10 |
The Story of the Jewish Defense League |
bYasha Kazakov, a young Soviet Jewish activist who had been
bamong the earliest to stand up against the Soviet govern-
bment and to proclaim that he had given up his Soviet citizen-
bship and was demanding to go to Israel. Kazakov was per-
bmitted to leave in 1968 but his parents were refused the
bright to emigrate.
bKazakov had won a measure of fame upon his arrival in
bIsrael, when, unlike other immigrants, he demanded that
bthe foreign ministry and the government take the lead in
bcalling for demonstrations against the Soviets. The Israeli
bgovernment, which had always followed a policy of opposi-
btion to activities that might anger the Soviets, not only re-
bfused, but as he and another activist, Dov Sperling, per-
bsisted, government-leaked stories began to appear in the
bIsraeli press to the effect that both Kazakov and Sperling
bwere really Soviet agents whose purpose was to instigate
battacks upon Soviet Jewry. Indeed, when the pair made a
bvisit to the United States in December 1969, the Israeli
bConsulate in New York succeeded in getting most of the
bsponsors to cancel their speaking dates.
bIt should be added here that an entire chapter, a tragic
bone, could be written about the efforts of the Israelis, from
bthe time when they had an embassy in Moscow up to the Six
bDay War, to silence Jewish activism. Their efforts then were
baimed at heading off a break with the Soviets, and for this
bthey were prepared to sacrifice Soviet Jews. Their efforts to
bthis day are aimed at restoring the broken ties with the
bSoviets and they will do anything toward that end, particu-
blarly since the United States is so interested in détente with
bthe Soviets. This was the reason for the refusal by the Israel
bgovernment to support Senator Henry Jackson’s amend-
bment barring favored-nation trade status for the Soviets, as
bwell as their jailing me for my efforts to disrupt the visit of
bSoviet Party Chairman Leonid Brezhnev in June 1973.
bA White Paper on this entire subject issued on Passover
b1973 by the Movement for the Liberation of Jews from the
bSoviet Union, an Israeli-based group of Soviet Jewish ac-
btivists, details many of the above charges. For example, it
bbrings down American Jewish activist S. Frumkin of Los
bAngeles as quoting Israeli Consul Dinstein to the effect that
b