On March 31. 1983. the Soviet press reported the formation of an "antiZionist committee of the Soviet public." According to the Soviet press. the establishment was suggested by eight prominent Soviet Jews in order to counter the influence of Israel and Jewish organizations abroad in the U.S.S.R. The State Department responded with a strongly worded statement which called on the Soviet Union "to cease its socalled antiZionist propaganda campaign." Many of my colleagues here today as well as I signed a letter to the same effect. Some in the United States view this development as further evidence that the Soviet Union has decided to cut off all Jewish emigration from the U.S.S.R. On June 6. 1983. this Soviet sponsored committee held a press conference at which they announced that "the process of reuniting families is. for the most part completed." On April 20. 1983. Victor Louis. a Soviet foreign correspondent with KGB connections wrote: "Like it or not. large scale Jewish emigration has come to an end." All of us in Congress. however. know how far these statements are from the truth. We all know of. and have sponsored letters and resolutions for Soviet Jews who have been beaten and arrested for teaching Hebrew. or of the KGB raids on homes that have increased in recent months. or of the psychiatric and mental institutions that are being used to silence the dissent of the "refuseniks." Many Jews are being incarcerated in prisons and concentration camps. Without a doubt. antiSemitism in the Soviet Union is on the same level as that of Nazi Germany before the Holocaust.
Keywords matched
emigration