Speech #990140769

Since 1980. the Soviet Government has stepped up its campaign against Jews who exercise their right of religious worship and who participate in Jewish selfstudy groups. Jews who have attempted to organize unofficial Jewish religious study groups have been subjected to threats of arrests. harassment. house searches. surveillance. and other forms of intimidation. This treatment is akin to that received by Jewish activists in the dissident. human rights and emigration movementsmen and women such as Anatoly Shcharansky. Iosif Begun. and Ida Nudel. to name only a few. who have endured unjust and inhumane treatment to secure human rights for themselves and their fellow citizens. In an effort to escape the antiSemitic policies and practices of the Soviet Government. many Soviet Jews have turned to emigration as a means of selfpreservation. But emigration is no longer a solution. In fact. Soviet Jewish emigration is in a steadily worsening state of crisis. In 1979. a record 51.320 Jews were allowed to leave the Soviet Union. Since that time. however. the annual rate of Jewish emigration has fallen by staggering amounts: 21.471 in 1980. 9.447 in 1981. 2.688 in 1982. 1.314 in 1983. and finally a paltry 896 in 1984. In fact. the total number of Jews permitted to leave in the 6 years since 1979. 36.920. falls almost 15.000 short of the 1979 level alone. Based on the average monthly figure for the first 11 months. this years total will be 1.104. This is certainly a far cry from the 50.000plus of 6 years ago. especially in light of the 3 million Jews who remain in the Soviet Union. their lots in life declining in marked congruence with their emigration levels. The frustration and despair of not being able to obtain an exit permit are compounded by the treatment which Soviet Jews receive after applying to emigrate. Many are removed from their Jobs. evicted from their apartments. and subjected to constant harassment by the authorities. Soviet Jews are crying out for our help.