Speech #980107591

With increasing ferocity. the Soviet regime has imprisoned. harassed and persecuted thousands of innocent Jews. solely because they sought freedom. In the past 2 years. the Kremlindirected measures of oppression have become harsher. Fewer and fewer Soviet Jews are being permitted to emigrate to Israel. Only a few hundred have been permitted to leave in 1983. a tiny fraction of the emigrants approved in the 1970s. In fact. in 1979. more Soviet Jews emigrated each day than have been permitted to leave in any month of this year. And it is very possible that the paranoiac response of Soviet leaders to the worldwide protests over the destruction of the Korean airliner may cause even greater persecution of Soviet Jews. In such ominous circumstances it is vital that the United States maintain and increase its rigorous efforts on behalf of Soviet Jews.