Soviet Jews Pour Into Israel at a Record Rate for Uncertain Future

Soviet Jews, many fearing political instability at home, poured into Israel today with one plane landing every 30 minutes in a country ill-prepared to find them homes and work.

Jewish Agency Chairman Simcha Dinitz said 5,000 Jews arrived in 24 hours this week, making December a record month for immigration since the Jewish state was founded 42 years ago.

Up to 35,000 Soviet Jews arrived this month, bringing the total for 1990 to more than 180,000, Dinitz told a news conference.

He said political uncertainty and fears that disintegration of the Soviet Union could lead to a resurgence of anti-Semitism were largely responsible to the year-end rush to leave.

Dinitz’s agency, funded by the Israeli government and Jews worldwide, launched Operation Exodus when the Kremlin eased travel restrictions on Jews last year. It plans to bring 1 million Soviet Jews here by the end of 1992, swelling Israel’s population by a fifth.

Dinitz said a further 1 million Soviet Jews will probably follow the first million through the mid-1990s. He said there are about 3.5 million Jews in the Soviet Union.

He acknowledged that the government has fallen behind in building houses for the newcomers but rejected calls to stem the tide until Israel is better able to absorb the immigrants.