Shultz Won’t Fight Israeli Bid to Get Soviet Emigres

Secretary of State George P. Shultz has decided not to fight a move by the Israeli government designed to require most Jews who leave the Soviet Union to settle in Israel, State Department officials said today.

But Shultz was urged by his advisers on Soviet and refugee affairs to keep pushing Moscow to permit wider emigration across the board.

Most Jews who leave the Soviet Union have visas from Israel. But nearly 90% of them go elsewhere--mostly to the United States--once they reach Vienna, the transit point for Soviet emigres, and are taken in as refugees.

Concerned about the situation, the Israeli Cabinet has ordered a change in procedures. Soviet Jews granted exit permits would receive their Israeli visas in Romania and go on to Israel.

The change in procedure, which has not been put into effect, would make it harder for Soviet Jews to come to the United States because they would have to qualify for entry as immigrants. This could require long waiting periods, and most would be screened out for various reasons as ineligible.

The State Department’s European bureau, which is involved in Soviet policy, and the Human Rights Bureau both recommended to Shultz that he urge Israel to change its policy and appeal to Moscow to permit wider emigration.

Richard Schifter, the assistant secretary of state for human rights and humanitarian affairs, proposed that Soviet Jews remain eligible for admission to the United States as refugees even after they reach Israel.

The State Department’s Near Eastern Bureau, which deals in Arab and Israeli affairs, recommended to Shultz that he not contest the Israeli Cabinet’s decision--advice he will follow, at least temporarily, according to officials who spoke on condition they not be identified.

“The debate is less a State Department debate than a debate about feeling the Israelis would be insulted and that it would undermine the purpose of the state of Israel if refugees left the Soviet Union and did not go to Israel,” an official said. “They need and want immigrants.”