May 13, 2004

Community Briefs

Leave a Comment / Community, United States / Jewish Journal

Iranian Jewish Leader Criticizes KatzavComments

A report that Israel’s President Moshe Katsav chided Iranian Jews for settling in Los Angeles rather than in Israel has been criticized by a leader of the local Iranian Jewish community.

The Jerusalem Post reported last week that Katsav had told a group of Iranian Jews from various countries that nothing could justify exchanging one Diaspora for another and that it was inconceivable that both South African and Iranian Jews had opted to live in countries other than Israel.

During the meeting, the Israeli president, himself a native of Iran, had an exchange with Dr. Heshmat Kermanshahchi, the Los Angeles delegate to the meeting, on the reasons why the latter had decided to live in Southern California.

Katsav expressed his concern that the Iranian Jewish community in Los Angeles, the largest in the Diaspora, would become totally assimilated within one or two generations, according to the Jerusalem Post.

However, Sam Kermanian, secretary-general of the Iranian American Jewish Federation here, while acknowledging Katsav’s expressed concern, said that the meeting in Jerusalem required some context.

Katsav’s remarks came during a day-long seminar, which focused on preserving the history of Iranian Jewry, one of the world’s oldest Diaspora communities. Kermanian said that, in general, the Israeli president had warmly praised the achievements of Iranian Jews in Israel and other nations.

Kermanian also cited some current statistics: Today, some 250,000 Jews of Iranian descent live in Israel, 50,000 in the United States, a small number in Europe and 25,000 remain in Iran, out of a prerevolution total of 100,000.

That means that 10 out of every 13 Jews of Iranian descent live in Israel, according to Kermanian, among them Israel’s president, defense minister and deputy chief of staff.

“Having been freed from the ghetto a mere generation ago, Iranian Jews are extremely proud of their collective accomplishments,” concluded Kermanian. — Tom Tugend, Contributing Editor

Hawaii Governor Visits Southland

Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle is stopping in Los Angeles this week before embarking on a six-day trip to Israel. The visit to the Jewish state will be the governor’s first.

Lingle, a Jewish Republican, accepted the Golda Meir Award at a State of Israel Bonds luncheon on Thursday at the Four Seasons, and CSUN will present the governor with a distinguished alumni award at a Saturday dinner. Lingle graduated cum laude from the university with a journalism degree in 1975.

Lingle’s visit to Israel follows similar missions by other governors — including California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, New York Gov. George Pataki and Colorado Gov. Bill Owens — to promote business opportunities and economic cooperation. Lingle and a 27-person state delegation will travel May 17-22, a trip planned by the Israel Consul General in Los Angeles.

“We are very excited about the potential results from this trip and the partnerships our departments can form with their Israeli counterparts,” Lingle said.

Born in St. Louis, Mo., Lingle moved with her family to Southern California when she was 12. She relocated to Hawaii after graduating from CSUN. Lingle was elected in 2002 and is Hawaii’s first Jewish and first female governor. — Adam Wills, Associate Editor

Israeli-Ethiopian Terror Victim VisitsL.A.

Elad Wassa, the Israeli Ethiopian terror victim who found himself in newspapers all over the world last year when he stammered “You are my hero” to Christopher Reeve during Reeve’s visit to Israel, visited Los Angeles last week at the invitation of Rick Fishbein and Stephen S. Wise Temple.

Wassa, 26, was paralyzed from the waist down in 2002 after a bomb exploded at the Netanya market he was working at. He was “adopted” by Stephen S. Wise Temple through the Israel Emergency Solidarity-One Family Fund, which matches up families of terror victims with supportive communities in the Diaspora.

The temple gave Wassa and his sister, Gila, a Los Angeles experience, including courtside tickets to a Lakers playoff game, a trip to Universal Studios and a shopping spree at a Westfield mall. Wassa was honored at the Stephen. S. Wise’s Yom HaAtzmaut ceremony and was a guest at Young Israel of Century City and at a dinner that Milken’s senior class made for Leor Baron, a terror victim the class sponsored.

While in Los Angeles, Wassa also met with Dr. Susan Harkema of the UCLA Locomotion Research Center. Harkema was instrumental in researching a treadmill therapy for use in treating spinal chord injury. Reeve used this therapy when he visited Los Angeles, and it is a therapy that has resulted in enabling paralyzed people to stand at the end of treatment. Wassa was placed on a list of potential candidates to receive treatment at the center.

Wassa said that America was “Mamash, metzuyan” (bona-fide, excellent), and that he was impressed with the amount of respect that America offers to its disabled residents.

“I’m able to see from up close who the people are who are helping me, and I can begin to understand the connection the community has with Israel,” Wassa said. “It is really remarkable how deep the connection [the community has] here to Judaism and to Israel. — Gaby Wenig, Staff Writer

Genealogy Head Spotlights Poland’s HiddenJews

The Rev. Romuald Jakub Weksler-Waszkinel often wondered why he didn’t look like his Catholic parents while growing up in eastern Poland. When he turned 35, the woman he’d known as his mother, Emilia, revealed she’d taken him from the Swieciany Ghetto at the behest of his birth mother, a woman known as Batia, to save him from the Holocaust. After the fall of communism, Weksler-Waszkinel began a search for family survivors that took him to Israel.

