Seven More Soviet Jews Appeal to Mrs. Meir for Aid in Emigrating to Israel

Seven more Soviet Jews have appealed “to you, dear Mrs. Golda Meir” for aid in expediting their emigration to Israel. Their letter, dated April 2 and made public today, characterizes as false the current Kremlin assertions that all “Soviet citizens of Jewish descent” protest Israel’s support of emigration demands. “The participants of this campaign purport to speak on behalf of all the Jews living within the borders of the Soviet Union, but have no right to do so,” the letter said. The signers identified themselves as Lev Smuelovitch Shenkar, Anatoly Vladimrovitz Dikatov, Mark Simonovitz Finkelstein, Norma Zinovievitch Syrikin, Zoriah Vonimoovna Rosenfeldadim, Yakovlevitch Burshevsky and Tissilinok Boris Leibovitch. The letter declared that “many thousands of Jews living in the Soviet Union have applied to the competent Soviet authorities for permission to emigrate to Israel,” but that “although the Soviet government has recognized the Declaration of Human Rights and has never decreed compulsory citizenship as an official principal of policy, the majority of Soviet Jews have been denied the legal right to emigrate.” The letter adds that “On the contrary, sometimes different forms of pressure have been brought to bear on them.” The writers said they consider the Israeli government their “representative” and their prime means of aid in their “struggle to enter our homeland, Israel.”