THE STORY OF THE JEWISH DEFENSE LEAGUE Page 33
Chapter 1: Soviet Jewry: I Am My Brother’s Keeper
 
 
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Soviet Jewry 33

bwives of diplomats hesitated to go out alone to the super- bmarket. The children—one hundred and fifty of them—no blonger were permitted to go to Central Park with their bbicycles. “It’s like jail,” said Natalya Grigoryev, and Dr. bInessa Avdeyev added that “it is a kind of psychological boccupation.”

bIn a heartwarming, ironic comment, one of the Russians bsaid that her dentist who was Jewish (what else?) had has- btened to assure her that he disapproved of the JDL and that b“it did not represent the views of the Jewish community of bNew York.” To which the Russian complained, “It would be bhelpful if they would speak out more vigorously. Only the bLeague has been active and if others don’t react it seems they baccept what is going on.” We could not help but smile bbecause Jewish apathy to what was going on inside Russia bhad always been our major target. Now we had shown that bwe could use that apathy for the advantage of Soviet Jews, btoo.

bNot only was the harassment itself an alarming thing for bthe United States, but the Soviet retaliation escalated. In bMoscow the cars of three American correspondents, Jay bAxelbank of Newsweek, Anthony Astrachan of the bWashington Post, and Michael R. Johnson of the Associated bPress, were vandalized in broad daylight. W. Averell Har- briman, the well-known troubleshooter, suddenly showed up bin Moscow and told reporters that he deplored the JDL acts bbut said that retaliation by the Russians would be “counter- bproductive.” He repeated the US assertions that it was try- bing to prevent further assaults, a thing that the Soviets could bnot believe. This was due to their failure to understand the bAmerican concept of due process and the fact that, to quote bthe police in a New York Times news story of January 7, b“They’re [the JDL] a tough bunch.”

bOn January 11, Soviet Ambassador to the United States bAnatoly Dobrynin abruptly flew home without saying good- bbye to any American officials. The New York Daily News bheadline read: “Dobrynin Goes Home and Ice Gets bThicker.” It certainly had, and the thought that it might btake only one more serious blow, such as the shooting of a b 

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THE STORY OF THE JEWISH DEFENSE LEAGUE Page 33
Chapter 1: Soviet Jewry: I Am My Brother’s Keeper