Aleksandr Lerner. Ida Nudel. Vladimir Lifshitz. and Roald Zelichonok are but a few of the 20.000 Soviet Jews who have been formally denied exit visas to Israel. The reasons the Soviets give for refusal range from "access to state secrets" to "no relations in Israel" to "insufficient requirements for an exit visa." Many refuseniks have been waiting nearly 15 ardous years for their one wishfreedom. And once a Soviet Jews visa application is rejected. further harassment is the rule rather than the exception. Refuseniks often lose their jobs. are threatened with arrest for "parasitism". are expelled from university. and suffer vilification and social ostracism. Because the teaching of Hebrew is forbidden in the Soviet Union. those caught teaching it are arrested on trumpedup charges and sentenced to prison and labor camps. Every recent American President has supported the right of Soviet Jews to religious freedom and emigration. We must urge President Reagan to remember those people during his meeting with General Secretary Gorbachev. If the Soviet Government cannot grant their citizens freedom of religion. then. as Senator Hubert H.
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emigration visas visa