Yale Reisner, director of the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation Genealogy Project at the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland, will discuss how genealogy can aid hidden Polish Jews like Weksler-Waszkinel in a program titled “Raising Atlantis: The Recovery of Jewish Memory in Poland,” part of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Los Angeles’ 25th anniversary program at the Skirball Cultural Center on May 17.

Reisner’s Genealogy Project has spent 15 years indexing records thought destroyed by Nazis and long-forgotten in storehouses by Communists. The documents help Polish Jews and Diaspora Jews of Polish descent find lost family or develop a better understanding of their own family histories, which various governments had denied them for most of the 20th century. And since Jews accounted for 10 percent of Poland’s prewar population, the work and demand for the information is substantial.

“Since a significant portion of world Jewry comes from Poland … there’s really a tremendous interest in finding information,” said Reisner, who fields hundreds of inquiries a month.

“Very often the one who discovers this is a Holocaust child who now is a grandparent. … It’s a shock wave that travels throughout the family,” he said.

Reisner said that people’s lives change significantly after such a discovery. “There are those who have returned to a full-fledged observant Jewish lifestyle,” he said.

For Weksler-Waszkinel the discovery has led him to adopt an advocacy role regarding Jewish issues in Poland. He wears a Star of David pendant with a cross inside, remaining loyal to his church vows and honoring both his Catholic and Jewish families.

“He now sees himself as being part of the Jewish people,” Reisner said.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Los Angeles will meetMonday, May 17, 7:30 p.m. at the Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. SepulvedaBlvd., Los Angeles. $5. For more information, visit www.jgsla.org . — AW

Teens Get Gift From Blue and White

The Blue and White Fund, one of the nation’s first mutual funds invested exclusively in Israeli companies, is making an offer that is hard to refuse.

The Los Angeles-based fund will give, for free, Blue and White shares worth $18 to American boys and girls getting bar and bat mitzvahed or confirmed. Friends and relatives can also order free certificates as presents for their loved ones celebrating those special days.

Blue and White Chief Executive Shlomo Eplboim said his firm is giving away the shares because he hopes to deepen young Americans’ connection to Israel and to turn them into long-term investors.

“I want to make a link that it’s sexy for young people to love Israel, that Israel is them,” he said.

Eplboim said Blue and White expects the promotion to cost up to $30,000 per month. Despite the high price, he said he thought the giveaways would ultimately generate more new business than spending the same amount on traditional pubic relations.

In Judaism, the number 18 symbolizes the Hebrew word chai (chet=8, yud=10), which means life, Eplboim said. Israelis often give bar mitzvah and wedding presents in multiples of 18, he added.

Blue and White posted more than a 40 percent return last year, making it among the strongest performing international funds based in the United States, Eplboim said. The mutual fund holds shares in myriad Israeli firms, ranging from generic drug-maker Teva Pharmaceuticals to technology giant Checkpoint.

Those interested in obtaining free Blue and Whitecertificates can call the company at (877) 429-3863, or visit www.blueandwhitefund.com . — Marc Ballon, Senior Writer

Community Briefs Read More »

Just a Theory

Leave a Comment / Up Front / Amy Kaufman

In a sea of competitors, 17-year-old Ilya Gurevich of Israel is alone in the field of theoretical physics. All the other teenagers competing in the physics division at this year’s Intel International Science and Engineering Fair have entered projects in practical physics, Gurevich said, but he stuck with the theoretical.

"The world’s largest science fair," formerly known as the Westinghouse Competition, is taking place at multiple locations May 9-15, including the Oregon Convention Center in Portland.

Gurevich recently won first prize in the Intel Israel-Bloomfield Science Museum Young Scientists Competition and said he was "very surprised" when he won the award for his research on the behavior and influence of small disruptions in the uniformity of the universe.

"I know it was on a very high level, but it was not practical," said the high school senior, who has been taking courses at Ben-Gurion University, in Beersheva, for two years.

Practical or not, Israeli scientists have chosen Gurevich and Igor Kreimerman of the Israel Arts and Science Academy in Jerusalem, winner of second prize in the Israel competition, to represent Israel in the 2004 Intel competition.

About 1,300 teenagers from 40 countries are competing in 15 categories for a total of $3 million in scholarships, internships, and travel and equipment grants from the Intel Foundation, public and private universities, and about 70 corporate, professional and government sponsors. The 1,200 judges include scientists, engineers and Nobel Prize laureates.

The three winners of the grand prize, the Intel Young Scientist Award, each will receive a $50,000 scholarship and an invitation to attend the Nobel Prize ceremonies in Stockholm, Sweden.

