In the lull before the elections in the United States, the situation of the veteran refuseniks, appears to be as unchanging and heartbreaking as ever. A particularly tragic case is that the Slepak family in Moscow, Although Vladimir has been given numerous excuses for not being allowed to leave, the main one usually quoted by … Read more
Soviet Jews have been watching the American Presidential election campaign with great interest. Though technically neutral, it is no secret that they do not view with great enthusiasm the efforts on their behalf of the present White House Administration. This stems from what they consider to be the antagonistic attitude shown by Richard Nixon and … Read more
EIGHTY NINE JEWISH activists in the Soviet Union, together with Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov, have appealed to ‘the two American presidential candidates, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, to defend human rights in the Soviet Union. The Jews pointed out that the Kremlin had not lived up to its promises given at the time … Read more
Despite Eric Moonman’s optimism, there appears little, if any, sign of increased intellectual involvement in the Zionist movement. A conference of academics in support of Israel cannot be cited as involvement. All too often, public relations exercises have been presented as genuine debate. It would seem that with the exception of youth groups and students, … Read more
THE MASARYKS: the making of Czechoslovakia, by Zbynek Zeman. 230 pages (Weidenfeld and Nicholson). £6.50. There has long been a feeling of mutual identification between the peoples of Czechoslovakia and Israel. Both achieved independence during the same period of history after countless centuries in the service of other nations. Since he Second World War, the … Read more
THE POWER, by Robert G. Raiser. 499 pages (Seeker and Warburg). £5.90. A CHRONICLE OF CURRENT EVENTS, Numbers 32 and 33. 192 pages (Amnesty International 11.95) Bullying harassment is the price a good journalist has to pay when he attempts to write about something that does not have official Soviet blessing. Soviet Jews learnt the … Read more
SHORT STORIES (W THE LONG DEATH, by Yechezkel Pulerevitch. 293 pp (published in Israel by former Prisoners of Zion from the USSR). AN AMERICAN IN THE GULAG, by Alexander Dolgun. 370 pages (Collins/Harvill) 370pp £4.50. Yechezkel Pulerevitch was a member of Betar, the youth group of Herut, when the Red Army invaded Lithuania in 1940. … Read more
7,000 exit permits were granted to Soviet Jews during the first six months of 1976—about the same figure as 1975. A few prominent people—including Tamara Galperina and Vitaly Rubin—have been given permission to leave, yet permits have been refused to most of the major activists. Moreover the KGB has waited two years to announce that … Read more
When did you first think of leaving for Israel? About six years ago. It seemed that Israel was the right place for me to be. What happened after you applied to leave? The day after my husband applied, he was thrown out of his job. I worked for a few months, but everyone was afraid … Read more
Ever since Krushchev’s denunciation of Stalin, western Communists have been uneasy continued abuse of human rights in the Soviet Union. Earlier this year, the former secretary general of the British Communist Party, John Gollan, indirectly criticised Soviet anti-Semitism. Yet that same person nearly a quarter of a century ago condemned international Zionism for instigating the … Read more