Persecution in Russia
Sir: Rita Eker and Margaret Rigal dispute (Letters, 4 April) my 'suggestion' (14 March) that two-thirds of the Jews who have left the USSR in recent years have preferred not to settle in Israel. I refer them to the Institute of Jewish Affairs' Research Report No. 17 (October 1980) which contains the following information about this so-called 'drop-out' phenomenon: 'The percentage of "drop-outs" which was 50.1 per cent in 1977, 58.4 per cent in 1978 and 66.3 per cent in 1979 did not diminish in the first half of 1980 and . . . in July and September it surpassed even the 1979 peak'.
In crediting me with reminding readers 'that there are many other Soviet citizens being persecuted for various reasons in the USSR', they seem somewhat to have missed the point. In fact, in my article I wanted to throw light on the numerous other groups and individuals who are suffering hardships and persecution specifically for wanting to emigrate from the Soviet Union but whose plight is all too often ignored in the West. After all, how many people are aware of the fact that at present there are as many Pentecostalists imprisoned in the USSR for seeking to ' exercise this right as there are Jews?
Bohdan Nahaylo
London NW2
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