Speech #980184495

Since 1980. the Soviet Government has stepped up its campaign against Jews who exercise their right of religious worship and/or participate in Jewish selfstudy groups. Those attempting to organize unofficial Jewish religous study groups have been subjected to threats of arrests. harassment. house searches. surveillance. and other forms of intimidation. This treatment is akin to that received by Jewish activists in the dissident. human rights. and emigration movementsmen and women such as Anatoly Shcharansky. losif Begun. and Ida Nudel. to name only a few. who have endured unjust treatment to secure human rights for themselves and their fellow citizens. In an effort to escape the antiSemitic policies and practices of the Soviet Government. many Soviet Jews have turned to emigration as a means of selfpreservation. But emigration is no longer a solution. In fact. Soviet Jewish emigration is in a state of crisis. In 1979. a record level of 51.320 Jews were allowed to leave the Soviet Union. Since that time. however. the annual rate of Jewish emigration has decreased steadily and markedly. In 1980. 21.471 Jews emigrated to the West. In 1981. 9.447 Jews were allowed to leave. and in 1982. Jewish emigration plummeted to 2.688. In 1983. only 1.315 Jews were permitted to leave. This figure is the lowest since the Jewish emigration movement began in the late 1960s. 1984 does not promise to reverse the trend. Only 229 Jews were allowed to leave in the first 3 months of this year. On the basis of an average monthly figure of 76. the total for 1984 will be approximately 912a figure less than that of 1983 and a sure indication that the Soviet Union is trying to halt Jewish emigration entirely. The frustration and despair of not being able to obtain an exit permit are compounded by the treatment which Soviet Jews receive after applying to emigrate. Many are removed from their jobs. evicted from their apartments. and subjected to constant harassment by the authorities. Soviet Jews are crying out for our help.