Protests for Soviet Jews Mount on Eve of Nixon Moscow Visit

Hundreds of persons demonstrated outside the U.S.-Soviet Trade Council offices here today for an end to Soviet harassment of Jews and the removal of all barriers to free emigration from the Soviet Union. Signs reading “Freedom before Profits” and “We all Profit from Freedom” set the tone for the rally sponsored by the Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry on the eve of President Nixon’s arrival in Moscow.

Two New York Gubernatorial candidates, Rep. Hugh L. Carey and Howard Samuels and Bronx Borough President Robert Abrams were among the officials who joined in the demonstration. Malcolm Hoenlein, executive director of the Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry, stressed that while Nixon is enroute to Moscow and while U.S. and Soviet officials are meeting there on expanding trade relations, “the Soviets are using storm trooper tactics to round up Jewish activists.” The President “cannot ignore the fact that scores of Jews in Moscow and other cities are literally under siege,” he said, adding that “many have been brutally beaten. Others have been harassed and warned of criminal prosecution.”

Hoenlein told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that as a result of efforts undertaken by the Greater New York Conference, a number of resolutions were circulated in the Senate and House urging President Nixon to intervene on behalf of Soviet Jews. He also reported that the U.S. Conference of Mayors, meeting in San Diego, unanimously passed a resolution protesting the mass arrests of Jews who have applied for exit visas. Earlier, New York Mayor Abraham D. Beame, City Council President Paul O’Dwyer and the presidents of the five boroughs sent a telegram to Nixon.