Marina and Aliyah were detained for several hours. then released after paying a fine. Lev was jailed for 10 days before being released from custody. Lev Furman requested an exit visa in 1974 but was originally refused permission to emigrate on the basis of his supposed access to "state secrets." He and Marina have applied on several occasions. Although his father Michael has been granted permission to emigrate. Lev. Marina. and Aliyah are still awaiting their visas. The Furmans are constantly subject to harassment and reprisals but refuse to be intimidated. They will not give up. Calling refuseniks who tried to demonstrate for the right to emigrate "a wretched handful of renegades." a TASS Englishlanguage broadcast the day after the Furmans arrest defended Soviet emigration policies and charged that "opponents of the relaxation in international relations" plan to turn the "speculative aspect of human rights such as emigration into a barrier to the normalization of EastWest relations." The report cited Gorbachevs remark. during a television interview in the United States. that there are no reasons other than state security to deny Soviet citizens permission to emigrate. The TASS broadcast further went on to claim that applications for exit visas are shrinking and that in "several hundred" cases. persons granted the visa changed their mind and refused to leave. The bitter truth is that in December Soviet Jews. given impetus by the release of several celebrated longterm refuseniks. requested invitations from Israel in greater numbers than at any time during the year. Soviet Jews are realists.
Identified stereotypes
Generalization about Soviet Jews being realists.