Gurevich said his project, called "Deviations From an Isotropic and Homogeneous Expansion of the Universe," defies simple explanation.

Essentially, he said, the project tries to preserve Einstein’s theories with regard to the expanding universe and its impact on cosmology.

Science is not about reading books, Gurevich said: "At some point you have to start working and thinking yourself."

Just a Theory Read More »

The Heimish Home Stretch

Your Letters

Leave a Comment / Letters to the Editor / Jewish Journal

A Killer’s Face

The article, “Inmate Wants New Label to Avoid Hate” (April 9), was greatly offensive. I can accept the need to address the rights of Jewish prisoners. I am unable to accept opening The Journal only to see the face of a brutal killer. Not only did he kill a dear friend of mine, he tore a very prestigious family apart. I am in a strange situation to know both families. The victim, though, was part of a Jewish community that was strong, united and shocked beyond belief.

Did Stephen Liebb expect sympathy? To see a photo of Liebb is offensive and spine-chilling to all who knew his victim and family.

Name Withheld, Valley Village

Extraordinary Friend?

Your cover story, “Is Bush Good for Israel?” (April 30), was extremely disappointing. Anyone who asserts that President Bush is not an extraordinary friend of the State of Israel is mistaken to say the least. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is the democratically elected leader of the Jewish state. By definition, when President Bush supports Sharon, he is supporting Israel.

It is wrong to suggest, as your article does, that if President Bush would pressure Prime Minister Sharon, instead of supporting him, Bush would be better serving the interest of Israel. Imagine the British supporting our war efforts in Iraq and the French opposing our war efforts, because, in the opinion of the French, in the long run, it would be better for the United States not to be in Iraq. Would any clear-thinking person ask: Is France a better friend of the United States than Britain?

I go to synagogue and pray three times a day and ask God to bless President Bush and give him the wisdom to be our best friend.

Andrew Friedman, President Congregation Bais Naftoli

I find Jewish support for Bush incomprehensible (“More Jews May Hop on the Bush Bandwagon,” April 30). It is exceedingly dangerous for any voter, Jew or otherwise, to support a candidate based on a single issue, particularly when that candidate is so weak in every other area.

Even if Bush were a strong leader on national security, he has handed over the national economy, ecology and institutions to corporate executives and right-wing ideologues and has conducted his government under a veil of secrecy. He says he wants democracy in Iraq, but he doesn’t seem to want it in the United States.

What’s more, when it comes to national security, Bush has already blown it. On Sept. 12, 2001, the world sympathized with us; thanks to Bush, that support is gone, and the war on terror is in imminent danger of being lost.

Judaism is close to unique in its emphasis on wisdom as the predominant human virtue, and I am amazed to find so many Jews taking leave of it. I fear for my country if Bush is re-elected, and I fear for my fellow Jews who have been duped by a man who, in addition to all his other flaws, professes a belief that they are going straight to perdition.

David Zasloff. Los Angeles

Kudos

Last week’s Journal (April 30) has two of the best things I have ever seen in your great periodical.

First of all, that it the best cover art ever on your or any other magazine (“Is Bush Good for Israel?”). I know it will stir things up a bit, but it is funny, thoughtful and brave — in a word, brilliant.

The second is the article by Tom Teicholz (“The End of ‘Friends'”). He hit so many nails on the head, he could have been building Monica and Chandler’s new home himself. Keep up the good work.

Michael Raileanu, Fort Worth, Texas

Haunting Image

I cannot get the image of the slaughter of Tali Hatuel, eight months pregnant, and her four daughters, Hila, 11; Hadar, 9; Roni, 7, and Merav, 2, out of my mind (“E.U. Condemns Gaza Killing,” May 7). I can imagine her terror; I can hear her screams and the crying of her children. The begging for their lives. And I ask myself, “What kind of monsters could do this?”

Until Muslims who truly want a two-state solution, who truly want peace, who truly believe terrorism is wrong raise their voices in protest against acts of terrorism such as this and suicide bombings and demand that they stop, I will find it hard to believe that they exist.

Tobi Ruth Love, Thousand Oaks

Road of Deception

Rabbi Steven Greenberg may talk of a loving, accepting Judaism, but I am sure that he is just another Jew walking down that dark road of deception (“Gay Orthodox Rabbi Peels Back His Life,” May 7).

As every Orthodox rabbi knows — everyone that is worth his salt — that the Law handed down to Moses from God still stands today. His behavior is not going to fly with God, and I back this up with Leviticus 18:22: “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination.”

In other words, refrain from homosexuality.

Joan Goldstein, Hancock Park

Send a Message

Regarding Carole Raphaelle Davis’ article about the French Jews, “What’s New in Paris?” (April 30), I would urge your readers to let the French consulate and/or embassy know how they feel about the government’s unofficial sanctioning of the harassment against the French Jews.

I called the embassy in Washington, D.C., to let them know that I will not buy any products made in France until this stops. The number of the French Embassy in Washington, D.C., is (202) 944-6030; the number of the consulate office in Los Angeles is (310) 235-3200.

