Speech #920175939

Mr. President. I am introducing today a bill to authorize $85 million for assistance to Soviet Jewish refugees in IsraelThe Soviet Jewish Refugee Assistance Act of 1972. The plight of Jews in the Soviet Union has for some time been a matter of great concern and sorrow in this country. We cannot fail to be greatly moved. because of our own tradition of religious and personal liberty. with the example of a minority in the Soviet Union struggling against such overwhelming odds to preserve its ancient religious and cultural traditions in what appears to be an increasingly hostile environment. In recent years the attention of the world has been focused sharply on the plight of Soviet Jewry by the victims own courageous public protest and demand for the right to emigrate to Israel. In Congress there have been severalbipartisan efforts to call attention to this problem and to do what little we can to influence the Soviet Government in the direction of a nondiscriminatory policy toward the Jewish people of the U.S.S.R. We have tried to render what small assistance we can to the struggle of this brave people to maintain their identity and their right to worship God as they see fit. And we must continue to do what we can as long as repression of the Jewish people continues in the Soviet Union. But in recent months there has been a surprising new development in Soviet policy. The motivations remain obscure. but the results are dramatica sudden increase in the number of Soviet Jews allowed to emigrate to Israel. In the one month of December 1971. three times as many Jews emigrated from the Soviet Union as in all of 1970. The increased rate is continuing in 1972. and it is now anticipated that between 40.000 and 60.000 Soviet Jewish immigrants will arrive in Israel this year. On January 8 of this year. I suggested in a statement that the United States should be prepared to assist these refugees resettle in Israelfor it is to Israel that they strongly desire to go. I pointed out that this new Soviet policy was a blessingbut a blessing accompanied by staggering financial and social burdens for Israel. We know from our own experience with some 650.000 Cuban refugees in the past 12 years and some 30.000 Hungarian refugees in 1958 and 1959 how difficult it is to absorb substantial numbers of refugeesand we are a nation of more than 200 million. For Israels 3 million people. the task is awesome. Given our relative populations. it is as if the United States was suddenly confronted with the need to absorb into its social and economic structure an additional 2 to 3 million people. roughly the size of Philadelphia or Los Angeles.