Speech #990141118

Because they speak out against those who deny them basic human freedoms. For this. they are jailed. brutalized. and persecuted. In recent history. in an attempt to bargain with the West and to attain legitimacy and stature in the eyes of the world. the Soviet Union has allowed more than 250.000 Jews to emigrate. This approval. however. was not given to all Jews who wished to leave. After their failed policy of "induced assimilation." which followed Stalins death and continued to the early 1960s. the Soviet Union selected those Jews for emigration who were deemed "nonassimilable"-those Jews who refused to be Russified by intense Soviet indoctrination efforts and who were considered by Soviet leaders as not willing to pledge their allegience to the Soviet state. Unfortunately. the Soviet Union today has all but barred Jewish emigration. Since 1979. the level of SovietJewish emigration has dropped by more than 98 percent. from 51.000 to only 896 in 1984. This decline has occured at a time when nearly 400.000 Jews. or refuseniks. have expressed a desire to emigrate to either the United States or to Israel. but are not given permission to leave. As a result. they must live their lives in a society where they endure intimidation. where they are forced from their jobs. and where any attempt to preserve Jewish culture is met with swift retribution. Those brave enough to teach Hebrew. as Joseph Begun has been. are harassed. threatened. and incarcerated on trumpedup charges.