For 13 years. we have stood in the well of the House of Representatives telling and retelling the story of Anatoly Shcharansky that was told to us from information that his loving wife and mother gleaned from Russia. We protested his imprisonment and prayed that efforts by the Soviets to break his resolve to speak out for Russian Jews seeking to leave Russia would not work. admired his courage and fortitude to maintain hunger strikes and cried when we learned of his release earlier this year. But as Anatoly and Avital can tell us much more poignantly. the joy we experience today is marred by the hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews whose desire to emigrate and follow the beliefs of their forefathers is blocked by the Russian Government. We are all well aware that the emigration figures for Soviet Jews are at a dismal low and that other heroes such as Andrei Sakharov. Ida Nudel. and Josef Begun are still caught in the Soviet web. There is much that needs to be done to impress upon the Russians that we will not forget those Jews who want to emigrate. We must not let them think that we have forgotten them as the Soviet Government would have them believe. Anatoly Shcharanskys release and presence in the West has strengthened our resolve and efforts and will be cause for the Soviet regime to tremble.
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emigrate emigration