Gail Saunders, via e-mail

The First Fest

In the April 30 edition, the article on the Independence Fest by Naomi Pfefferman had a major error (“Independence Fest Turns Sweet 16,” April 30). The article maintains that the Independence affair was 16 years old. This is not true.

The first Independence Day celebration in Los Angeles was held in May of 1972 at Pierce College, under the auspices of the San Fernando Valley Community Relations Committee and the West Valley Jewish Community Center.

How do I know? I was then the director of the Community Relations Committee, and the late Abe Boxerman was the director of the center. We were led by a remarkable woman, Harriet Rechtman, who chaired the event.

The police estimated that we had 30,000 people there, only outnumbered by the next Independence Day celebration at Pierce, where more than 40,000 people attended. That has never been equaled by any Jewish fest since.

How do we know that we had that number? Everyone who wished to do so was able to sign their name, address and phone number to a roll of butcher paper to wish Golda Meir a happy birthday. There were more than 20,000 names on that roll, which the Israeli consul took to Israel the next week.

Al Mellman, Los Angeles Not in Same Boat

I do not share professor [Samuel] Huntington’s concerns either (“The Same Boat,” April 30). However, I believe that there are enormous adverse impacts of mass immigration that have nothing to do with the question of assimilation.

At the current population growth rate of the United States, which is primarily due to the mass immigration policies of the federal government, the U.S. population will triple in this century. Think about it. Southern California will have to support three L.A. metro areas, three San Diegos, three Inland Empires. Northern California will have to support three San Francicso metro areas.

Already California is suffering huge adverse effects from excessive population growth, such as gridlocked freeways, overcrowded schools and medical care facilities that are shutting down right and left, because they can’t handle the burden of large numbers of customers who are unable to pay their bills.

And that is just the tip of the iceberg compared to what is in store if the people of this state and nation allow the federal government to continue growing the U.S. population without consideration for the economic and environmental consequences.

It is time for people to get out of their tunnel vision in thinking that the only issue raised by mass immigration is whether newcomers will assimilate.

Lance B. Sjogren, San Pedro

I see no parallel between American Jews and Latinos. We are not in the same boat. Latinos need to begin practicing to be Americans by speaking English more and by stressing education in their homes, before you can consider us in the same boat.

Richard Leibowitz, Westlake Village

Out of Touch?

Ira Forman is entirely correct in his criticism of Jimmy Carter’s bias concerning Israel and the Palestinians (“View on Mideast ‘Embarrassing,'” April 30). However, his faith in the position of John Kerry should be tempered by the fact that Kerry recently suggested that Jimmy Carter and James Baker would be his peace envoys to the Middle East, should he win the election.

Both men have often expressed anti-Israel positions. Could Kerry have been so out of touch with their positions or did they reflect his feelings to some degree?

Mike Michelson, Mission Viejo

Myanmar’s People

I would just like to commend the writer of the article about the synagogue in Yangon, Myanmar, and especially his note about the “richness of spirit” of the Myanmar people (“A Piece of Familiarity in Myanmar,” May 7).

Much misinformation is written in the Western press about Myanmar, especially with regards to religious freedom. In the apartment I stay when I’m there, I can see three churches, three mosques and one Pagoda. And of course, there’s the synagogue not far away!

Gerry Haines, Myanmar and Thailand

Einstein Help

My forthcoming book, “Einstein in California,” will be appearing this fall in connection with the Einstein exhibit at the Skirball Cultural Center. The book is complete, right down to the dust jacket, and that is why I need help.

Does anyone have a picture of Einstein addressing a Jewish group or, perhaps, your family member back in the early 1930s, when he was a scholar at Caltech and the most distinguished guest that Western Jewry ever had?

Contact me, professor Rabbi William M. Kramer at (310) 475-1415.

Rabbi William M. Kramer, Los Angeles

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For the Kids

Leave a Comment / Community, Kids & Teens / Abby Gilad

Jerusalem of Gold

We will celebrate Jerusalem Day (Yom Yerushalayim) this year on May 19 (28 Iyar). In June 1967, the Israelis reunited Jerusalem during the Six-Day War. Until then, East Jerusalem had been in the country of Jordan. Since then, we have celebrated Jerusalem Day. It is so sad that we are still at war with our Arab neighbors. Let us continue to pray for, to ask for and to write about peace.

I Had a Box of Colors

I had a box of colors
Shining, bright and bold.
I had a box of colors
Some warm, some very cold.
I had no red for the blood of wounds
I had no black for the orphan’s grief.
I had no white for dead faces and hands.
I had no yellow for burning sands.
But I had orange for the joy of life.
And I had green for buds and nests.
I had blue for clear skies.
I had pink for dreams and rest.
I sat down and painted
Peace.

