Mr. President. I have been dismayed to learn that a high American official. the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for EastWest trade. recently sent an intermediary to meet with a group of Russian Jewsbrave men who have been waging a heroic struggle for the right to emigrate freelyto advise them to lobby American citizens against my amendment to the trade bill that would make trade concessions to the Soviet Union contingent on free emigration. But what is perhaps most shameful is the indication. in a statement by 12 Jewish scientists in Moscow. that this American official warned that the Soviet Government would "wreak vengeance" on its Jewish citizens and that "no one would be able to come to [their] aid" if the Jackson amendment were to be approved by the Congress. In contrast to the ugly spectacle of a high administration official conveying a Soviet warning of reprisals. there is this response from the brave Jews of the Soviet Union: Apprehension for our future fate must not become a ... pretext to abandon the fight for our human rights. And. of course. as Sakharov well understands. the Jackson amendment and the struggle for free emigration extend to citizens in the Soviet Union. Jews and nonJews alike. who. in Sakharovs words: Want to leave the country and who have been seeking to exercise that right for years and for decades at the cost of endless difficulty and humiliation. M.
Keywords matched
emigrate emigration