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By DAVID FRIEDMAN
WASHINGTON — The organized Jewish commuiiity has not yet decided whether to make an all-out fight against the plan by the administEration of U.S. president George Bush to sell 315 Abrasns tanks to Saiidi Arabia.
"We are opposed to the sale/' MalcolniHoenlein, executive director of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said last week^ "We have not yet made a decision on stlrategy.''
^ WlBfatin/WZPS
SUCCA in Israel, resourcefully built from packing cases which brought this Sephardi family's possessions to Israelis decorated with fresh fruit, vegetables, flowers. On the walls are drapes, posters and. ariwbric by the children. Je Succoibe^lnning tomorrow,
ErevShabbat(Friday,Oct. 13)at8un8etv. . , » .
NEW YORK - The gates of the Soviet Union opened wider last month than at any time in memory, unleashing t^e largest wave of Soviet Jews to emigrate in a single month.
A total of8,442 Jews left the USSR in September, according to the National Conference on Soviet Jewry. That is the highest monthly figure recorded since the conference's Soviet Jewry Research Bureau began tabulating emigration statistics in 1968.
\yhile the vast majority of the emigrants came to the United States, 1,042, or 12,3 percent of the total, arrived in jsraeU a slight increase over
the previous month. So far this year, 5,031 Soviet Jews have made aliyah:
Based on the numbers who have left so far this year, it is expected that 1989 will top 1979 as the benchmark year of Soviet Jewish emigratronvdn 1979, 51,320 Jews left the USSR. The cumulative total \o date for 1989 is 41,886.
The September emigration figure is nearly double the July total and exceeds by nearly 2,000 the number for August, which until now had been the largest monthly figure eyer.^^
0he factor that helped swell the Sept^ttiber total was the Sept. 28 arrival of 1,356
Soviet Jews' at Kennedy International Airport in New York.Jt was the largest group, of lie wish refugees to arrive in the United States in a single day since the end of the Second World War.
The unprecedented airlift Was designed to enable a larger number of Soviet Jews to celebrate the Jewish New Yearin'comijlete freedom and reduce the crowds of emigres waiting near Rome for permission to enter the United States. The massive arrival was geared to coincide with an Oct. 1 change iin US; regulations governing the admission of Soviet citizens as refugees to
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But there is little sentiment in the Jewish corrimunity. Congress or within the: Israeli government for a "knockdown, drag-oiit fight," a Capitol Hill source said.
The Bush administration has not officially notified Congress of the sale of the Ml-Al tanks; which are expected to cost about $1.5 billion U;S. But Israeli officials,: Congress and Jewish leaders have been told by the admihistratiohthsit it plans to go ahead ^^ith the sale. John Suiiunu, WlTite Housechief of
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safe ^ thi tanks bnefly in a meetiiig last month with the , Conference of Presidents in New York, Hoenlein confirmed.
The administration has been making an effort to avoid aclash with Congress oyer the sale. However, there is^concern in Congress that the administration has not yet begun consultations with key congressional leaders about the deal.
Customarily, the admihis-tration engages in a 20-day consultation period with lawmakers before formally notifying Congress of an arms sale. Once there is official notification. Congress has 30 days to vote the sale down, bthefwise, it automatically goes through.
The administration is trying to blunt any effort by Israel to
oppose the sale. Wheii Israeli defense minister Yitzhak Rabin met with U.S. defense secretary Dick Cheney last month, Cheney reportedly said the United States would be willing to pre-position up to $ 100 million U .S. of weapons in Israel that could be used by either the U.S. military or Israel.
CHENEY .. U.S. would place up to $100 miilion of weapons : ■ ■ in Israel ■.
U.S. weapons now pre-pbsitioned in Israel cannot be used by the Israeli military.
There also reportedly was talk of reducing the cost of U.S. weapons that Israel purchases with the $1.8 billion U.S. in military aid it receives annually from the United States.
But Hoenlein stressed that for the Jewish community not
to actively oppose the sale, it wants to see the administration's long-term plan for selling weapons to the Saudis, "rather than giving it to us piecemeal." The administration has been sending arms sales to Congress in small, packages in the hope it will not block them individually as it might if they were grouped together as a massive arms sale.
This strategy has worked so -Jar. Last spring, three arms sales totaling $850 million us: to upgrade Saudis F-5 and F-15 righter_jets;^^nt through easily. ' '
The administration an-nounced last month it plans to seilthe Saudis a $485 million U.S. package to maintain and improve the F-15s, part of a program begun in 1987.
The sale of the tanks is the next step. However, there is concern that this would befol-lowed by a major arms sale for the Saudis: 110 fighter planes to replace outdated F-5s the Saudis now have. It'is not known what type of fighter is proposed, although it is expected to be the F-i6 or F/A-18.'.-
This sale is expected to arouse more concern in Congress about a potential threat to Israel's security than the tanks. _ J
But at a news conference in New York, U.S. secretary of
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This year the Vancouver Jewish community will observe Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) atdual commemorative events.
The 11 th annual observance will take place on two nights with a memorial service Nov. 7 at Beth Israel synagogue followed by an Evening of Remembrance Nov. 9v exploring Kristallnacht in music, poetry and drama at Temple Sho-lom. Noted Canadian theologian and author jEmilFack-ehheim will be the keynotespeakerbn N6V.7. He will offer learned insights into "Kristallnacht 1938:: Legalized Crime."
As well, the Jewish Festival of the Arts has prepared a visual display — Burning of the: Synagogues and Jewish Bookis — which will be on view'on both commemorative evenings. The exhibit wilMaterbe seen at the Jewish Community Centre.
Beth Israel Rabbi Wilfred Solomon explained in an interview that the displays express the message that "what begins as the burning of properly, literature and thought ends up with inass murder and the horrific crime we call the Shoahr
This marks the first time the community has added an extra evening to its traditional Kristalinacht observance.
Rabbi Solomon says that while both programs are distinctly different in their approach, they reflect the community's growing awareness over the years of the importance of Kristallnacht.
"We want to characterize this year as preparation for our perisonal observance and meditations on Kristallnacht," he says. "It extends the parameters and is an experimental thing."
Joining Dr. Fackenheim at the B. 1. service will be Survivors and members of the Second Generation. They will participate in a solemn candlelighting meiiibrializing the Six Million who perished in the Holocaust.
The event will also be attended by officials from all three levels of governmeiit as well a^tl^i^^^ lives of Jewish and non-Jewish gro^ Vancouver Mayor Gordon Campbeil will represent the city.
The second evening Nov; 9^t Temple Sholom — "Days of Endurance — Vpiideisipr Survival-^of poetry readings, drama, singing, classical and traditional folk music. It takes Kristalliiachta^ departure
TWO EVENTS — Page 8
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