On Choice and Freedom in Transnational Migrations: The Soviet Jewish Migrants in Europe Who Were Left Behind.

This article examines the experiences of several thousand Jewish migrants from the Soviet Union during the 1970s and 1980s who, after emigrating to Israel, found themselves unable to adapt and subsequently moved to Western Europe—primarily Italy—in hopes of immigrating to Western countries. It highlights the political and bureaucratic obstacles imposed by Israeli and Western agencies, including the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), which restricted assistance and visa access to these migrants, known as yordim (those who "go down" or leave Israel). Despite rhetorical commitments to freedom and legality, migration policies subordinated individual rights to political calculations, resulting in prolonged hardship, marginalization, and limited mobility for these migrants. The article also explores how the migrants employed Soviet-style political tactics to petition for aid and freedom of choice, revealing tensions between ideological narratives of liberation and the restrictive realities of Cold War-era migration.