CLOSE-UP
Why More
Soviet Jews
Will Be Going
To Israel
- A
A major shift in Washington policy
would limit refugee entry to the
United States -- and American
Jewish groups are not protesting.
ROBERT GREENBERGER
Special to The Jewish News
W
ashington — More than 250,000
people gathered on the national
mall in December 1987 to rally
for Soviet Jewry under fluttering banners
that read: "Let My People Go." Now that
the Soviet Union has begun to comply, a
new issue has emerged: Let My People Go
— but to where?
More than 40,000 Soviet Jews are ex-
pected to exit the Soviet Union this year
and nearly all want to enter the United
States. This has produced an emotional
debate pitting Israel against many Amer-
ican Jews and; in a sense, leaving the U.S.
government uncomfortably in the middle.
Israel sees these emigres as vital replenish-
ment stock and wants them to come home
to help insure the survival of the Jewish
state. Israelis complain that American
Jewry's largess and extension of the
welcome mat unwittingly undermines this
goal. Israel also is pressuring the U.S.
government to urge Moscow to take steps
that will facilitate allow of Soviet Jews to
Israel.
lb Americans, it has always been an ar-
ticle of faith that those leaving the Soviet
Union should have "freedom of choice"
concerning where they settle. During the
past 10 years when only a handful of Jews
were allowed to trickle out of the Soviet
Union, the belief was never tested. But now
that Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has
Robert Greenberger is a reporter based in
Washington, D.C. This article was made
possible by The Fund For Journalism on
Jewish Life, a project of The CRB Founda-
tion of Montreal, Canada. Any views ex-
pressed are solely those of the author.
24
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1989
unleashed the floodgates — and the pros-
pect of allowing at least 500,000 Jews to
emigrate over the next decade — U.S.
policy is undergoing a major shift. And
this change slowly is altering the attitudes
of many American Jews.
As Congress returns from its summer
recess, the Bush administration is ex-
pected to propose temporary changes in
refugee categories that will limit refugee
entry mainly to those Soviet Jews who
have relatives in America. U.S. officials say
the change is forced by budget austerity
and the reality that there are only about
100,000 overall refugee slots to offer
worldwide each year. The result will be the
temporary elimination of a broad refugee
category — those whose entry is in the U.S.
"national interest" — under which about
two-thirds of the current flow is admitted
to the United States.
U.S. officials say the overall number of
Soviet Jews admitted as refugees (about
40,000) will remain the same. But for six
months, on an experimental basis, priori-
ty will be given to those with family con-
nections and nearly all others will be told
that it is unlikely that there will be room
to admit them as refugees once the family
category is filled. The proposal currently
is winding its way through the interagen-
cy group, the Policy Coordinating Commit-
tee for Soviet Refugees, which is expected
to approve it soon.
"The opportunity (to come to the United
States) will continue to exist for a great
many people, but the totality of the funds
available places a budgetary limit on the
number of people who can come here," says
Richard Schifter, the State Department's
assistant secretary for Human Rights and
Humanitarian Affairs.
lb many American Jews, placing limits
IA;