THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
76 Friday, December 18, 1981
Dutch Challenge Soviet Union on Emigration of Jews
AMSTERDAM (JTA) —
A seven-member Dutch par-
liamentary delegation visit-
ing Moscow challenged
Soviet authorities over the
severe curtailment of exit
visas granted to Jews seek-
ing to emigrate.
They were given stock
answers, obviously pre-
pared in advance, in, which
the authorities contended
that few Jews are seeking
visas and those denied them
are privy to official secrets
which precludes their leav-
ing the country.
The delegation, which in-
cluded the chairmen of the
three parliamentary coali-
tion factions, went to the
Soviet Union to discus's
European arms reduction.
But they raised the question
of Soviet Jews with mem-
bers of the Supreme Soviet
and of the Communist Party
Central Committee. The re-
plies they received were
identital.
They were told that
only 3,000 Jewish appli-
cants are still awaiting
visas; that only five per-
cent of the applications
are rejected because the
applicants are either in-
dispensable to the Soviet
economy, have knowl-
edge of security matters
or have criminal records.
The Dutch parliamenta-
rians were told that many
Jews occupy prominent
positions where state secu-
rity is involved, for exam-
ple, in the Defense Ministry
and that the refusal to grant
them exit visas applies to all
Soviet citizens in similar
positions.
Before leaving for the
USSR, the members of the
delegation signed a petition
calling for the liberalization
of emigration for Jews. The
petition, which has a target
of one million signatures,
was to be presented to the
Soviet Embassy in The
Hague last Tuesday.
It was learned that the
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delegates got the impres-
sion in their talks with
Soviet officials that the
crackdown on visas is
linked to the fact that most
Jews who apply for visas to
go to Israel actually go to
the United States after
leaving the USSR. In view
of the deteriorating East -
West relations, this is re-
garded with disfavor by the
Russians.
Last Saturday, the
Dutch lawmakers visited
the synagogue where
they discussed the visa
problem with five Jews
who had applied without
success. They promised
that on their return to
Holland they would con-
tinue their efforts on be-
half of Soviet Jews.
In Pittsburgh, a Bnai
Brith executive urged
Americans — both Jews and
non-Jews — to press the
Soviet Union to reopen the
gates of emigration to the
hundreds of thousands of
Jews who wish to leave and
to allow those who remain
the right to practice their
religion.
Addressing the Women's
Plea for Soviet Jewry on
Human Rights Day last
week, Warren Eisenberg,
director of the International
Council of Bnai Brith, said
that in recent years Jews
have been held hostage to
productive relations be-
tween the United States
and the Soviet Union.
Noting that the emigra-
tion of Jews from the USSR
had virtually ceased, slow-
ing from more than 50,000
in 1979 to less than 10,000
for 1981, Eisenberg said as
bad as this was, it was made
worse by flagrant persecu-
tion and anti-Semitism in
the Soviet Union.
He pointed out that al-
though Soviet President
Leonid Brezhnev took a
stand against anti-
Semitism at the 26th
Communist Party con-
gress last February, he
cynically opposes the
most basic Jewish right
to be identified with a na-
tional homeland." Eisen-
berg added that of the 105
identifiable cultural
groups in the USSR, only
Jews suffer cultural and
religious deprivation, a
behavior he described as
"unconscionable."
In Geneva, the Inter-
governmental Committee
for Migration reported a
continued drop in emigra-
tion of Jews from the Soviet
Union, expected to be only
about a third of the 1980
total by the end of the year,
the New York Times re-
ported.
In a related development,
problems still surround
Alexey Semyonov, son of
Soviet dissidents Dr. Andrei
D. Sakharov and Yelena
Bonner. (Semyonov's new
wife by proxy has been
granted permission to emi-
grate to the U.S.)
Semyonov's life has been
harried to the point where
the 25-year-old graduate
student in mathematics at
Brandeis University has
had to give up his studies
-
and find substitutes to teach
his classes.
The couple were mar-
ried last summer in a
proxy ceremony in Butte,
Mont. Semyonov left the
Soviet Union in 1978,
when he was still married
to another woman.
According to the New
York Times, Semyonov had
already formally separated
from his first wife, and in-
itiated divorce proceedings
before he left the country,
but they were not officially
divorced until his ex-wife
was settled in the U.S.,
where the couple completed
the proceedings.
He and his ex-wife have
joint custody of their six-
year-old daughter.
Semyonov's grandmother
also was forced to emigrate
and lives with Semyonov
and his sister and her two
children.