This poem was written
by a 12-year-old
who lives
in Be’er Sheva,
Israel

For the Kids Read More »

The Circuit

Likud Vote Doesn’t Deter AIPAC Lobby

Leave a Comment / Worldwide / Ron Kampeas, JTA

How do you support Israel’s official policy when it changes from week to week? That’s a question facing the record number of pro-Israel activists heading to Washington for the May 15-18 annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the pro-Israel lobby.

Plans to make Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan for a unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip the centerpiece of this year’s conference collapsed when Sharon’s Likud Party rejected the plan in a May 2 referendum, several AIPAC executive committee members said.

By Monday, AIPAC still was trying to come up with a formulation to frame its most important lobbying issue: Israel’s peace and security.

"AIPAC continues to work closely with members of Congress who are anxious to find a way to express their support for the principles President Bush laid out on April 14," said a statement distributed by AIPAC spokesman Josh Block.

April 14 was the day Bush endorsed Sharon’s plan, which called for a unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and some settlements in the West Bank. He also endorsed some Israeli land claims in the West Bank and rejected the Palestinian demand that refugees and their descendants be granted a "right of return" to Israel.

The election year timing makes the lack of a central issue especially acute because lawmakers often are more receptive to lobbying in an election year.

But AIPAC did not seem overly concerned by the lack of a central issue. Officials said the fact that 6,000 activists were due to converge on Washington in an election year, and at a time the Israeli and U.S. governments were seeking a way out of the peace impasse, sent its own message.

"These are historic and exciting times for Israel and the United States, and the exceptionally large turnout at this year’s policy conference demonstrates the strong level of support for the U.S.-Israel relationship," said Howard Kohr, AIPAC’s executive director.

Anticipated attendance is 20 percent greater than last year and has tripled since 2001, which AIPAC officials attribute to aggressive outreach. Organizers are moving the conference from a hotel that long has hosted the event to the mammoth new Washington Convention Center.

"The mood will be very positive," said Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and a member of AIPAC’s executive committee.

The flux in Israel’s peace policy is hardly a catastrophe for the group: The activists have a menu of issues to discuss when they descend on Washington.

"We have a whole array of matters before Congress that I think will keep people more than busy," Hoenlein said.

Among the issues:

A bill that urges Iran to open up its nuclear weapons development programs to inspectors, and likewise urges U.S. allies to impose sanctions until Iran does so. The bill passed the House of Representatives overwhelmingly last week and is now before the Senate.

The foreign aid package, including continuing assistance to Israel, and to Jordan and Egypt for complying with their peace agreements with Israel. Congress cut aid slightly this fiscal year to help pay for the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

Several legislative initiatives to monitor the surge of anti-Semitism in Europe.

Activists also will be encouraged to discuss a range of topics that are not necessarily on the immediate legislative agenda but that serve to strengthen the U.S.-Israel relationship. They include homeland security cooperation between the two nations, the isolation of Syria and support for Israel’s West Bank security barrier.

Nonetheless, the failure of Sharon to win the party referendum on his withdrawal plan is likely to haunt the conference. Sharon has said he will prepare a new plan in coming weeks, but it’s uncertain when or what it will contain.

It’s also not yet clear whether Bush, whose endorsement of the plan was widely praised in the Jewish community but lost him precious political capital in the Arab world, would address the AIPAC conference.

Sharon canceled his own scheduled appearance at AIPAC, citing the need to come up with a plan acceptable both to his Cabinet and to the United States.

The proxies Sharon is sending in his stead appear to underscore his commitment to the original plan: Ehud Olmert, the Cabinet minister and deputy prime minister; Meir Sheetrit, a minister without portfolio; and Yosef "Tommy" Lapid, the justice minister, are among the plan’s most avid advocates in the Cabinet.

Even so, the messages from Sharon’s team have been confusing since Likud rejected his plan.

Sharon’s national security adviser, Giora Eiland, told a Washington audience last week that a withdrawal from Gaza now looks unlikely.

"No one knows now what are the chances this plan will be implemented in the future," Eiland told the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on May 7, after saying he had thrown away his prepared speech on the plan.

A day earlier, Sharon was telling European officials that he was "determined to move the plan forward as is, without changing the main points."

To make matters more confusing, Israeli officials were leaking a much more ambitious — and radically different — plan that Eiland showed to his U.S. counterparts just weeks ago. It would swap huge swaths of land between Egypt, Israel and a Palestinian entity in order to create a larger and more livable Gaza Strip. Additionally, Egypt would assume custodianship of Gaza, and Jordan would do the same in the West Bank.

It was a measure of the lack of direction in Sharon’s office that the land-swap plan bobbed up in Israeli media and in U.S. think-tank circles even after Bush administration officials rejected it out of hand as hopelessly quixotic.

Likud Vote Doesn’t Deter AIPAC Lobby Read More »

World Briefs

Leave a Comment / United States / JTA Staff

Israel-U.S. Anti-Terror Fund Planned

Israel and the United States hope to establish a $50 million counterterrorism research and development fund. Each country would contribute half of the fund, Israeli Ambassador Daniel Ayalon said on Tuesday. Congress and the Israeli Treasury must approve the fund.

