The freedom of Soviet Jewry has been a central tenet of United States policy toward the Soviet Union for the past two decades. We now have the opportunity to assist in the historic move toward freedom that we worked so hard to bring about. The political situation is quite clearIsrael faces an immigration wave of potentially 1 million Soviet Jews over the next 5 years. We in the United States must be sympathetic to a nation that is attempting to alleviate the plight of immigrants who desire to escape the political. economic. and religious persecution of their homeland. Our Nation was founded on the principle of religious choice. and we must always attempt to support those who suffer for their beliefs. The State of Israel will be forced to face the enormous financial burdens associated with immigration. Israel has always opened its borders to the oppressed. providing a safe haven for many victims of tyranny and injustice. including survivors of the Holocaust and the Vietnamese boat people. This commitment has not changed. Israel is willing to defray the financial cost of Soviet immigrationmostly through new tax increases--despite predictions of economists that this will place a tremendous strain on her economy. However. Israel simply does not possess the resources to singlehandedly take on the expense of such a flood of immigrants. Infrastructure projects will be costly. Homes and schools must be built. and jobs must be found.
Keywords matched
immigration immigrants immigrationmostly