USSR Assailed for Playing a ‘cruel Cat and Mouse Game’

The Soviet Union was assailed today for playing a “cruel cat and mouse game” designed to blunt efforts here to achieve freer emigration and to put an end to the harassment and imprisonment of Jewish activists.

In recent weeks and months, there has been a pattern of Soviet contacts with Jewish organizations here that seemed to point to relaxed restrictions on the emigration of Soviet Jews, said Alan Pesky, chairman of the Coalition to Free Soviet Jews. “But no sooner do the Soviet officials raise hopes that emigration will indeed increase, than these hopes are dashed by denials by the USSR that such predictions were made in the first place, ” he said.

Pesky and Morris Abram, chairman of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry, were the speakers at a Sheraton Centre news conference.

A QUESTION OF TRUSTWORTHINESS

Abram reiterated what the two groups said prior to the Geneva summit, namely, that if the Soviet Union cannot be trusted to keep its word with respect to existing international obligations on emigration and other human rights matters which do not affect Soviet vital interests, it cannot be trusted to keep its word with respect to issues which directly impact on Soviet and U.S. security.

The two groups issued a report citing the USSR’s “abysmal” 1985 record on Jewish emigration and human rights.

The report points out that nearly two months have passed since the November summit in Geneva. With the Soviet Communist Party Congress approaching in February, and the second round of summit meetings between President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, originally planned for June but now reportedly rescheduled for September, “there’s still no concrete evidence — despite many rumors– of a significant improvement in the plight of Soviet Jews.”

Pesky said that “while an easing of tensions between the U.S. and USSR is welcome, the issue of Soviet Jewry must be high on the agenda when Reagan and Gorbachev meet in Washington.”

Abram stated that “until the next summit, we will continue to direct our protests– pointed, accurate and Poignant–on behalf of Soviet Jews.”

ELEMENTS IN THE REPORT

The report issued today makes the following points:

In 1985, a low, albeit constant level of Jewish emigration was maintained. A total of 1,139 Soviet Jews left, a meager increase over the 896 permitted to leave in 1984. This, despite the fact that 400,000 Jews have begun the emigration process and 20,000 have been denied exit permits repeatedly.

The number of arrests, trials and other forms of harassment of Jewish activists rose “alarmingly” in 1985. Of the 26 Jews sent to prison or labor camps, 12 were arrested or tried since the beginning of 1985– an average of one a month.

Soviet police continued their campaign of searches of the homes of Hebrew teachers, confiscating Hebrew instructional material as well as religious articles and books.

The USSR’s tough policies toward Jews “was aptly demonstrated in the brutal beatings by KGB-provoked assailants of Jewish cultural activists, including film director Leonid Kelbert, who was hospitalized because of his wounds, and 12-year-old Avi Goldstein, son of Tblisi refusenik Isai Goldstein, who was beaten, stripped and photographed naked by his attackers.”

The general treatment of imprisoned Jews has also worsened, with Anatoly Shcharansky and other prisoners singled out for particular maltreatment. This ranged from violations of their rights to correspondence and visits, to long periods of isolation as well as physical abuse by guards and other prisoners.

The frequency and intensity of vicious articles and television broadcasts attacking Israel, Zionism and individual Jews have not subsided.

The report adds that there have been occasions in the past when Soviet officials have given assurances that if specific public protests and activities on behalf of Soviet Jews here were to cease, some movement on particular emigration cases could be expected.

Since such promises “have not been fulfilled, it remains our responsibility,” the two organizations said, “to continue our public campaign to keep the Soviet Jewry issue in the world spotlight. Experience and the Soviets’ lack of credibility on this vital issue demand no less.”