“I see it as a very positive step. This fund is much needed and will address the threat that both countries face,” Ayalon said. The fund is an outgrowth of recent conversations between Tom Ridge, the U.S. homeland security secretary, and his Israeli counterpart, Tzachi Hanegbi. It would research aviation security, protection of sensitive installations and defense against biochemical attacks.

New Justices for Israel

Four new justices were named to Israel’s Supreme Court. The four are former Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein, State Prosecutor Edna Arbel and judges Esther Hayyut and Salim Joubran. Joubran, who had been serving a temporary appointment on the court, will be the first Arab to serve as a full Supreme Court justice.

The four, and a fifth judge who won a temporary appointment to the court, are scheduled to be sworn in May 24.

Jews Meet With Democrats

Jewish organizational officials met with Democratic representatives to discuss domestic and Israel-related issues. Hannah Rosenthal, executive director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, said at least 35 Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives attended Tuesday’s meeting. It was planned for one hour, but lasted more than two.

“This was an extraordinary showing,” Rosenthal said. “They’re treating the Jewish community as a serious constituency and recognizing the many issues that are driving our community and will drive us as voters.”

The participants, who included representatives of national Jewish groups and Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Jews, were invited by the House Democratic leader, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Democrats are trying to keep their traditional 3-1 support among Jewish voters, whom they fear may be swayed toward the Republican Party by President Bush’s pro-Israel record.

“Democrats look forward to continuing our partnership with the Jewish community,” Pelosi said in a statement.

Anti-Semitism Rises in Canada

There were twice as many anti-Semitic incidents in Canada in 2003 as in 2001, according to a new report. According to the Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents for 2003 released by B’nai Brith Canada’s League for Human Rights, 584 incidents were reported last year, the highest number in the 21-year history of the audit. Two-thirds of the incidents were classified as harassment, about 30 percent as vandalism, and 2.6 percent — 15 incidents — as violence.

While threats of violence have increased steeply, the actual number of violent incidents has decreased, B’nai Brith found. Incidents were reported from coast to coast, but most occurred in Ontario and Quebec, where most Canadian Jews live.

British University Cracks Down on Hate
Sites

A British university has tightened its policy on professors’ Web sites after Jewish groups complained of links to anti-Semitic material. Birmingham University has told academics that by the end of this month, links from university-hosted sites must be “relevant and legitimate to their academic or administrative work.” Danny Stone, head of a campaign mounted by the Union of Jewish Students, called the announcement “extraordinary news,” adding, “A lot of hard work has paid off.”

Rally Against Anti-Semitism Planned in
Paris

France’s main anti-racist organization called for a demonstration against anti-Semitism in Paris on Sunday. Following a wave of attacks on Jewish targets in recent days, SOS Racisme, a group set up in the 1980s to combat the rise of the far-right National Front, said it is calling “on all citizens to march on Sunday in order to show that French society unequivocally says ‘no’ to anti-Semitism.” In a statement issued Monday, the organization said that “anti-Semitism was not a Jewish affair but a scourge which every sincere anti-racist has to fight.”

French Jewish groups say that since the outbreak of the Palestinian intifada, they generally have had to tackle anti-Semitism without the support of mass demonstrations supported by groups outside the organized Jewish community.

Neo-Nazi Party Illegal in Argentina

A neo-Nazi party in Argentina was declared illegal and will not be allowed to participate in elections. Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral made the decision regarding the New Triumph Party last Friday.

“The group’s identification with the regime created by Hitler is fundamental” and its ideology is incompatible with the country’s constitution, Corral said.

Rice, Qurei to Meet

Condoleezza Rice will meet with the Palestinian Authority prime minister in Berlin. President Bush’s national security adviser will use the May 17 meeting to probe Ahmed Qurei powers, his ability to open talks with Israel and his willingness to stop terrorist attacks, The Associated Press reported.

Synagogue in FSU Hit with Arson

Arsonists attempted to set fire to a synagogue in Tiraspol, capital of an unrecognized republic that split off from Moldova. According to local community leaders in the Transdniestrian Republic, vandals on May 5 threw Molotov cocktails at the shul and spilled flammable liquid near its front door.

The fire was extinguished before it spread to the building itself. The incident took place weeks after some 70 tombstones were damaged in the Tiraspol Jewish cemetery. Local community leaders said the authorities refused to help clean up the anti-Semitic graffiti painted over the tombstones in March.

Briefs courtesy Jewish Telegraphic Agency

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Was Berg Targeted for Being a Jew?

Leave a Comment / Worldwide / Joe Berkofsky

The world may never know for sure if Nicholas Berg’s religion played a role in his grisly execution at the hand of terrorists in Iraq.

But many, including his family, are speculating that it was a factor in the terrorists’ decision to kill the American Jewish civilian who had gone to the war-torn country in search of business.

A video that surfaced on the Internet on Tuesday showed the decapitation by masked Iraqis of Berg, 26, of West Chester, Pa.

