MRAZEK. for taking out this special order to spotlight this very important human rights issue. Almost 2 million Jews live in the Soviet Union. Nearly 380.000 want to leave and have taken the first step in the emigration process. Eleven thousand of them have been refused at least once. and many have been refused numerous times. Some Soviet Jews have waited as long as 15 years for permission to leave so that they may rejoin their families. worship in freedom and practice their faith. Yet the denials continue. JSE 2705 Even more distressing are the immigration figures for Soviet Jews. which dropped from a high of 51.320 in 1979 to 914 in 1986. Although much media attention has been given to the release of prominent Soviet Natan (Anatoly) Scharansky. the fact remains that he spent 13 years in prison and labor camps before he was released. This issue of Soviet Jewry is very personal to me.
Keywords matched
emigration immigration