The World - News from April 30, 1989

Soviet Jewish immigrants living in Israel have submitted a record number of invitations for their relatives to come from the Soviet Union, Israel Radio reported. It said about 79,000 invitations were submitted to Soviet authorities last year, the highest annual figure since the late 1960s. An invitation from relatives living abroad is a necessary step for a person wishing to emigrate from the Soviet Union. Uri Gordon, head of the Jewish Agency’s immigration department, was quoted by the radio as estimating that Soviet Jewish emigration will reach 50,000 this year.