The scene echoed the 2002 murder in Pakistan of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was forced to admit his Jewishness on tape just before his captors cut off his head.

The killing raises questions about whether a Jewish person — civilian or military — is in any graver danger than anyone else in such a volatile region.

Shoshana Bryen, director of special projects for the Washington-based Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, said it makes sense that Jews would be targeted in Iraq.

"There are people in these countries who are looking to kill people who are members of certain groups," Bryen said. "The two at the top of the list are Americans and Jews."

Though Berg’s religion wasn’t mentioned on the video, posted on a Web site linked to Al Qaeda, Berg cites his family members, similar to the way Pearl did.

Berg is seen saying, "My name is Nick Berg, my father’s name is Michael, my mother’s name is Susan … I have a brother and sister, David and Sarah."

His father, Michael, inundated by reporters Tuesday as his family was still grieving, said his son’s religion may have made him a target.

"There’s a better chance than not that they knew he was Jewish," his father was quoted saying. "If there was any doubt that they were going to kill him, that probably clinched it, I’m guessing."

His father also told reporters that his son routinely wore a tzitzit, or traditional fringed undergarment, although he didn’t wear it in public.

Joseph Kashnow, an Army Cavalry scout from Baltimore who has returned from Baghdad, felt strains of anti-Semitism before coming home after a severe injury.

Kashnow, an Orthodox Jew who wore a kippah but usually hid it under his helmet, said that while most of the time his religion wasn’t an issue, he did encounter problems.

As an American Jewish soldier in Baghdad, Kashnow said he learned better than to pursue one particular conversation with a local man.

"He said, ‘Saddam wasn’t so bad, at least he wasn’t Jewish,’" recalled Kashnow, 25. "Not a person I wanted to continue having a chat with."

"It’s certainly possible there are people [in Iraq] who would feel it was a ‘two-mints-in-one’ to get an American and a Jew," Kashnow said.

But not everyone agrees.

Rabbi Mitchell Ackerson, an Orthodox rabbi and senior Jewish chaplain for Operation Iraqi Freedom, just returned to his native Maryland from Iraq after nearly one year there. Despite the killing of a Jewish civilian, he said he believed American soldiers remained the prime target for Iraqis insurgents.

While in Iraq, Ackerson never told Jewish soldiers to hide their identities, but neither did he counsel them to "flaunt" their Judaism.

"I’m not sure what happened with Berg, but my gut inclination is he was not killed because he was Jewish. Instead, it was, ‘We captured an American, we’re going to prove we’re the tough guys and we’re going to kill him.’"

Ackerson said that if Berg’s murder was religiously motivated, his captors or the Al Qaeda-linked group that claimed responsibility "would’ve highlighted it," just as they did with Pearl.

Kashnow’s right leg was nearly blown off by a homemade land mine last September. He has spent months undergoing operations and therapy — yet he says he’s as sure as ever that the war is just.

"Berg was fighting to rebuild the country and make it safe for freedom," he said. "It’s still a tragedy."

Kashnow is not alone.

"Should people think twice or should we continue this?" said Judy Ledger, whose son and daughter — and their spouses — all served with the U.S. military in Iraq. "You do have to realize there’s a danger, but the danger is no more if you’re in the military than if there is a hate crime" in the United States.

But Ledger said in an earlier interview that as a mother, her children’s Jewishness always was in the back of her mind.

Ledger recalled how when her son, Matt, first went to the Iraq war theater before the conflict began, she urged him to remove the word "Jewish" from his military dog tags. But he refused, saying, "I don’t want a priest praying over me if I get killed."

Some Jewish organizational officials echoed Kashnow’s view that Berg’s murder, combined with Tuesday’s videotaped killing of six Israeli soldiers by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip — should deepen the commitment of Jews and other Americans to the war on terrorism.

"This is an evil force that has no moral compunction at all," said Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

Referring to the video showing an Iraqi holding Berg’s severed head aloft and shouting, "Allahu akbar," or "God is great" — and footage of Palestinian terrorists proudly displaying an Israeli soldier’s head and other body parts — Hoenlein said the two cases point to the same enemy.

"Their barbarism could not be more clear after today. On both fronts it’s the same menace," he said.

On the video, Berg’s captors said the killing was to avenge the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers.

The parents of Daniel Pearl, who immigrated to Los Angeles in the 1960s from Israel, prepared a statement for the media after news of Berg’s killing circulated Tuesday.

"We have heard from the news about the videotape showing the tragic death of Nicholas Berg in Iraq. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends at this extremely difficult time," the statement said.

"Our heart goes out to them. Kidnapping, torture, humiliation and murder must have no place in this world," the statement went on. "We call on people of principle around the world to help stop the madness and take a stand for humanity."

Ironically, Berg’s father, Michael, and his small business, Prometheus Methods Tower Service Inc., were listed as endorsers of a coalition called Act Now to Stop War and End Racism. The coalition opposed the Iraq war, though Nicholas Berg reportedly supported it.

