Speech #940088782

But if detente is to have any lasting value. it must involve an exchange of ideas and values as well as machinery and grain. It should bring out the best in both countries. not the lowest common denominator. For example. a country with our heritage of and commitment to individual rights and freedoms has an obvious moral responsibility to speak up and to work for the freer emigration of Soviet Jews. The number of Jews the U.S.S.R. has allowed to emigrate has fallen from approximately 35.000 in 1973 to slightly over 5.000 for the first 5 months of this year. It is estimated that there is a backlog of more than 140.000 Soviet Jews who have indicated a desire to emigrateand that total grows by about an additional 3.000 each month. The U.S.S.R. is not content with merely discouraging Jews from emigrating by subjecting them to unreasonable and arbitrary delays. It also systematically harasses and. in some cases. even imprisons Jews seeking exit visas. My constituents have brought two recent cases to my attention. Gregori Hess and his family in Minskhls wife Elena and daughters Galia and Margaretapplied for exit visas to Israel. They have not received them. Recently they participated in a 3day hunger strike protesting the sentencing of two other Soviet JewsBoris Tsitlionok and Mark Nashpitzto five years exile. Tsitlionok and Nashpitz received this punishment because they were peacefully protesting the treatment of other Soviet Jews wishing to emigrate. Vladimir Lazaris of Moscow. his wife and his child. applied for exit visas. The wife and child were granted their visas and have left the country. Vladimir was denied his visa. Shortly afterwards he was dismissed from his job as a clerk in the patent bureau. Now he suddenly finds himself charged with treason and antiSoviet propaganda. These cases. unfortunately. are not isolated instances. The same theme of harassment is repeated thousands of times with different variationsa 7year wait for a visa. suspension from a school while awaiting a visa. repeated threats. and so on. Obviously. we cannot dictate the internal practices of the Soviet Union. But neither can we throw up our hands and turn away from the problems of the Soviet Jews.