Victor Polsky Arrives in Tel Aviv;
Israeli, USSR Crises Mount
informed by the KGB that
from Page 1)
Detroiters Begin Drive to Aid Leviev "In (Continued
our view, this is solely Soviet emigration policies
.
TEL AVIV (JTA)—Jewish
physicist Victor Polsky ar-
rived in Tel Aviv Wednesday
completing a three-year
struggle to leave the Soviet
Union.
Polsky, his wife, Yelena
and their daughter, Marina,
16, were greeted at Ben-
Gurion Airport by hundreds
of Russian immigrants.
Polsky told newsmen that
he and his fellow activists
still in the Soviet Union do
not believe in quiet diplom-
acy. He said they demand a
worldwide outcry in support
of Jews who are imprisoned
for wanting to go to Israel
and for the right of all Jews
to emigrate to Israel.
Before leaving Moscow
Polsky was not allowed to
say goodby to the many
friends who came to see him
off at the airport. A thorough
search was made of his lug-
gage there.
In Detroit, the Detroit
Committee for Soviet Jewry
is urging Detroiters to send
cables and night letters urg-
ing that the death sentence
imposed upon Mikhail Leviev,
a Bukharan Jew, be corn-
muted.
Vitoraya Tverskaya Yam-
Leviev, who applied to skaya 38/32, Ideviev, Sofia.
leave the Soviet Union in The committee suggests let-
1971 was immediately fired ters be registered with return
from his job as a manager receipt requested.
of a state-owned store in-
Meanwhile, Lewis S. Gross-
Bukhara upon applying for man, president of the Jewish
the visa. He later moved to Community Council of Metro-
Moscow.
politan Detroit, appealed to
In 1972, he, his wife Sofia, President Nikolai Podgorny
and her parents received per- of the Soviet Union to com-
mission to leave the Soviet mute the death sentence im-
Union, but while preparing posed upon Leviev.
Grossman's telegram to
to leave the Soviet secret
police arrested Leviev on a President Podgorny read in
charge of "economic crimes." •part:
Mrs. Leviev's parents left
"On behalf of our 310 af-
the Soviet Union while she filiated organizations, I re-
stayed behind and issued an spectfully appeal to you to
appeal for help.
commute the death sentence
The Detroit Committee imposed upon Mikhail Leviev.
urges cables asking for the
"Such a gesture will go far
commutation of Leviev's to promote the spirit of de-
death sentence be sent to tente and good will between
Roman Prudenko, Procurator our two nations."
General, 15A Pushkinskaya
In addition, the Jewish
St., Moscow, USSR. The com- Community Council has
mittee asks that mailgrams asked the presidents and
be sent to President Ford, members of its affiliates to
urging him to contact Soviet send letters of protest to
officials to intervene on be- Soviet Procurator General
half of Leviev.
Roman Rudenko; Ambassa-
Persons wishing to express dor to the U.S. Anatoly Do
their support to Sofia Leviev brynin and UN Ambassador
may write USSR, Moscow, Yakov Malik.
NRP Bank Scandal Figure Linked
to New York Nursing Home Fraud
TEL AVIV (JTA) — The
National Religious Party was
reported in turmoil over
charges of fraud and other
illegal activities levelled
against the network of nurs-
ing and old aged homes in
New York owned by Rabbi
Bernard Bergman, a leader
of the world and American
Mizrachi organizations.
Rabbi Bergman is Swiss-
Jewish financier Tibor Ro-
senbaum whose financial
troubles involving millions of
dollars in investments by
leading Israeli firms has cre-
ated a major scandal here.
The NRP leadership met
in stormy sessions during
the weekend. The party's
young guard has demanded
Bergman's suspension from
the Mizrachi presidium pend-
ing the outsome of joint fed-
eral-state hearings into the
charges which are scheduled
to open in New York City
on Jan. 21.
Rabbi Bergman came to
Israel earlier this month
after the New York State
Temporary Commission on
Living Costs opened an in-
vestigation of his nursing
homes amid allegations of
fraud in the use of Medicaid
funds which _reportedly were
contributed to synagogues
and charities, to key Repub-
lican and Democratic offici-
als and to the Mizrachi or-
ganization.
Bergman left Israel last
week and reportedly is in
Vienna. Some sources said
he was returning to the -U.S.
for the Jan. 21 hearings.
Rabbi Bergman, a former
president of the religious
Zionist Organization of Amer-
ica, heads the Mizrachi's re-
ligious education committee
in the U.S. He is also one
of three members of the
world Mizrachi presidium
which is closely connected
to the NRP.
Rabbi Bergman reportedly
became a multi-millionnaire
through the operations of
nursing homes in New York
City and state and in New
Jersey which receive large
sums of money from Medic-
aid.
