Speaker. I would like to bring to my colleagues attention two very significant events which are currently taking place in the Soviet Union. One event demonstrates the tremendous courage of the Soviet Jews. and the other reminds us to what lengths the Soviet Union will go to silence its critics and those who have expressed a desire to emigrate to Israel. Three Soviet Jews are courageously in the process of conducting a hunger strike to dramatize their plight and that of the thousands of Soviet Jews who have been denied the right to emigrate to Israel. The three menDavid Azbel. a retired physicist. Vitaly Rubin. a sinologist. and Vladimir Galatsky. an artisthave submitted applications for visas for Israel. and have repeatedly been denied permission for "state interests." They have been the victims of arrest. harassment and intimidation by Soviet authorties. tactics commonly used against Soviet Jews who have expressed a desire to emigrate to Israel. David Azbel. who spent 16 years in Stalinist labor camps. cannot easily be broken and in spite of his age. continues to protest and demand his right. and that of other Soviet Jews. to emigrate to Israel. Concerned Americans have remained in communication with David Azbel and other Soviet Jews by means of the telephone and telegrams. To the Soviet Jew who in all likelihood has lost his Job. and faces constant harassment and possible imprisonment for "parasitism". a telephone call or a telegram from our friends in the West is a vital source of hope and encouragement.
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emigrate visas