Speech #990038304

Justly regard with horror the practices of the Soviet Union. which has systematically acted to persecute Soviet Jewry. Increasingly. Soviet Jews have been refused permission to emigrate even while they face ever mounting harassment and persecution at home and in their schools. Today. nearly 400.000 individuals who have requested permission to emigrate continue to lanquish in the Soviet Union because their exit permits have been denied. Officialy sanctioned antiSemitism. echoed in the statecontrolled press. affects the entire Jewish community there which numbers some 2 million. the third largest in the world. AntiSemitism in the Soviet Union prevents the education of new religious leaders as well as assembly for worship. We in Congress must stand together in condemnation of the communist refusal to abide by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. and the Helsinki Final Act. all of which the Soviet Union signed. Brave prisoners of conscience live in fear of reprisals. imprisonment. harassment. loss of employment. and even the revocation of academic degrees. Yet. the refusniks of the Soviet Jewish community continue to remain steadfast in their insistence on Just treatment and free expression of religious faith. as well as the right to emigrate. We take note on the example set by the Abraham Stolar family. which has refused to leave the Soviet Union. although three members now have exit permits. so long as their daughterinlaw. Julia. is not permitted to emigrate. We need not go as far as the Soviet Union to see the tragic results of Soviet policy. In Nicaragua. for example. we note that the policy of that client state echoes the example set by the Soviet Union.