Speech #990072137

I am proud to participate today in the 1985 Congressional Call to Conscience for Soviet Jews. and I commend the organizers of this important activity for their commitment to this cause. On August 1. we will observe the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Helsinki accords. Among the signatories of that document is the Soviet Union. which thereby pledged to respect religious freedom and the rights of minorities and to permit emigration for the purpose of family reunification. As a nation of immigrants. we Americans often take these rights for granted. For Soviet Jews. however. these fundamental freedoms have never been easy to exercise. and recently they have been more elusive than ever. Although as many as 400.000 Jews have shown an interest in leaving the Soviet Union. barely 650 have been given permission to emigrate so far this year. This figure is lower than the averp.ge monthly total for 1981. when the number of exit visas had already dropped precipitately from its alltime high of 51.000 in 1979. Those who remain are threatened with arbitrary searches. dismissal from employment. expulsion from school. and arrest on trumpedup charges. Among the victims of the most recent crackdown on Jewish activists are Roald Zelichonok. a Leningrad Hebrew teacher has been accused of defaming the Soviet state.