Speech #990002979

Meanwhile. Soviet authorities refuse to provide information to Western governments or to human rights organizations about their conditions. Emigration has consistently declined since the peakyear total of 51.000 in 1979. Last year. only 896 Jews were permitted to leave the Soviet Union. 30 percent less than in 1983 and 98 percent less than In 1979. Although the Soviets claim that all Jews who wish to leave have done so. the State Department has estimated that in excess of 400.000 Soviet Jews. or 20 percent of the Jewish community. would emigrate if they could. The Soviet Government has engaged in propaganda designed to repress Jewish cultural activities. It has launched a vicious antiSemitic campaign in the media centered on the "AntiZionist Committee on the Soviet Public." Cartoons. broadcasts. and articles increasingly equate Jewish culture with racism and compare Israel to Nazi Germany.