[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 178 (Friday, November 16, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S14657-S14658]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  COMMEMORATING SOVIET JEWISH FREEDOM

  The resolution (S. Res. 367) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 367

       Whereas Jews living in the former Soviet Union were an 
     oppressed cultural minority who faced systematic, state-
     sponsored discrimination and difficulties in exercising their 
     religion and culture, including the study of the Hebrew 
     language;
       Whereas, in 1964, the American Jewish Conference on Soviet 
     Jewry (AJCSJ) was founded to spearhead a national campaign on 
     behalf of Soviet Jewry;
       Whereas, in 1964, the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry was 
     founded to demand freedom for Soviet Jewry;
       Whereas, in 1964, thousands of college students rallied on 
     behalf of Soviet Jewry in front of the United Nations;
       Whereas Israel's victory in the 1967 Six-Day War inspired 
     Soviet Jews to intensify their efforts to win the right to 
     emigrate;
       Whereas, in 1967, the Soviet Union began an anti-Zionist 
     propaganda campaign in the state-controlled mass media and a 
     crackdown on Jewish autonomy, galvanizing a mass advocacy 
     movement in the United States;
       Whereas the Union of Councils for Soviet Jewry was founded 
     in 1970 as a coalition of local grassroots ``action'' 
     councils supporting freedom for the Jews of the Soviet Union;
       Whereas, in 1971, the severe sentences, including death, 
     meted out to 9 Jews from Leningrad who attempted to hijack a 
     plane to flee the Soviet Union spurred worldwide protests;
       Whereas, in 1971, the National Conference on Soviet Jewry 
     (NCSJ) succeeded the AJCSJ;
       Whereas, in 1971, mass emigration of Jews from the Soviet 
     Union began;
       Whereas, in 1974, Senator Henry ``Scoop'' Jackson and 
     Congressman Charles Vanik successfully attached an amendment 
     to the Trade Act of 1974 linking trade benefits, now known as 
     Normal Trade Relations, to the emigration and human rights 
     practices of Communist countries, including the Soviet Union;
       Whereas, in 1975, President Gerald R. Ford signed into law 
     the Jackson-Vanik amendment to the Trade Act of 1974, after 
     both houses of Congress unanimously backed it;
       Whereas, in 1978, the Congressional Wives for Soviet Jewry 
     was founded;
       Whereas, in 1982, President Ronald Reagan signed into law 
     House Joint Resolution 373 (subsequently Public Law 97-157), 
     expressing the sense of the Congress that the Soviet Union 
     should cease its repressive actions

[[Page S14658]]

     against those who seek the freedom to emigrate or to practice 
     their religious or cultural traditions, drawing special 
     attention to the hardships and discrimination imposed upon 
     the Jewish community in the Soviet Union;
       Whereas, in 1983, the bipartisan Congressional Human Rights 
     Caucus was founded to advance the cause of human rights;
       Whereas, in 1984, the Congressional Coalition for Soviet 
     Jews was founded;
       Whereas, on December 6, 1987, an estimated 250,000 people 
     demonstrated on the National Mall in Washington, DC, in 
     support of freedom for Soviet Jews, in advance of a summit 
     between Mikhail Gorbachev and President Reagan;
       Whereas, in 1989, the former Soviet Union opened its doors 
     to allow the millions of Soviet Jews who had been held as 
     virtual prisoners within their own country to leave the 
     country;
       Whereas, in 1991, the Supreme Soviet passed a law that 
     codified the right of every citizen of the Soviet Union to 
     emigrate, precipitating massive emigration by Jews, primarily 
     to Israel and the United States;
       Whereas, since 1975, more than 500,000 refugees from areas 
     of the former Soviet Union--many of them Jews, evangelical 
     Christians, and Catholics--have resettled in the United 
     States;
       Whereas the Soviet Jewish community in the United States 
     today numbers between 750,000 and 1,000,000, though some 
     estimates are twice as high;
       Whereas Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union have 
     greatly enriched the United States in areas as diverse as 
     business, professional sports, the arts, politics, and 
     philanthropy;
       Whereas, in 1992, Congress passed the Freedom Support Act, 
     making aid for the 15 independent states of the former Soviet 
     Union contingent on progress toward democratic self-
     government and respect for human rights;
       Whereas, since 2000, more than 400 independent Jewish 
     cultural organizations and 30 Jewish day schools have been 
     established in the independent states of the former Soviet 
     Union; and
       Whereas the National Conference on Soviet Jewry and its 
     partner organizations continue to work to promote the safety 
     and human rights of Jews in the independent states of the 
     former Soviet Union: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) recognizes the significant contributions of American 
     citizens of Jewish descent who emigrated from the Soviet 
     Union;
       (2) commemorates the 40th anniversary of the mass movement 
     for freedom by and on behalf of Soviet Jewry;
       (3) commemorates the 20th anniversary of the December 6, 
     1987, Freedom Sunday rally, a major landmark of Jewish 
     activism in the United States; and
       (4) condemns incidents of anti-Semitism, xenophobia, and 
     religious persecution wherever they may occur in the 
     independent states of the former Soviet Union and encourages 
     the development and deepening of democracy, religious 
     freedom, rule of law, and human rights in those states.

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