Other religions in the U.S.S.R. are permitted to maintain seminaries for the training of clergy. The Jews are not permitted to do so. So it is understandable that Soviet Jews in large numbersan estimated 300.000 and morewould like to leave the Soviet Union and emigrate to Israel. As I have said. the Soviet Union. except for a small trickle of emigration. has refused its Jewish citizens exit visas. Recently the Soviet Government took a grave action. namely that of refusing to deliver affidavits from families of Soviet Jews in Israel. such petitions are needed in applying for an exit visa. The legal and moral aspects of Soviet policy are examined in the very learned article by William Korey. He points out that: The Soviet Union voted for two binding international treaties which carry specific reference to the right to leave the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
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