The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, Febniary 11, 1993-Page 5
World
Athletes prepare for Maccabiah
By DAVID LAZARUS
MONTREAL -
With fewer than five months to go to the Stan of the 14th Maccabiah Games in Israel. Canadian Jewish athletes are in the process of vying for cherished spots on the Canadian team.
Out of the 6.000 aihletes from 52 nations set to compete next July 5> 15 at the "Jewish Olympics."' as the Maccabiah has long been dubbed, 250 to 275 of ihem (including coaches and support stafO will be Canadian, said Bob Luxenberg. a vice-chair on the national athletics committee that makes the final picks for the squad.
Already. Luxenberg said, several of the team sports, including mini-stK'cer. so flball. rugby, golf and tennis, have been finalized. '
Individual selections. Luxenberg said, will begin to be made at the end of March.
The Wrestling team, which has won Canada scores of medals since h950. held its tryouts Feb. 7 in Montreal amid high hopes that thai particular tradition would continue.
Coached by veteran Canadian wrestler Garry Kallos and nianaged by Rob Moore, the squad will number between 10 and-14 — depending : on final funding. Luxenberg said — and will a|most certainly include some tantalizing talent from the former Soviet Union. They included Oleg Ladik - the 1992 Canada Cup champion and 1989 world junior freestyle champion — and Sacha Dudayev.
Among the top Canadian prospects were Olympian Andy Borodow. the Mendelsohn brothers — David and Josef —.1992 Canadian Espoir champion Aaron Pomeroy. and-Ari Taub. 1991 Canadian Seniors champion.
The overall Canadian contingent, whose expenses by tradition are fully covered by the Maccahi Canada organization, will also include a smat-
. tering of disabled athletes — a Cana- • dian initiative that won rapid world-wide support — and Junior athletes aged 13 to 16.' .
• A separate "Master's" categpiy — consisting ofathletes aged35 and up who.pay their dwri way — will a|so ,
be part of the Canadian team.
In general'terms, the Maccabiah is being billed as "two weeks to experience and a lifetime to reriiem: ber." and in that context is going all oiit to attract record numbers of tourists. Canadian organizers are planning to fill a'Boeing 747 with athletes and tourists.
The Maccabiah also has be.en a natural draw by giving tourists a concrete bonding experience with Jewish brethren from 50 countries.
The opening ceremony at Ramat Gan National stadium, for example, will display the traditional pomp and pageantry associated with the Olympics: the march of the delegations, lighting the torch, color displays by each national team, firewojks,. and an address by the prcsiderit of Israel.
On the eve of the games — July 4 — Israel will host a salute to our guests show in Jerusalem, highlighted by songs and musical pcrfo.r--mances.
The closing ceremony two weeks later in Jerusalem will include the participation of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
And while Jewish brotherhood, more than medal-cbunts. has always tended to be the primary focus of the Maccabiah. don't tell that to the athletes, who compete fiercely at the individual and team levels during the events.
Canada has usually finished third in the medal count behind Israel and the United States, but the task at hand could be tougher this summer. Luxenberg suggested, because of the first ever participation by several former
"easte:rn Bloc" nations and South Africa. .
Hopes are high for Canadian team, medals and in gymnastics, he said, but there is less certainty about prospects in other, individual-oriented sports like swimming and track and field. Luxenberg said.
The countries attending for the first time since World War II include BuL, garia. the Czech and Slovak republics. Poland, the Slavo-Asian
. republics, and Baltic States.
•Israel's team will also.be bolstered by immigt-ants coming from the former Soviet Union, no\v known as the Commonwealth of Independent States, which is also participating. ,
Children's medical
JERUSALEM (JTA)-
Israeli children in need of heart-lung transplants will no longer have to travel abroad to undergo this complex operation. A state-of-the-art children's medical facility opened this week alongside the large Beilinson Medical Center in Petach Tikvah.
In addition to having the latest technical/equipment and medical advances, the hospital is intended to serve as a "bridge.of peace" between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Although the facility is not yet fully operational, it has already admitted children from Arab countries for treatment.
The facility is a teaching medical centre affiliated with the Sackler School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University, and conducts research together with the Felsenstein-Research Medical Center, next door, and the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot.
Much of its $60 million cost came from Jewish contributors abroad, foremost among them philanthropists Irving and Helen Schneider of New York. Jhe hospital's director is Dr. Yehuda Danon, a former chief medical officer of the Israel Defence Force.
The medical centre will serve children from throughout Israel requiring specialized or advanced treatment. Its departments include a pediatric emergency ward, pediatric intensive care unit, specialized imaging equipment and a pediatric cardiac surgical theatre.
