President. during the Persian Gulf crisis. the President spoke of a new world order. where the rule of law would be greater than that of the sword. Revolutionary change in the Soviet Union certainly seemed to bear out the Presidents prediction. As Soviet emigration laws eased. hundreds of thousands of Jews saw the possibility of escaping the Worsening climate of antiSemitism amidst a declining Soviet economy and rising nationalism. Israel has welcomed these Soviet Jews with open arms. offering them a better way of life and an opportunity to raise their children in the Jewish homeland. free from the historic persecution of Jews by the Soviet state. Faced with the enormous task of absorbing these new immigrants. the Israeli Government prepared to ask the United States for loan guaranteesnot loans. not additional aidto help Israel finance the resettlement of these Soviet Jewish families. who come to Israel with almost nothing. The administration could have acted on the Israeli request for loan guarantees immediately after the gulf war. but chose to put Israel off. under the guise that the loan guarantees were an impediment to the convening of a peace conference. When the Israeli Government made its official request for the guarantees in September. the administration asked for a 120day delay.
Keywords matched
emigration immigrants