Nudel Ill with Cancer

Ida Nudel, the 54-year-old “angel of the refusniks,” is suffering from cancer, according to her Israeli sister liana Fridman, who spoke to Nudel by phone in July to Bendery, the Moldavian town where she has lived since her return from a four-year Siberian exile term .

In a related development, actress Jane Fonda, who visited Nudel in the Soviet Union last year, disclosed that Soviet authorities have harassed Nudel in her efforts to obtain medical care, “once even physically removing her from a train to Moscow where she was to see a doctor.” Local officials have also threatened Nudel with a new trial and prison term, Fonda said.

Fonda and Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley issued public appeals in July to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to investigate the conduct of the Bendery authorities, and to allow Nudel to join her sister in Israel. Former U.S. Vice Presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro called on a UJA audience in Toronto in August to take up the case of Ida Nudel. (JTA)