An international conference on Soviet Jewry took place in Brussels in February. It brought together Diaspora communities from fifty countries and was addressed by Ben-Gurion. It symbolised the desire of Golda Meir’s government to act openly and to rally support for the emigration movement that was growing in the USSR. It also marked the formal intervention of the leadership of Jewish communities since previous protests about the fate of Soviet Jewry had been left to young people and individual groups of activists. The conference was also an open display of opposition to the ongoing series of trials against Jews who wished to leave the USSR for Israel. The Kremlin also sent its own delegation of ‘loyal’ Soviet Jews, headed by General David Dragunsky, which held its own parallel meeting in Brussels.