Berg was in Iraq as a freelance contractor working to repair communications antennae, The Associated Press reported. His family members said they had known of their son’s death since the weekend but did not know of the video until it surfaced this week.

The family last heard from Berg on April 9, as he was preparing to return to the United States via Jordan. U.S. officials recovered Berg’s remains May 8.

The Bush administration and others voiced outrage at Berg’s killing and vowed to pursue his killers. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, said Berg’s killers "will not prevail."

Berg’s friends and neighbors were devastated to learn of his fate. Reached by phone, Berg’s parents declined to comment on their son’s death.

The circumstances of his capture are unknown.

He had planned to return home at the end of March, but his parents told reporters he didn’t come home as scheduled and that the FBI had told them their son was in jail in Iraq.

In West Chester, meanwhile, his family and friends were mourning the loss of someone universally praised as a caring soul.

"Nick was probably one of the most amazing men I’ve ever met," said Aaron Spool, a friend of Berg’s since they were in the seventh grade. "He just touched everyone’s life. West Chester is going to be a much emptier place without him. He was good man, a good Jew. It’s tough. It’s very hard."

In the last years of his life, Berg became increasingly religious. Spool said Berg began attending the Conservative Kesher Israel Congregation in West Chester two years ago and studied the Torah and Books of the Prophets. He even traveled to Israel to study Arabic and Hebrew for the first time just before going to Iraq.

Still, "he wasn’t foolish … he wouldn’t have bandied about the fact he was Jewish" in Iraq, Spool added.

A funeral service was reportedly set for Friday at Kesher Israel, which said members "mourn with the family."

Glenn Brown, a friend of the Spool family who occasionally would have Shabbat meals with Berg in West Chester, recalled the young man as being "a sincere individual."

He said, "It is a huge tragedy and loss. He seemed hard-working and industrious."

JTA Washington bureau chief Ron Kampeas, JTA staff writer Matthew E. Berger in Washington and the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent contributed to this report.

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Bush Slaps Several Sanctions on Syria

Leave a Comment / Worldwide / Matthew E. Berger

President Bush has imposed sanctions on Syria, heeding the call of lawmakers and American Jews who wanted the Bush administration to get tougher on Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The president imposed several sanctions Tuesday, banning U.S. exports to Syria, except for food and medicine, and banning all flights to and from Syria. He also left in place several sanctions imposed by congressional legislation, including a ban of "dual-use" exports that could be used in manufacturing weapons of mass destruction and freezing assets of Syrian citizens linked to terrorism and weapons of mass destruction.

"Despite many months of diplomatic efforts to convince the government of Syria to change its behavior, Syria has not taken significant, concrete steps to address the full range of U.S. concerns," Bush said in a letter to Congress.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said that the concerns included Syria’s continued development of weapons of mass destruction, support for terrorism and failure to police its border with Iraq.

Lawmakers had been pressing the White House to impose sanctions for months, since the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act passed Congress last year. After Bush signed the bill in December, many believed he would impose the sanctions in March.

The Bush administration made numerous diplomatic efforts to curb Syria’s links to terrorism, its attempts to obtain weapons of mass destruction and its continued control of Lebanon. Secretary of State Colin Powell traveled to Syria last year and was assured by Assad that Syria’s behavior would change.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), chairwoman of the House International Relations Subcommittee on the Middle East, had been frustrated by the administration’s delays but said Tuesday that she believed the White House’s patience showed it was trying to solve the issue diplomatically.

"Waiting this amount of time shows he has done everything possible to send the diplomatic message," she said of Bush. "It shows the president went the extra mile."

Ros-Lehtinen, who sponsored the Syria Accountability Act with Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), said it was a "great day."

"No one is saying sanctions is going to bring down the government," she said. "We’re saying it’s important as a government to send a message that this is behavior that should be punished."

Engel issued a statement saying the ball now is in Damascus’ court.

"It is my hope that by implementing the Syria Accountability Act, the Untied States government is sending a loud and clear message to the leaders of Syria that we will no longer turn a blind eye to their transgressions," he said.

The Syria bill was passed in part due to lobbying from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The group is holding its annual convention in Washington next week, and members are likely to lobby lawmakers to put additional pressure on the Bush administration about Syria.

Many believed the ascent to power of the Western-educated Assad and Syria’s willingness to provide intelligence about terrorists associated with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks meant the country was willing to change its ways. But Syria hasn’t done what the United States had hoped.

"We’ve asked them to do some things, and they haven’t responded," Bush said in an interview with Al-Ahram International television last week. "And Congress passed a law saying that if Syria will not join, for example, booting out a Hezbollah office out of Damascus, that the president has the right to put sanctions on."

Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa said Tuesday that the Arab League, meeting in Cairo, condemned the U.S. sanctions and that Syria has worked with other Arab states to fight terrorism.

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Was Berg Targeted for Being a Jew?

Bush Slaps Several Sanctions on Syria

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