Speech #920022016

It is a wellknown fact that Soviet Jews have been subjected to religious. educational. and employment discrimination and have been severely restricted in their cultural endeavors by the Soviet Government. which hereby violates the Soviet Unions own code of behavior relative to nationality groups. Therefore. it is the moral responsibility of this Nation to exert diplomatic pressures on the Soviet Union in an effort to persuade -them to cease their educational. religious. employment and cultural persecution of Soviet Jewry. In an attempt to acquire a human existence. free from totalitarian oppression. many of the 3.5 million Jews living in Russia have applied for visas to emigrate from the Soviet Union. Their actions. however. have been met with various forms of invidious conduct. ranging from outright denial of their applications to imprisonment. It is. therefore. the purpose of this resolution to express the concern of this Nation about the grim future facing Russian Jews. by making it the sense of Congress that the President. through the proper diplomatic channels. shall encourage and attempt to persuade the Soviet Union to permit persons of the Jewish faith to migrate to countries where they would be accepted and welcomed in the name of humanity and decency. Earlier this month. 27 nations attending the World Conference on Soviet Jewry in Brussels heard testimony to the effect that instances of antiSemitism in the Soviet Union were greatly increasing. Jewish citizens of Russia are continuously being harrassed in the exercise of their religious and cultural freedoms. which are guaranteed to them under Russian law. In addition. despite the conservative estimate that 300.000 Jews would depart from Russia if they were so permitted. the Soviet authorities reluctantly allow only 2.000 to emigrate annually. Recently. however. as a result of adverse world opinion concerning these harsh limitations on the number of Jewish emigrants. Moscow. albeit unwillingly. allowed 800 Jews to leave the country. This demonstrates that Moscow is not totally immune to world pressures and emphasizes the need for passage of this resolution as a means of expressing United States public outrage at the mistreatment of Jews in Russia.