World Briefs

Swastikas a Felony inN.Y?

A bill that would make swastika graffiti a felony wasintroduced in the New York state assembly. The bill, which would make the crimepunishable by one to four years in jail, was introduced earlier this monthfollowing several anti-Semitic acts in Brooklyn and Queens in the past twomonths, the Brooklyn Papers newspaper chain reported. Such graffiti currentlyis considered a misdemeanor

Israel Targeted atU.N.

Syria offered a U.N. Security Council resolution to rid the Middle East of weapons of mass destruction. The resolution, which comes after Libya’srecent commitment to end its WMD programs, is a veiled attempt to target Israel,U.N. diplomats say. It’s unclear, however, whether the resolution offered Mondaywill come to a vote.

“In terms of the U.S. position, obviously we share the samegoal of a weapons-free zone for the Middle East” as for “any other zone in theworld,” said Richard Grenell, spokesman for the U.S. ambassador to the UnitedNations. But “trying to score political points in the Security Council byhighlighting or beating up on one country is not helpful.”

Syria is in its final days on the Security Council as arotating representative of the Arab group.

U.S. Presses forDeportation

The U.S. Justice Department is seeking to revoke thecitizenship of a World War II- era ghetto guard. Osyp Firishchak, 84, a Chicagoresident, is accused of involvement in the killing of Jews in the Lvov Ghettothrough his participation in the Nazi-sponsored Ukranian Auxiliary Police in1941.

He rounded up Jews, imprisoned them in ghettos, terrorizedthem, oversaw forced labor, killed those attempting to escape and sent othersto mass execution, according to a complaint filed Monday by the JusticeDepartment’s Office of Special Investigations. The auxiliary police isresponsible for sending 100,000 Jews in Lvov to killing sites, including theBelzec death camp. Firishchak entered the United States in 1949 and became acitizen in 1954.

Jew to Head ChileanCourt

A Jewish judge was made president of Chile’s Supreme Court.Judge Marcos Libedinsky, 70, was elected the new president of Chile’s SupremeCourt of Justice with 16 of 20 total votes. Libedinsky, who is open about hisJewish background, will start his two-year rule on Jan. 6. Chilean paperspraised Libedinsky, saying he is distinguished by his leadership capacity.

Prague MemorialDelayed

Red tape apparently is holding up plans for a memorial tomark one of Europe’s oldest Jewish burial sites. The 750-year-old site onPrague’s Vladislavova Street attracted international headlines several yearsago after Orthodox groups dedicated to preserving Jewish heritage in Europestaged a series of protests against the construction of an office and garageson top of hundreds of Jewish graves.

In 2000, the Czech government brokered a deal with local andinternational Jewish representatives and an insurance company developing theland, allowing construction to proceed as long as the remains were leftundisturbed.

Ukraine to Pay Up

Ukraine will pay more than $7.5 million to the families of40 Israelis who died when a missile hit a passenger plane in 2001. A straymissile fired during a military exercise hit the Russian airliner on Oct. 4,2001, killing 78 people aboard.

Among them were 40 Israelis, many on their way to Russia tovisit family. In the agreement ratified Dec. 25 by Ukraine’s Parliament, the101 relatives of the Israeli dead will receive nearly $200,000 each.

Border Spies Held

Two Arab residents of a town on Israel’s border with Lebanonare being held as Hezbollah spies. On Tuesday, Israel’s Shin Bet domesticsecurity service announced the arrests in Ghajar, whose Alawite townspeopleenjoy Israeli residency rights but largely vow allegiance to Lebanon or Syria.

Bisected by the border set after Israeli forces withdrewfrom southern Lebanon in May 2000, Ghajar is a site of regular drug and armssmuggling. The Shin Bet said the two arrested are suspected of giving Hezbollahinformation on Israeli military deployment in exchange for

drugs.

Israel BudgetCrunch

Israel’s finance minister yielded on some funding demands asIsrael’s 2004 budget deadline looms. Israeli media said Tuesday that BenjaminNetanyahu had agreed to a Shinui Party demand for $45million in assistance foruniversity tuition. Around the same amount will go to grants for yeshivas, newimmigrants and settlement security, as requested by the National ReligiousParty and the National Union bloc.

Wednesday is the deadline for passing the $59 billionbudget, which includes sweeping public-spending cuts drafted by Netanyahu.

Egyptian RipsArafat

An Egyptian editor criticized Yasser Arafat for last week’sattack in Jerusalem on Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher. Newspaper editorIbrahim Sa’ada wrote that he didn’t appreciate the Palestinian Authoritypresident’s attempt to blame the Dec. 21 attack on Maher at Jerusalem’s Al AksaMosque on a fringe group of extremists.

Mexican Jews’ NewLeader

One of Mexico’s central Jewish organizations elected a newleader for 2004- 2005. Benjamin Speckman, a longtime Jewish activist who chairsthe financial committee of the World Maccabi Union and is a former vicepresident of the Maccabi Latin American Confederation, recently was electedleader of the Jewish Central Committee of Mexico’s Council of Presidents (JCCM).

 Founded in 1938, the JCCM acts as the representative bodyof Mexico’s 40,000-strong Jewish community. The organization’s main objectiveis to promote cordial and open relations with the Mexican government and withother Jewish communities around the world.

Briefs courtesy Jewish Telegraphic Agency.