Meanwhile, it was re-
ported that Boris Cher-
nobilsky was sentenced to a
year in a labor camp for fail-
ing to obey a policeman.
Chernobilisky was ar-
rested for allegedly cal-
ling a policeman a "fa-
cist" when a Jewish so-
cial gathering was dis-
rupted in the woods.
Chernobilsky pleaded
not guilty to the charge.
In Washington, the
Union of Councils for Soviet
Jews said it was disap-
pointed by the decision of
HIAS to cooperate with the
Jewish Agency's resettle-
ment policy for Soviet Jews
arriving in Vienna.
Under the Jewish Agency
plan, HIAS will assist
Soviet Jewish emigrants
only if they have "first de-
gree" relatives in the U.S. or
other Western countries.
According to the plan, first
degree relatives are
spouses, parents or chil-
dren.
The UCSJ at its annual
meeting in September
adopted a resolution saying
that "although we actively
encourage all Soviet Jews to
choose Israel as their final
destination, they should be
free to resettle in the coun-
try of their choice."
HIAS president, Edwin
Shapiro, said HIAS
would test the plan for a
three-month period start-
ing around Jan. 1 "in the
hope that it will result in a
heavier flow of Jews
from the Soviet Union."
He noted that only 1,136
Jews had left the USSR -
during the past three
months — "the lowest
number in the last 10
HIAS agreed to try
out the plan in response to a
personal appeal from Pre-
mier Begin.
Under the trial plan, the
BIAS statement noted, it is
expected that Soviet Jews
who do not wish to go to Is-
rael will seek the help of
other refugee and resettle-
ment organizations, both
Jewish and non-Jewish.
Funds for Soviet refugee re-
settlement to the U.S. are
furnished largely by the
U.S. government.
Egyptian Editor
Supports Treaty
CAIRO (ZINS) — The
editor of the weekly news-
paper of the ruling Egyp-
tian National Democratic
Party has warned that
Egypt has much to lose by
reneging on its peace treaty
with Israel.
Ibrahim Sa'adeh said that
those who have called on
Egypt to renounce the tre-
aty after Israel returns the
rest of Sinai to Egypt in
April do not understand
that such a move would
shatter Egypt's credibility
with the world and cut
Egypt off from U.S. arms
and friendship.
It works better if you plug
it in.
KEEPING THE
DREAM ALIVE
By Don McEvoy
LESS PREJUDICE MORE VANDALISM
ont rary to the prevailing
belief of many there is
documented statistical evidence that
prejudice is not on rise in
America. But it sure feels like it is!
Three years 'age) Louis Harris and
Associates conducted a comprehen-
sive survey of AMerican attitudes
toward Jews, Catholics, Blacks,
Hispanics and women. This national
poll was done at the request of the
National Conference of Christians
and Jews. In every category, com-
pared to data developed in earlier
studies, there was clear evidence that
the old - stereotypes were breaking
down and that America was becom-
ing much more accepting 'of its
minorities..
In' recent months the American
Jewish Committee had the
Yankelovitch firm do another study
regarding anti-Semitism. The fin-
dings in 1981 were a confirmation of
what -Harris had discovered in 1978.
The percentage of Americans harbor-
ing anti-Semitic attitudes was
significantly reduced.
If these findings are valid, how
then do\ we account for the
demonstrable rise in acts of racial and
anti-Semitic violence and vandalism?
There is ample evidence that cross-
burnings, . swastika smearings, and
other similar types of anti-black and
anti-Jewish activities have multiplied
dramatically in the past year or two.
Well, it is possible that the polls are
in error, but I don't think so.
A more reasonable. explanation to
Inc is that the hard-core bigots,
though they are few in number, have
become much more active. That, and
the sense that the earlier sanctions
against such behavior have been
relaxed and it is OK again to be a
hater in America.
It is my feeling that those of the
KKK and/or nco Nazi mentality
believe they have friends in
Washington for the first time in a
quarter of a century who will silently
applaud their actions. They view the
dismantling of the social programs
designed to help the poor, the at-
tempts to cut back on legal services,
to change signals on school
desegregation, to case enforcement of
affirmative action programs, to wal 7 -
fle on voting rights, and to upset
delicate balance of power in the Mid-
dle East as signs that it is all right to
openly hate again.
The President had better speak
strongly to the contrary if he doesn't
want this perception to fester and
grow.
-
(Don McEvoy is Senior Vice President of
the National Conference of Christians and
Jews. The opinions rxpri %red are his own.)