Ida Nudel, celebrated Soviet Jewish refusenik, dies aged 90

JERUSALEM (AP) — Ida Nudel, one of the most prominent activists who campaigned for the right of Jews to leave the Soviet Union in the 1970s and ’80s, has died in Israel. She was 90. Nudel was born in the Soviet Union in 1931 and came to prominence in the 1970s as a leading activist for the rights of jailed Soviet Jews. She also was a leading refusenik — one of thousands banned from leaving the country at the time. Nudel spent four years in a Siberian prison, and her cause was championed by actress Jane Fonda. In 1987, she was allowed to move to Israel, where she was welcomed by thousands of people and the nation’s leaders.