Speaker. all Americans are rejoicing today over the commutation by the Soviet Supreme Court of the death sentences handed down by a lower court to two of 11 Jews accused of planning to hijack a Soviet airliner. Our elation should be tempered. however. by the circumstances which gave rise to the entire incidentthe probable entrapment by Soviet officials. the mockery of a trial. the stunningly heavy sentences. and now the reduction in sentences. After all. the reason the incident occurred is that the Soviet Union virtually bans the emigration of Russian Jews to Israel. The fact that the Soviet Union is holding Jews in that country against their will is unconscionable. While it is true that the Soviets. in effect. are keeping all of their citizens prisoner. the situation is particularly heinous as regards the Russian Jews. The Jews have somewhere to go. and if they wish to emigrate to Israel they should be freely permitted to do so. There is still another regrettable happening in connection with this incident. A number of House MembersDemocrats and Republicansintroduced resolutions last night expressing concern over the death sentences and urging the Soviet Union to commute them.
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emigrate emigration