I do so with firm conviction because I believe that. as Americans. we imperil our own deep sense of human dignity if we ignore the human rights violations being perpetrated against thousands of Soviet Jews. who ask nothing more than the right to leave the Soviet Union for Israel to practice their religion. This is not just a matter of moral right. it is also international law. Soviet Jews are being harassed. arrested. and imprisoned for only one reasonbecause they are Jews. This frightening antiSemitism has flourished to the point that in 1981. about 30.000 Jews requested visas to leave the Soviet Union. but only 9.447 were approved. In 1982. the figures are alarmingly low. even more unsettling than in 1981. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is just one of many documents that guarantee the muchcherished freedom of travel and the freedom of religious expression.
Identified stereotypes
Soviet Jews are being harassed, arrested, and imprisoned for only one reason--because they are Jews.