YIDDISH PAPER CLOSED.

The Israeli embassy will soon protest anti-Semitic actions by the local authorities in the Jewish Autonomous District in the Russian Far East, Segodnya reported June 1. There, the authorities–who reflect the Russian majority and the activism of the Cossacks–have sought to block the activities of a Zionist group which organizes visits by Jews to Israel. And they have closed the Yiddish-language paper Birobidzhaner Shtern, a publication launched by the Soviets to undercut Western criticism of Moscow’s policies toward the Jews.