154. Israel 1967-1977: The Eighteen

Israel was founded to provide a safe place for Jewish life to flourish. But by the late 1960s, millions of Jews remained trapped in the Soviet Union, refused the emigration visas necessary to leave. The plight of these “refuseniks” kicked off an international campaign to free them, and in 1969, eighteen Jews wrote to Prime Minister Golda Meir explaining why they looked to Israel for rescue.