Sen. Henry M. Jackson (D., Wash.), took issue today with opponents of his resolution to alleviate the plight of Soviet Jewry by declaring that the Soviet government will not grant its minority citizens their rights until it realizes that the issue of Soviet Jewry is important to Americans. In remarks to more than 1000 Jewish communal leaders at a gathering sponsored by the Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry, Jackson, co-author of the Brock-Jackson resolution, said: “No doubt there are some people who are against this proposal on the ground that we must not jeopardize improved relations with the Soviet Union.”
But, Jackson added, unless the Soviet Union realizes the issue of Soviets will continue to “manipulate Russian Jews and the Soviet Union’s Arab clients, in the most cynical way, by turning on and off the flow of emigrants, a bit faster when the Arabs are out of line, and slower when they be have.” He added that the time has come for President Nixon “to speak out and emphasize the concern of all Americans for the plight of the Russian Jews.”
Jackson, who serves on the Armed Services Committee, referred to the Brock-Jackson resolution which calls on the President to take concrete steps to alleviate the plight of Soviet Jewry. Among the steps cited there are that the President demand of the Soviet government that it permit its citizens the right to emigrate from the Soviet Union to the countries of their choice as affirmed by the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.
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.
