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Friday, August 04, 2006
Some headlines and summaries from JTA
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Letter demands funding for nonprofits
A letter from 27 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives urged the Homeland Security secretary to release $25 million in grants for nonprofit organizations.
Wednesday’s letter cited last week’s attack on the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle that killed one woman and injured five others, and critiqued the department’s policy of reserving the funds, earmarked by Congress, only for “credible threats.”
Earlier this year, Michael Chertoff, the U.S. Homeland Security secretary, said he would reverse that policy and apply grants to “potential threats” as well.
His spokesmen have told JTA that the change will be in place within weeks, but lawmakers complained in the letter that it wasn’t coming soon enough.
Senate urges ‘cessation of hostilities’
The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution urging a cessation of hostilities in Lebanon.
The resolution was passed Thursday, a day before the Senate’s August break.
It says that “the United States government and the international community must work urgently with the governments of Israel and Lebanon to attain a cessation in the hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel.”
It also calls for the disarmament of Hezbollah and the return of Israeli soldiers the group is holding hostage. The resolution notes at length the suffering of Lebanese civilians during the fighting, after some senators had expressed concern that an earlier resolution supporting Israel did not adequately address the need to safeguard civilians on all sides.
U.S. providing Israel with intelligence?
The United States reportedly is providing Israel with sensitive intelligence on Syria and Iran.
The U.S. National Security Agency is providing Israel with information on whether Hezbollah’s two backers are running arms to the terrorist group during its war with Israel, Salon reported Thursday.
The NSA routinely provides Israel with some intelligence, but this is an expansion directed by Vice President Dick Cheney and Elliott Abrams, the deputy national security adviser, and approved by President Bush, Salon said. A National Security Council official had no comment.
Sidney Blumenthal, a former senior Clinton administration official and a tough critic of the Bush administration, wrote the story.
Moroccan Jews: Peretz a ‘war criminal’
Three Jews in Morocco asked a Moroccan court to charge Israel’s defense minister with war crimes.
The three Jews, all known as leading leftists in Morocco, said Amir Peretz, Israel’s Moroccan-born defense minister, is still subject to Moroccan law.
“The criminal terrorist, the Zionist Amir Peretz, kept his Moroccan citizenship and still appears on the Moroccan population registry,” Avraham Sarfaty, Amran al-Maliah and Tzio Asidon said at a news conference Tuesday in Rabat, according to Itim, an Israeli news agency.
They want the court to issue a warrant that would be valid in other nations.
U.N. meeting on Lebanon protested
Jewish groups protested the focus on the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon by a U.N. committee against racism.
U.N. Watch questioned the relevance of Thursday’s special session in Geneva by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and called it biased and one-sided for ignoring the suffering inflicted on Israeli civilians by Hezbollah rockets.
The committee generally focuses on the implementation of a 1965 accord on eliminating racial discrimination.
Before the meeting, the World Jewish Congress had called on the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Louise Arbour, not to focus on the Lebanon issue.
Letter asks Bush to enforce Syria legislation
A letter signed by 115 U.S. lawmakers urged President Bush to intensify sanctions on Syria.
Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), who initiated the 2003 Syria Accountability Act, sent the letter Thursday.
The Bush administration has enacted only some measures of the law, including a ban on exports to Syria and on Syrian travel to the United States. Additional available measures include a total ban on U.S. business with Syria and limits on the movement of Syrian diplomats in the United States.
“Syria has refused to heed calls to be a responsible international actor,” the letter states, saying the country houses Hamas and Hezbollah leaders. It also says Syria has helped arm Hezbollah in the current war.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee praised the letter. “Damascus must be held accountable for its actions, and the United States has the necessary diplomatic and political tools to do just that,” spokesman Josh Block said.
GOP wants representative reprimanded
U.S. Republicans want Democrats to reprimand a senior Democratic congressman for his comments about Hezbollah.
Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) was asked on a Detroit TV station why he was among only eight lawmakers who voted against a resolution supporting Israel in its action against Hezbollah; 410 lawmakers voted in favor.
“We must be a fair and honest broker and a friend to all parties,” Dingell said. “The resolution didn’t make us that. We have to have the trust of both the people of Israel and the people of the Arab countries around it, in order to help resolve the problem.” Pressed about Hezbollah’s status as a terrorist group, he said, “I don’t take sides for or against Hezbollah or for or against Israel.”
A moment later he appeared to contradict himself.
“I condemn Hezbollah as does everybody else, for the violence,” he said, adding that not talking to the group could lead to more bloodletting.
http://www.jta.org
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