Forward - 10.17.2003

Forward

Jackson-Vanik Relevant for Ensuring Freedom

Letters

My longtime colleague Tankred Golempolsky, a consummate expert on anti-semitism in Russia, should be commended for promoting the removal or “graduation” of Russia from the historic Jackson-Vanik Amendment (“Release Russian Jewry from Jackson-Vanik,” September 19). In Congressional testimony and in meetings with Russian and American leaders, NCSJ has expressed the organized American Jewish community’s support for graduation – but not for repeal, since Jackson-Vanik technically remains American law even as individual countries are removed from its scope.

Far from being “amoral,” Jackson-Vanik’s enduring statement of the American commitment to human rights and religious freedom underpins the American bilateral relationship with Russia. It is only because Jackson-Vanik remains relevant that we have endorsed Russia’s graduation. Due to the tireless work of Russian Jews like Golempolsky and countless Americans, the revival of Russian Jewry is proceeding in leaps and bounds – largely because American and Russian leaders have embraced the Jackson-Vanik message, not in spite of it.

Mark Levin
Executive Director
NCSJ: Advocates on behalf of Jews in Russia,
Ukraine, the Baltic States & Eurasia
Washington, D.C.