Flag of Israel.
There is no one solid theory as to why the Soviet Union began allowing immigration – a change that would one day lead to major demographic transformation in southern Brooklyn neighborhoods, including Bensonhurst. Instead, it seems to be a combination of internal and external pressures. After the formation of Israel in 1948, and its victory in the Six Day War in 1967, many Soviet Jews viewed Israel as a viable option. They wanted to leave, and placed pressure on the government to allow them to. Israel itself also placed pressure on the Soviet Union; it wanted Soviet Jews to return to their homeland. In 1968, the Soviet Union allowed Jews to obtain exit permits for the purpose of family reunification, with the Netherlands acting as an intermediary and issuing visas.
Another factor occurred in 1965, when the United States changed its immigration law to pave the way for millions of newcomers. The U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act raised the Soviet Union’s immigration ceiling to 120,000 a year (later extended 20,000 more), reversing a 1924 law that cut off most immigration from eastern Europe. Although immigration to the U.S. was now possible, and upwards of 400,000 people wanted to leave, few were given permission by the Soviet government to do so. This changed in 1974 when the Jackson-Vanik amendment was added to the U.S. Trade Act in response to the Soviet Union’s diploma tax, which charged Jews a fee for emigrating. It “penalized the Soviet Union and other countries that restricted the right of emigrants peacefully to leave their homelands.” The law pressured the Soviet Union to release immigrants. With this Western pressure, the number of immigrants allowed to leave the Soviet Union increased to 250,000.
