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Friday, October 27, 2006
Some headlines and summaries from JTA
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Republican staffer threatened TAU funds
A Republican congressman reprimanded a staffer for threatening to cut U.S. funds to Tel Aviv University unless a donor agreed to stop backing his opponent.
According to Thursday’s Chicago Sun-Times, Caryn Garber, a staffer for Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), wanted to force Robert Schrayer, an insurance magnate, to drop his backing for Dan Seals, a Democrat challenging Kirk. Schrayer, chairman of the Tel Aviv University American Council and a board member of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, had supported Kirk in earlier campaigns.
Garber e-mailed Sam Witkin, president of TAU’s American Council, to ask him to contact Itamar Rabinovich, TAU’s president and a former Israeli envoy to Washington. “Itamar should call Bob and tell him his actions can have a very bad effect on the university,” the e-mail reportedly said. “Revenge is a dish best served cold.” Kirk is on the U.S. House of Representatives’ powerful Foreign Operations Appropriations subcommittee.
Garber’s e-mail “does not reflect my view,” said Kirk, whose district in Chicago’s northern suburbs has a large Jewish population. “When I heard about it I was upset.” He said he reprimanded Garber and told her she would be fired if it happened again.
U.S. wants to ban Iranian physicists
An American draft resolution at the United Nations calls for a ban on Iranians studying subjects related to nuclear development.
The resolution, a copy of which was obtained this week by JTA, would require countries to prohibit Iranians from studying physics and other subjects that could be used to advance the country’s nuclear program. Britain, France and Germany presented Russia and China with the draft Wednesday. It also calls for a ban on financial or technical assistance for Iran’s nuclear activities.
Jewish groups condemn U.N. official
Jewish groups condemned the appearance before the U.N. General Assembly of a fiercely anti-Israel U.N. official. Jan Ziegler, the U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food, also is vice president of the Moammar Khaddafi Human Rights Prize, established by the Libyan government in 1989.
“The credibility of Mr. Ziegler’s mandate as a human rights expert is jeopardized by the fact of his being politically and financially beholden to a dictator responsible for some of the world’s most brutal abuses,” said a statement issued by U.N. Watch, a watchdog organization based in Geneva.
U.N. Watch claims Ziegler was involved in establishing the prize, which has been awarded to Louis Farrakhan, Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro.
Dovish groups balk at Lieberman
Two dovish U.S. groups expressed reservations about Avigdor Lieberman’s new role in the Israeli Cabinet.
Meretz USA said it was “alarmed” at the deal that brought Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu Party into the centrist Cabinet, noting his earlier calls for forcing Israeli Arabs to join a Palestinian state. “Avigdor Lieberman has consistently supported an aggressive militarism as an alternative to diplomacy,” it said in a statement. Americans for Peace Now said it was “deeply concerned” at the deal, which reinforced Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s shaky coalition.
“His joining the Cabinet sends a belligerent signal to Israel’s Arab citizens, to Israel’s neighbors, and to the international community,” it said. “It is now incumbent upon Prime Minister Olmert and his coalition partners to refute the impression that their Cabinet is turning its back to peace.”
Fans ask Philharmonic to denounce occupation
A petition is circulating among fans of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra asking the institution to denounce Israel’s West Bank presence on the eve of a U.S. tour.
“Some of us are Israelis now living in the U.S.,” said the letter initiated by Women in Black, an anti-occupation group started in Israel during the first intifada. “We grew up attending concerts of the orchestra, and remember the experience with so much joy. We have the deepest appreciation for artists, musicians in this instance, and see you as being on the leading edge of Israeli society and as powerful opinion leaders in your communities.”
The letter argues that a statement by the orchestra against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and parts of Jerusalem will have a snowball effect. “Imagine that the Israel Philharmonic’s denouncement of the occupation and call for peace and justice will have a huge positive ripple effect on Israeli society,” it says. The orchestra is coming in February.
French twist on border
France’s foreign minister now thinks Israel’s West Bank security barrier is a good idea.
“I have significantly evolved on the matter of the separation fence,” Philippe Douste-Blazy told TFJ, a French Jewish television channel, according to the European Jewish Press. “Although the wall was a moral and ethical problem for me, when I realized terror attacks were reduced by 80 percent in the areas where the wall was erected, I understood I didn’t have the right to think that way.”
The French Foreign Ministry later clarified the statement to say that the problem was always the barrier’s route, not its existence. The barrier has been harshly criticized in Europe because it does not hew exactly to pre-1967 boundaries
http://www.jta.org/
posted by Somebody @ 10:54 PM Permanent Link
 
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