Speech #990123037

November 19. 1985. as a Day of Solidarity in Support of Soviet Jewry. Announced by Leon Dulzin. chairman of the World Conference on Soviet Jewry. this day of solidarity comes at a most opportune end significant moment: The summit meeting in Geneva between President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Jews and nonJews around the world are participating in this important event. which expresses not only the hope that the Geneva summit might open new doors to the over 400.000 Jews wishing to emigrate from the Soviet Union. but also the confirmation of our continued concern for Soviet Jewry. We are all familiar with the plight of Soviet Jews. and it is clear that since Mikhail Gorbachev took office. the condition of Soviet Jews has utterly deteriorated. From 1968 to 1979. the number of Jews emigrating from the Soviet Union steadily increased. peaking at 51.320 in 1979. In 1980. that number was 21.000. In 1981. 9.500. In 1982. less than 2.700 Jews were permitted to emigrate. and in 1983. it was half of that. at 1.300. Finally. in 1984. 896 Jews were allowed to leave. marking the lowest level of emigration in the history of the movement. This year. the statistics are the same. At a virtual standstill. the number of emigres so far this year has leveled at approximately 800. With over 400.000 Jews wanting to leave the Soviet Union. there is no evidence that the situation is changing. The situation is worsening due to the increasingly harsh and indifferent treatment of Soviet Jews seeking to emigrate or study their language or culture. Jews are harassed. victimized. and labeled as outcasts or "parasites." A recent report. by the National Conference on Soviet Jewry cites over 150 known cases of search. arrest. and imprisonment of Hebrew teachers and Jewish activists from September 1984 to August 1985. AntiSemitism and the general suppression of Jewish culture increase dramatically while some 10.000 "refuseniks"-Jews having been denied exit visasawait permission to leave. Just one example among the thousands of refuseniks is Ilya Vaisblit. whom I adopted along with his wife and son this past spring. Now suffering from multiple sclerosis. Ilya has expressed his fear that. as he puts it. "there is not much time left." He first applied for permission to emigrate in 1973. 12 years ago. The Helsinki Final Act. the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights all guarantee the freedom of people like the Vaisblits. famed Jewish activists Anatoly Shcharansky and Ida Nudel. and thousands of other Jews to emigrate on humanitarian grounds. Nevertheless. Soviet officials continue to elude discussion of and deny responsibility for the blatent human rights violations in the Soviet Union.