Arab pressure on Eastern European countries to curtail Jewish immigration to Israel is nothing new. During World War II the Arabs pressured the British to restrict Jewish entry to Israel, even as millions of Jews faced murder by the Nazis. Today the Arabs have pressured the Soviet Union to renege on its agreement allowing direct flights from Moscow to Israel, and the Hungarian airline bowed to threats from Palestinian terrorists.
The Arabs do not want Jews going to Israel because they refuse to accept a Jewish state in the Middle East. The Arabs have tried war, terrorism and economic boycott, and Israel has not succumbed. Now the Arabs are trying to deny Jews facing persecution in the Soviet Union the means to enter Israel.
The world was silent 50 years ago, and many claim that if they had only known, they would have acted. What is their excuse today?
