ABSTRACT

Yuri Vorontsov was one of the first harbingers of the new opening in Israel's contacts with the Soviet Union. In July 1985, as Soviet ambassador in Paris, Vorontsov met his Israeli counterpart, Ovadiah Sofer, and proposed a package deal: the USSR would raise the number of emigrants to Israel in return for Israel ending the anti-Soviet propaganda which, it was alleged, was being directed world-wide. The large-scale and embarrassing demonstrations in favour of an open-door policy on the emigration of Soviet Jews had become a permanent fixture in international life. Vorontsov told Sofer that his country much preferred the Jews to go directly to Israel, rather than to the West. The Jewish immigrants potential, Vorontsov said, might strengthen the West. However, the USSR first wanted Israel to come to terms with Syria on a general formula concerning the Golan Heights and agree in principle to convene an international peace conference on the Middle East.