Speech #930144265

Speaker. for the past several years the free world has witnessed the cruel and ceaseless campaigns of repression perpetrated against Jewish citizens of the Soviet Union by their government. We have been shocked and angered over the denial of basic human rights and personal dignity to these thousands of men. women. and children. Many of us have spoken out against these various illconceived actions undertaken by Soviet authorities and have expressed our revulsion over the callous denial of the right of free emigration to Soviet Jews and the economic. social. and cultural isolation forced upon those who seek to emigrate to other countries. For over 2 years Moise and Adele Kerbel of Kharkov in the Ukraine have been attempting to secure official permission to leave the U.S.S.R. and join their family in Israel. During this period they have been subjected to various forms of harassment and intimidation and have been denied the necessary permission to leave. What is especially tragic is the fact that Adele Kerbel is reportedly in very poor health. suffering from an incurable disease. I understand that emigration to Israel to be reunited with family and loved ones is. for Mrs. Kerbel. a matter of life or death because of her very serious physical condition. However. the Soviet authorities have the effrontery to declare that the Kerbels emigration to Israel is not in conformity with government interests and that Adele Kerbels departureeven in her state of complete physical helplessness and ill healththreatens the security of the Soviet Union. Denying Adele Kerbel the hope of emigration to Israel and to once again see and be with her family is to deny her any hope of improvement and condemns her to a very uncertain future. How can a woman who has been bedridden for some 4 years threaten the security of the U.S.S.R. or any other nation? The tragic plight of the Kerbels is just another example of the Soviet Unions complete disregard for the basic rights of its own citizens and reinforces my very strong belief that the Congress must take affirmative action to make plain our position that we will simply not tolerate the tactics employed against Soviet Jews. The fate of the more than 100.000 Soviet Jews. such as Moise and Adele Kerbel. who seek to leave the Soviet Union is in our hands and we must insure that they not be denied their right to emigrate and that they will be free from further victimization.