Audacious Struggle

In an extraordinary campaign, the Soviet Union for weeks has been attacking Israel and Zionism with newspaper articles, resolutions, petitions and mass meetings. Despite a tradition of Russian anti-Semitism dating from the days of the czars, Moscow insists that the drive is not directed at the country's loyal Jews but only at the Zionists --those who believe in a separate homeland in Palestine for all Jews. The cunning thing about the campaign is that Moscow has pressured Russia's Jews into conducting it themselves. A few Jews, however, have refused to go along with the official line. Last week they were circulating audacious letters challenging the government campaign.

One Homeland. The anti-Zionist drive follows some characteristic Soviet patterns. There was a letter to Tass from a Jewish doctor in Uzbekistan: "We have never had and never will have anything in common with Zionists. We have only one homeland: the Soviet Union." Meetings of Jews were held in factories and on farms to proclaim their satisfaction with life in the Soviet Union. A group of rabbis condemned Zionists as evil men "who every day sow death and destruction on the occupied Arab lands."

Two weeks ago the campaign reached an unusual pitch in Moscow. At a government-sponsored press conference in Friendship House, a panel of prominent Jews appeared before foreign newsmen to explain an anti-Zionist statement that had been signed by 52 of them, including Bolshoi Prima Ballerina Maya Plisetskaya. Their statement declared that Zionism "expressed the chauvinist views and racist ravings of the Jewish bourgeoisie."

A reply to the government campaign was not long in coming. One group of 39 Jews, in a signed petition that was made available to Western correspondents in Moscow, declared: "We are of those Jews who persistently express the desire to leave for Israel and unfailingly are refused by the Soviet organs. We believe that Jews will answer the anti-Israeli campaign by fortifying their pride in their people [and] by declaring: 'Next year in Jerusalem!' " Izvestia denounced the petitioners as "renegades who have long been known for their Zionist views." Later, 21 other Jews scathingiy noted in an open letter to the 52: "Unlike you, we are not Jews only because this detail is noted on our identification cards. We deeply treasure the indissoluble ties that bind us to Jews of all countries."

Incident in Georgia. Moscow is sensitive toward charges that Russian Jews are discriminated against and are not allowed to emigrate. One estimate aired by the protesting Jews last week was that in the past year 240,000 of Russia's 3,000,000 Jews have requested permission to leave, but have been turned down. An incident last year involving 18 Jewish families in Georgia contributed to the current uproar. The families claim that they were told they could join their relatives in Israel. They quit their jobs, sold their possessions and waited for documents that never came. In desperation, the group finally wrote to Israel's Premier Golda Meir, pointing out that their appeals to Russian officials had "disappeared like teardrops in desert sands." Mrs. Meir, who is Russian-born, forwarded their "sincere and heartfelt cry of distress" to the United Nations' Human Rights Commission.

Israel's appeal to the United Nations was political as well as humane. Jerusalem and Moscow are increasingly hostile to each other, since Russia is the sponsor of Israel's Arab antagonists. The current Russian campaign appears to be aimed at impressing the Arabs and undermining the Israelis; Israel is prepared to answer in kind. Last week, the name of Jerusalem's principal intersection was changed for a day from Zion Square to "Soviet Jewry Square." Israeli motorists drove with headlights on as a sign of support for Soviet Jews. Other Israelis quickly responded to a government suggestion that they write to their kin in Russia and remind them that in the midst of the new Soviet campaign, they have not been forgotten.

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