Speech #1100113263

For decades. Jews in the Soviet Union faced serious restrictions on their right to practice their faith. In response. a campaign developed in the United States and around the world to pressure the Soviets to end the abuses and permit their Jewish population to emigrate. In 1964. the American Jewish Conference on Soviet Jewry was founded to spearhead a national campaign on behalf of Soviet Jewry. Israels victory in the 1967 6Day War inspired Soviet Jews to intensify their efforts to win the right to emigrate to Israel and other places. but the Soviets followed with an antiZionist propaganda campaign in the statecontrolled mass media and a crackdown on Jewish autonomy. A key event in the campaign to free the Soviet Jews occurred in 1982 when President Reagan enacted Public Law 97157. expressing the sense of the Congress that the Soviet Union should cease its repressive actions against those individuals who seek the freedom to emigrate or to practice their religious or cultural traditions. This law drew special attention to the hardships and discrimination imposed upon the Jewish community in the Soviet Union. After so many years of captivity. the Supreme Soviet passed a law in 1991 that codified the right of every Soviet citizen to emigrate. precipitating massive emigration by Jews from the Soviet Union. primarily to Israel and the United States. The hundreds of thousands of immigrants from the Soviet Union and former Soviet republics have greatly enriched their newfound homes in areas as diverse as business. science. the arts. politics. and philanthropy. As Ms. BERKLEY mentioned.