An investigation conducted during the past two says by a Jewish Telegraphic Agency correspondent has, so far, uncovered not a single incident to substantiate the charges that reactionary Jewish organizations in Palestine are persocuting Soviet citizens and atempting to induce them not to return to Russia, which was charged in a Tass dispatch from Cairo several days ago.
According to a reliable scurce, the Soviet repatriation mission, under the leadership of Liout. Col, Karassov, received all possible cooperation and the fullest information concerning the whereabouts of the children concerned. The mission visited them and spoke with them. The children, the JTA informants say, were not coached by anyone and, in fact, were unaware that the Russian officials were going to visit them.
With the exception of one girl, however, all the youngsters signified a desire to remain in Palestine. It is reported, in fact, that up to now only 40 Soviet citizens have registered for repatriction, the majority of them non-Jews.
The Tass story, which was broadcast by the Moscow radio, alleged that as soon as the Seviet mission had left Palestine, Jewish groups launched an anti-Soviet propaganda drive among Soviet citizens, urging them not to return home, and warning that they would be persocuted by the Russians if they did so. The story said that those concerned were meinly children from Bessarabia and Bukovina, and that a letter from some of them appealing for aid had been received by a Soviet youth organization in Moscow.
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.