1^ lO-year-old Ethiopian immigrant, in Israel barely two months,
beamed at reporters as her mother ex-: plained in broken Hebrew that she had been desperately sick in Ethiopia but now seemed on the way to recovery.
The centre intends to place special emphasis on adolescent medicine, according to its deputy director. Dr. Eliahu Vilensky. Among the particular medical problems encountered in this age group he listed drug addiction, alcohol dependency, pregnancy and eating disorders.
Another specialization of the new facility will be children's cancer The centre contains Israel's only pediatric
Bonds'
[Cont'd, from page 1]
year when Bonds sales reached the SI billion mark. A total of $1,172 billion (U.S.) worth of Bonds were sold, an 18 percent jump over the year before.
"The reports'we've been hearing in Israel won't alter our plans." Diamond said. "Israel still needs the money.'' He said the worldwide target for this year is $1.5 billion (U.S.).
Toronto Bonds leader Henry Zie-leniec called Shohat's remarks a "blow [to] the stomach."
He saMie could understand the Israeli government's need to lower Bonds' interest rates (which pay between four and 6.5 percent), but that Shohat's message "was not a very businesslike way to handle it."
Zieleniec said he'll continue to buy Bonds as before.
oncology department, providing bone-marrow and organ transplants.
The new facility will also provide unique psychological support services, for families as well as the patients.
A large teani of psychologists are on hand to help patients before and after traumatic treatments, and to ease their return to normal life after a period of hospitalization.
The seven-floor, uitra-modern building houses 224 beds. 60 percent of them for day patients and emergencies, and the remainder for longer-term patients.
The timing of Shohat's message "was a "little unfonunate," said Michael Florence, chair of Bonds" Ontario region, "since it came when we were [in Israel) to get enthusiastic about selling Bonds."
A few days after the conference. Meir Rosenne. the worldwide president of Bonds, said he was "unequivocally" reassured by government officials that Bonds will not be tampered with.
Diamond said there is a general "lack of understanding" in Israel of the importance of both Israel Bonds and United Jewish Appeal. „. The controversy didTiot faze David Nadler of Montreal, who was one of three members of the delegation to Jerusalem presenjed with a Heritage Award for having purchased over $5 million wonh of Bonds.
Navy officer charges bias;
Pictured with team coach Garry Kallos (left) and manager Rob Moore (right) are some of the Jewish wrestlers that vied for a place on the Canadian team going to the July 5-15 Maccabiah Games. From left they are David Levinson, Rudy Adier, Oleg Ladik, Sacha Dudayev, and Richard Schwartz;
By RON CSILLAG
VANCOUVER -
A naval reserve officer is taking Defence Minister Kim Campbell and Canada's Chief of Defence Staff to Federal Court, alleging that he was denied a plum postingduring the Gulf War because he is Jewish.
Lieut. Andrew Liebmann. 29. says he did"everything I could to avoid going to court." but had to because a two-year internal Canadian Armed Forces grievance did not allay his belief that he was disr criminated against as a Jew.
Liebmann'scxlyssey began in January. 1991, when he was a reservist aboard HMCS Discovery in Vancouver. Just as the Gulf War began, he applied to be executive assistant to Commodore Kenneth Summers, commander of Canadian forces in the Middle East. The posting was to have been to Bahrain.
His statement of claim, filed with the court last week, says Liebmann was told by his staff officer aboard the Discovery that his application would not be approved by the Department of National Defence because he w'as Jewish. He said he was. told that another officer would get the job.
Liebmann told The ON that an officer at Maritime Command in Halifax told him he would not get the posting becau,se of his religion.
The concern was expressed that being a Jew in Bahrain might pose a threat to his personal safety or could impair his
ability to do his job, Liebmann added.
Ljebmann said he was then told that an officer from the Air Force would get the posting.
Finally, Liebmann was told that the job was posted in error and that Summers' aide would be staying on.
"There are quite a few inconsistencies" in the Forces' version of events, Liebmann said. "There is no doubt in my mind that the reason I didn't get the job is because I'm Jewish."
Capt. Marc Rouleau of the Department of National Defence told Vie CJN that while there is a policy to exclude certain members of the Forces from, peacekeeping missions, no one is excluded from war-time service.
Rouleau called Liebmann's plight a "misunderstanding" because the job for which he had applied "was no longer required." >
Roiileau added that at least three Jewish members of the Forces took part in the Canadian effort during the Gulf War.
In February, 1991. Mary Collins, then associate mini.ster of national defence, wrote Liebmann a letter of apology but added that his"impressioh" of discrimination was "an unfortunate misunderstanding. "The letter went on to state that Liebmann had been erroneously told he would not get. the posting because of his religion.
Last October, the former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. John de Chastelain. . wrote Liebmann. upholding Collins' letter ds "logically reasoned and militarily valid:"
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