The alleged misuse of these
funds and deplorable condi-
tions in many of the homes
were exposed in recent ar-
ticles in the New York Times
and the Village Voice. The
first reaction of Orthodox
circles here and in New
York was to denounce the
Times reporter, John Hess,
as anti-Semitic.
Last week two major
American Jewish organiza-
tions—the American Jewish
Congress and the Federation
of Reform Synagogues—
urged New York Governor-
elect Hugh Carey to launch
a statewide probe of the
Bergman homes.
Subsequently, a subcom-
mittee of the Senate special
committee on the aging, an-
nounced that it was joining
the investigation in New
York City. Sen..Frank Moss
(D-Utah) chairman of the
subcommittee, issued sub- -
poenas calling on 35 nursing
home operators and suppli-
ers to produce records for
the hearing.
Rabbi Bergman and his
wife were among those for
whom subpoenas were is-
sued. Meanwhile, the State
Temporary Commission on
"Living Costs, headed by
State Assemblyman Andrew
Stein, has started criminal
contempt proceedings against
Bergman for failing to re-
spond to its subpoenas.
Iran Denies War Threat
LONDON ( J T A ) — The
The Iranian Embassy in The
Hague denied that the Shah
of Iran has threatened to join
the Arab states against Israel
if a new Middle East war
breaks out.
A statement issued by the
embassy said news media
reports from Beirut quoting
the Shah to that effect were a
gross distortion..
The statement explained,
"What His Majesty had said
was that the choice between
war and peace was before
Israel and "the sympathies
.of Iran are with the Pales-
tinians. But His Majesty did
not say that Iran would take
part in a war against Israel,"
the embassy statement said.
The Shah's remarks were
contained in an interview
with the "Middle East Eco-
nomic Survey," an Arabic
language periodical published
in Beirut.
The Shah was quoted as
saying, in connection with his
forthcoming visit to Cairo to
meet with President Anwar
Sadat that the Egyptian lead-
er was working toward a
peaceful settlement but "re-
grettably, the Israelis have
not responded to him."
He blamed the United
States for failing to press
Israel to withdraw from Arab
territories.
He said, "We support the
Arab view because the Arabs
became a victim of foreign
occupation." The statement
from the Iranian Embassy in
The Hague said, "There is
no change in the policy of
Iran regarding the Middle
East. Iran firmly supports
the Security Council Resolu-
tion 242 which demands the
evacuation of all occupied
territories by Israel."
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
16—Friday, Dec. 27, 1974
a matter for free negotiation
between the parties directly
concerned."
From Soviet Russia comes
the report that the death sen-
tence imposed on Mikhail
Leviev in Moscow a week
ago has been stayed tempo-
rarily pending a re-opening
of his case, Jewish sources in
the Soviet Union reported
Thursday.
Leviev, who once managed
a large government store in
Moscow, was convicted of
alleged "economic crimes."
He had applied for a visa to
emigrate to Israel. The
sources said that Leviev's
wife, Sophia, received the
reply from President Nikolai
Podgorny on the Supreme
Soviet to whom she had ap-
pealed for clemency for her
husband, the JTA reported.
Podgorny wrote that in re-
case would be reopened and a
sponse to her appeal, Leviev's
new investigation ordered.
Jewish sources in the Sov-
iet Union also reported that
several Jewish activists were
Pope Wants
International
Jerusalem
will not be influenced by for-
eign pressures.
They said the activists
were told that the USSR had
no intention of yielding to
foreign pressure thz emigra-
tion and that "in the future,
as in the past, all decisions
concerning emigration will
-be made by the USSR with-
out any consideration of pres-
sures from abroad."
The activists were not
warned this time to keep the
content of the interview se-
cret, indicating that the KGB
wanted' them to convey its
message to all Jews who
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NEW YORK — Pope Paul
VI expressed the hope that
Jerusalem will "become the
crossroads of a fraternal en-
counter" in a speech Mon-
day to the Sacred College of
Cardinals in Rome.
In a 20-minute speech on
the Catholic Church, the Pope
touched briefly on Jerusalem:
"How much we desire that
Jerusalem, instead of being
the object of continuing
strife, may become the cross-
roads of a fraternal encoun-
ter for all those who believe
in one God and the symbol
of peace for the peoples of
the Holy Land and for, all
the peoples in the Middle
East."
Analysts said, the Pope re-
stated many of his earlier
views advocating that Jeru-
salem be made an interna-
tional city. The Vatican has
advocated the international-
ization of the city since the
creation of the state of Is-
rael.
We see people all around
us trying, in their pride, to
lift themselves up, not by
their own growth but by low-
ering others.
have applied for emigration
visas or who are thinking of
applying for them.
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