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The expected State Department reassurances were accom- panied by the equally ex- pected grumbling from mid- level diplomats who had been hoping for a Labor victory— but any serious reaction will have to wait until a new ad- ministration begins to coalesce. At the same time, several staffers and lobbyists involv- ed in Middle East issues in- dicated that the election could be a wild card in January, when the new Con- gress begins to consider next year's budget. Last year, the intifida was largely absent from discus- sions about Israel's $3 billion in U.S. aid. But this year, with the disorders stretching out indefinitely and the Shultz initiative looking more and more like a dead issue, several congressional sources here predicted a livelier foreign aid battle. Some Middle East experts predict a lower-profile U.S. Middle East role as a result of the election. Other Washington sources go fur- ther and suggest that the election will contribute to what they see as a cooling off towards Israel already taking place. `English Only' Challenge Is Applauded Jewish activists here were pleased by the recent Justice Department action challeng- ing a Florida referendum dealing with the question of whether English should be declared the official language of the state. The Florida initiative, one of three "English only" measures on state ballots, has been widely criticized by Jewish groups. "We have maintained that this English only movement has been us- ed to exploit the widespread fear of immigrants," said Judy Golub, assistant _s co 0 cc Soviet Jewry demonstrations, like this one in New York last spring, could resume with United States red tape as the target. Washington representative of the American Jewish Corn- mittee, a group that has op- posed federal and state legislation designed to limit the use of other languages in areas with high concentra- tions of foreign born. "We see it as a real threat to the pluralism that has always been important to the Jewish community." The English-first move- ment, which began in Califor- nia, is supported by an array of conservative heavy-hitters, from Phyllis Schlafly to Lin- da Chavez. Recently, Chavez resigned from U.S. English, a coalition supporting English only initiatives, when it was revealed that members of the group's board had connections to extemist groups advocating harsh restrictions on immigration. "Essentially, English lang- uage amendments are divis- ive in terms of community relations and derogatory to various minority groups;" said Mark Freedman, ex- ecutive director of the American Jewish Congress Southeastern division. "And the evidence suggests that such laws would do absolute- ly nothing to assist in the supposed goal—increasing English proficiency." Roadblocks To Emigres Worse Last week, this column reported on concerns among Soviet Jewry activists that budgetary problems and bureaucratic foot-dragging could jeopardize the growing flood of Soviet Jews seeking entry into this country. Now, there are indications that these predictions were too conservative. According to reports early this week, the embassy in Moscow has already stopped processing Soviet citizens who have been granted exit permits. This is especially disturb- ing to Jewish activists, since these people are caught in a kind of bureaucratic limbo. "We've created a whole new category of people who are in a precarious position," said David Harris of the American Jewish Committee. "Maybe we should call them 'wait- niks.' " According to early reports, visa allotments for the first quarter of the fiscal year that started on Oct. 1 have already been used up. As a result, the single Immigration and Naturalization Service officer stationed in Moscow to han- dle the backlog of some 8,500 hopeful emigres has been withdrawn. This latest hitch comes as Soviet Jews continue to apply for visas at an accelerating rate, along with a growing number of Armenians and other Soviet nationalities. Last summer, a similar shutdown occurred when the State Department refugee budget ran out. At the time, Congress passed a "dire needs" special appropriation, but some Soviet Jewry ac- tivists have charged that the full amount of that appropria- tion was not applied to the immigration problem in Moscow. After the last snafu, the State Department assured Soviet Jewry activists that it was ready to handle the ex- pected influx.