Your Excellency, Mr. Kohl,
The Israeli daily Yedi'ot Aharonot of March 15th reported that
in your meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy on March
14th, you "promised Israel to help prevent the granting of refugee
status to Soviet Jews arriving in Germany", so that they would be
forced to go to Israel.
I am very shocked by these news, as it reminds me the year
1935. At that year, my mother was pressured by the Nazi regime to
leave Germany, because she was Jewish. No Western country gave my
family a haven. It had to go to Palestine, where I was born. Now
as then, Western countries show their cynicism by rejecting Jewish
immigration to the West and wishing to solve the Jewish problem on
the expense of the Palestinian people.
Israel has for years pressured foreign states to close their
doors to Soviet Jews after it found that most of them would -
given the chance - move to Western Europe or the United States.
Most Soviet Jews are assimilated into Soviet society and are
married with non-Jewish partners. They are therefore not
interested in going to the Jewish State, Israel, if given an
alternative. Israel's leaders consider however their duty to avert
the assimilation of Jews into non-Jewish cultures and nations, if
necessary by force. They consider assimilation of Jews as "the
most serious threat to the Jewish people since the
Holocaust".
In doing so, they place nationalist ideology above individual
human rights, an attitude typical of a fascist state. Israel's
refusal to institute civil marriage and its enactment of apartheid
legislation are further highlighting the racist nature of that
State.
For us Jews who have non-Jewish partners whom we dearly love,
Israel's practices and ideology are abominable. Our love to human
beings is considered by the Zionist establishment as treason. We
cannot accept that Israel speak on behalf of world Jewry and act
as if it represented their interests. It does not.
The State of Israel does not respect the universal principle
stated in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights - that
everyone has the right to leave any country including his own and
to return to it. Such principle implies the right of people to
choose their destination, when they leave their country. But
Soviet Jews are in fact prevented of this right and Israel is
trying to pressure other States to make it difficult for Soviet
Jews to exercice this right. It is disgraceful that governments of
Western democracies give in to Israeli blackmail.
Moreover the State of Israel grossly violates the right of
return of people to their country (if they are not Jewish). Some
two million people, originating in areas controlled now by the
State of Israel, and who have been thrown into exile, are denied
this right. These people are usually called the Palestinian
refugees. Their only crime: They are not Jews. By doing so, Israel
is also defying the entire international community, which has
called yearly in the United Nations on Israel to allow these
refugees the right to return and compensation.
Israel's behaviour is neither compatible with Jewish morals nor
with the interests of Jews around the world. Those who are really
sympathetic to Jews should end all their dealings with the Zionist
State of Israel.
I appeal therefore on your government to stop all assistance,
material and moral to the State of Israel. It is incumbent that
Israel respect international law and U.N. resolutions and begin to
act as a civilized nation. Only international and effective
pressure on Israel can make the Israeli Jewish public realize that
their government is leading them to calamity.
Sincerely yours,
Elias Davidsson,
Composer and pianist
Att.
