Scores of Soviet Jews Rounded Up; Jewish Leaders Criticize Trade Mission

Scores of Soviet Jews, who were attempting to present a petition signed by 200 Jews to Soviet authorities appealing for emigration rights, and to demonstrate their sympathy with Jewish activists David Azbel and Ida Nudel presently on a hunger strike in Moscow, were prevented from doing so Friday in various cities of the Soviet Union. In Moscow, at least 17 Soviet Jews were arrested, while in other cities more than 50 Jews were picked up on their way to demonstrate. Their whereabouts are still unknown.

Richard Maass, chairman of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry, and Rabbi Israel Miller, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and president of the American Zionist Federation, expressed alarm over the arrests, continuing harassments of Jews seeking exit visas, the diminution of emigration, the mass disconnection of telephones of Soviet Jews to the world outside the USSR, and recent trials on what both leaders termed trumped up charges.

Maass issued an appeal to American businessmen presently hosting Soviet trade officials, urging that they immediately convey to Communist Party Secretary Leonid I. Brezhnev “the great consternation of all Americans for the brutal retaliation against Soviet Jews planning peaceful gatherings.” He said these actions “illustrate the immorality of going about with a ‘business as usual’ attitude.” Maass and Miller said the Jewish community is alarmed over news that only 1600 Jews arrived in Israel last month compared with more than 3000 arrivals each month previously. According to reports by the Dutch Consulate in Moscow only 1500 Jews will emigrate this month.

Rabbi Miller declared that the recent Soviet actions against Jews indicate “a pattern of continued repression.” He noted that these tactics, coming at a time when the Soviet Union is seeking to expand trade with the U.S. and trying to secure concessions for credits, “will be counter productive.” Maass, referring to disruption of telephone service, declared: “Not since President Nixon visited the Soviet Union two years ago has there been such a deliberate disruption of international telecommunications.”