the conviction in Moscow of a leader of the anti-Semitic group Pamyat as an important first step in the fight against anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union, which for decades was sanctioned by the government. Konstantin Smirnov-Ostashvili was convicted by a Moscow court Friday and sentenced to two years in jail… More ▸
American Jewish leaders have expressed satisfaction with President Bush’s pledge that he will not ask Congress to ratify a trade agreement he signed Friday with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev until Moscow adopts promised emigration reform legislation. But Jewish leaders were alarmed by Gorbachev’s threat Sunday to cut off Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union unless… More ▸
Nine Soviet Jewry activists failed last week to convince the regional manager of the Soviet national airline Aeroflot to begin direct flights to Israel. Rabbi Avraham Weiss, who led the group, even tried to lay down cash for a ticket to Israel, but was politely told he could not do so. The group, made up… More ▸
Two days before President Bush was scheduled to host Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev at their first full-scale summit meeting, the White House was still up in the air about whether a trade agreement would be signed. White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said Tuesday that neither news reports that the agreement will be signed at the… More ▸
The long-dreaded pogroms against Soviet Jews that had been threatened for May 5 did not materialize Saturday in the Soviet Union. But fear among Jews there is still very much alive. May 5 is widely known in the Soviet Union as the birthday of Karl Marx and as a religious day in the Russian Orthodox… More ▸
Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, addressing a meeting of the Communist Youth League in Moscow, has made what is believed to be his first public statement condemning anti-Semitism. Leaders of Soviet Jewry advocacy groups responded to the long-awaited statement in mixed fashion, some welcoming it, but others saying it minimized or only partially addressed the problem…. More ▸
After more than two decades of activism on behalf of Soviet Jews, the rallying cry of "Let My People Go" was changed to "Let My People Fly" and "Bring My People Home." It was the first Solidarity Sunday amid glasnost. Official police estimates of 127,000 people–although more realistic figures put the number at a fraction… More ▸
Some 70 activists demanding that Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev publicly denounce the growing wave of anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union and that the Kremlin allow direct flights to Israel were arrested Sunday at the Soviet Mission to the United Nations. The activists, assembled by the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, were released after being charged… More ▸
Anti-Semitic activity turned to violence last week in the Ukrainian city of Kharkov, according to Soviet press reports. Jewish apartments were broken into, and about 20 Jews were beaten, although no deaths were reported. The chief of Kharkov’s Department of Internal affairs was quoted Tuesday in the Moscow newspaper Trud as saying that court proceedings… More ▸
