Speech #980076293

I recently read an article in the Washington Post which reported the publication of a blatantly antiSemitic book in the Soviet Union entitled "The Class Essence of Zionism." Among other things. the book. written by Lev Korneev. charges that Jews collaborated with the Nazis in perpetrating the crimes of the Holocaust and singles out the Soviet Jewish community as a community of people susceptible to bribery and treachery because of their socalled dual loyalties. The publication of this book Is especially disturbing because of its timing. According to the Washington Post. publication comes at a time when the Government has launched what the article calls a fierce antiZionist and antiIsraeli propaganda drive designed to discourage Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union. Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union. once as high as 51.000 in 1979. has reached a distressing nadir: Last year only 2.688 Jews were allowed to emigrate. and in the first third of this year. a mere 421 Jews left the Soviet Union. The Soviet Jews are trapped in a hostile environment. the victims of harsh antiSemitism which has been exacerbated by this recent booka book which has been warmly reviewed by the official Soviet press. Our failure to ratify the Genocide Treaty has hindered our ability to protest effectively Soviet human rights violations.