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Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Some headlines and summaries from JTA
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Congressional letter warns P.A. on Hamas
Two high-ranking members of Congress are circulating a letter warning the Palestinian Authority to ban Hamas from elections or damage relations with the United States.
Rep. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), the chairman of the Democratic caucus, and Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio), the chairwoman of the Republican Conference, have asked colleagues to sign the letter ahead of P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas’ visit Thursday with President Bush.
“Any requirements for groups to disarm or disavow racist ideologies must be made prior to participating in an election, otherwise democracy itself may be threatened,” the letter says. “We would strongly support any actions you might initiate now to establish such criteria. If not, and if members of Hamas are elected to positions of influence within the PA, relations with the United States may well be seriously damaged.”
Israeli company pops up in Abramoff scandal
An Israeli contractor’s role in installing cell phone antennas in the U.S. Congress emerged in reporting on a major lobbying scandal.
Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio), the chairman of the House of Representatives Administration Committee, awarded Israel’s Foxcom the $3 million contract over LGC Wireless in 2002. LGC complained, saying it violated Congress’ tradition of “Buy American.”
Foxcom had donated $50,000 in 2001 to a charitable foundation run by Jack Abramoff, a Jewish lobbyist who was close to Ney and who is now the subject of several federal investigations for his lobbying practices, the Washington Post reported this week. A spokesman for Ney said three of six wireless companies expressed a preference for Foxcom, but the Washington Post contacted all six, and all said they had expressed no preference.
Accused Hamas man: Judith Miller was there
A Palestinian American facing trial on charges of laundering money for Hamas says New York Times journalist Judith Miller witnessed his confession to related charges in Israel.
Muhammad Salah of Bridgeview Ill. returned to the United States in 1997 after serving five years in an Israeli prison for his activism with the terrorist group. He has been charged in a federal court with laundering $15 million for the group. In a bid to keep the confessions that got him jailed in Israel from being used in his U.S. trial, Salah is saying they were extracted by torture and are therefore inadmissible.
The Chicago Sun-Times on Tuesday quoted his defense lawyers as saying that Miller witnessed the confession, and that they expect the government to call her as a witness. The Sun-Times quoted Miller in 1998 as saying that she had witnessed the confession, and that it was not made under duress.
The prosecutor in the Salah case, Patrick Fitzgerald, is the same one who arranged for Miller’s recent 85-day jailing for refusing to testify in a government leak case.
http://jta.org/
posted by Somebody @ 10:20 PM Permanent Link
 
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