Speech #990005087

Mr. Speaker. my colleagues and I have stood in these Chambers time and time again in support of the rights of Soviet Jewsrights not only of religious freedom. personal safety. and employment. but also the right to emigrate to the Jewish homeland of Israel. or to other countries where Soviet Jews have family. We have. in our statements and urgings. attempted to make people more aware of the treatment of Jews in the Soviet Union. Our ultirate goal. of course. has been to reat.h the Soviet Government itself. whicn has so far responded to our criticlims by maintaining that all Jews who wish to leave the Soviet Union have already done so. These claims are not supported by available statistics. however. which indicate that at least 350.000 Jews have attempted to start the emigration process. Further information points out that most of these attempts have been in vain. In 1979. the peak year of Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union. 51.320 were allowed to leave the country. In 1984. that number was drastically reduced to a mere 896. Now that the Soviet Union has effectively trapped most Jews inside its boundaries. harassment and persecution have continued and. in fact. increased. Jewish students are expelled from universities. military conscription is selectively applied more to Jews than to other Soviets. arrests are made arbitrarily. personal property is confiscated. fraudulent charges place many Jews in prisons and labor camps. and antiSemitic attacks appear regularly in the media. characterizing Jews as criminals. traitors. spies. and drug abusers. Despite the fact that many Jews are fired from their Jobs when they apply for exit visas to Israel. the Soviet media reports that they "refuse to do productive work. preferring to do manual labor and live on gifts." More recently. KGB officials have warned Jewish teachers to stop teaching Hebrew. although other languages are allowed. Teachers homes have been