2 — THE BULLETIN — Thursday. August 17.1989
IsraelSun
DONT LEAVE HOME without it: Israeli interior ministry woricer holds new ID card with sticker stating "the nationality and marital status of the holder may be in error" as disclaimer. Cards were issues by Interior Minister Arye Der'i after High Court ordered him to register persons converted by Conservative and Reform rabbis.
Wisconsin Jews rap paper second-hand Israel accoynt
By SHARON GIBSON MILWAUKEE — Jewish
children pick them up.
Carrier attributed these accusations to reports from leaders in Appleton, Wis., unnamed "patients and medi-have charged the Appleton cal personnel" at Jerusalem's Post-Crescent daily news- Arab-staffed Augusta Victoria hospital, which is run by the United Nations and the Lutheran World Federation.
Carrier insisted he was not anti-Semitic, but that "his criticism is directed at the Israeli
paper with acting irresponsibly by publishing secondhand accusations of alleged Israeli cruelty toward Palestinians.
The leaders complained that the article essentially was government and not at Jews."
But he also said that Israel cites the Holocaust to deflect
a free platform for the views of the Rev. John Carrier of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Neenah, Wis. Carrier was quoted after having visited Israel for a week.
Post-Crescent editor Michael Walter conceded that the interview "would have been more appropriate" as the basis for an opinion piece.
Carrier, 35, told a Post-Crescent reporter that Israeli treatment of the Palestinians "parallels the actions of Nazi Germany towards the Jews in the mid-1930s."
The pastor accused Israelis of spreading "toxic chemicals in and about transportation systems used by Palestinians," and routinely dropping "explosives resembling a Hershey candy bar" in Palestinian settlements that detonate when
criticism of its policies, and further charged that the Uni-tedvStates has "a lot of media owned by Zionistic interests who overlook the oppression."
The pastor conceded in a telephone interview with the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle that, aside from witnessing Israeli soldiers tear-gassing an Arab residence in retaliation to being showered with rocks, he had no first-hand knowledge of any of his charges.
Not all Jewish groups are happy with Oprah's apology
. By SUSAN BIRNBAUM
NEW YORK - Not all Jewish leaders are satisfied with the apology made by popular talk show host Oprah Winfrey for featuring a mentally ill guest who claimed Jews practice ritual infanticide.
Winfrey and her producers met recently in Chicago with representatives of Jewish organizations, chosen by the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, to mend fences and seek guidance to prevent potential recurrences.
After the meeting, Winfrey and her production company, Harpo Productions, made a statement of nheir own, and Jewish representatives drew up a joint statement of response to that. Later, however, the American Jewish Congress released its own statement expressing dissatisfaction with Winfrey^s apology.
'Barrel of gaffes' gets Senate nod
WASHINGTON - Ex-Nevada Republican senator Chic Hecht didn't get the warmest of receptions when his former colleagues voted on whether to confirm his nomination as ambassador to the Bahamas.
He got the job by a 78-19 vote, but only after four hours of debate and a mannerly, if stern, attack led by Florida Democrat Bob Graham, U.S.A. Today reported.
Graham, whose state is a 50-mile hop away from the Bahamas, noted that with 70 percent of America's cocaine entering through there, the U.S. ambassador plays a vital drug-fighting role.
Several newspaper editorials blasted the nomination as a solace for a Republican loyalist defeated after a single, dreary Senate term — which, according to Graham, left Hecht known more as a "barrel of gaffes" than a diplomat. For example, he once opined Nevada shouldn't be "a nuclear suppository."
Hecht has also been berated for saying he'd feel at home in the Bahamas, casinos and all, because "I've been involved in gambling in Nevada, and I've been involved in banking for 25 years" and "1 love golf, and they have a lot of nice golf courses and good fishing."
0 o •
On their way to a vacation in Hawaii, Moishe and Molly got into an argument about the correct pronunciation of Hawaii: he was sure it was Havaii, but she maintained it was Hawaii.
As soon as they got off the plane, they ran over to the first person they saw. "Hi there,- said the husband "Would you mind telling me how you pronounce the name of this island?
•'Havaii,''the mail rejjlied.
"Thank you.** said th^ husband, gloating.
"You're veIcome.*Vthe man rf
Egged beefs up security
TEL AVIV — Israeli police are planning to beef up security measures on public buses in order to prevent incidents similar to the July 6 bus crash, when a Palestinian grabbed the steering wheel and plunged the bus into a ravine.
The measures were outlined by Deputy Inspector-General Gaby Amir, who headed the committee that examined the July bus crash, in which 16 people were killed.
Among the measures Amir announced were that bus drivers will be equipped with tear gas canisters as well as fire extinguishers and special blankets to put out fires.
Also, barriers "of steel bars will be placed between the drivers and passengers, and seats near the driver will be reserved for security personnel such as soldiers and policemen who travel by bus, so that they caii intervene in any attempted attacks. JTA
LOS ANGELES — Fifty years ago, Irene Opdyke provided her Jewish friends a home in a German major's villa in Nazi-occupied Poland.
Recently, a group of Jews gave a home for her 83-year-pld husband William, who is ill with Alzheimer's disease.
The decision was merely repayment of a war debt, said Victory Village, a retirement community run by the Jewish Homes for the Aging of Greater Los Angeles. Mrs. Opdyke, a Roman Catholic, said it was a miracle.
"We violated all the rules. But there are certain times when there are no rules," said Victory Village's executive director, Sheldon Blumenthal. "This is one of those times."
Mrs. Opdyke, 68, served Nazi officers meals in a Polish ammunition factory. There, she and Jews forced into labor
formed a spy prgaiiizatioh.
When the group learned the Jews were to be killed, she helped hide 12 people for eight months in the villa.
Her own room too small for a refuge, she prayed for one. Soon, the major asked her to be his housekeeper. "It was a miracle! So I open window, ^ one by one they came," she -recalled.
Mrs. Opdyke emigrated to the U.S. in 1949. When her husband contracted Alzheimer's, she called Esther Brenner, regional coordinator of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Brenner got in touch with Victory Village.
Between visits with her husband, Mrs. Opdyke travels, telling children about the Holocaust. "I tell them to try and understand we all belong to one human family."
Kach activists run In
JERUSALEM - Police raided the Jerusalem headquarters of the Kach movement and arrested seven Kach activists involved in formation of what they call the State of Judah.
More Arabs in Galil
TEL AVIV
region
The Galilee has lost its Jewish
majority for the first time, according to Micha Goldman, Labor Knesset member and head of the Kfar Tavor local council. The ratio of Jews to Arabs in the region now stands at 95 Jews for every 100 Arabs.
Pollard says Israel abandoned him speech is old news
TEL AVIV — Charging that Israel abandoned him' after his arrest, convicted spy Jonathan Pollard now says he has doubts whether it was wise for him and his wife to risk their freedom when they spied on the United States on behalf of Israel.
In a letter to Amnon Dror, Israeli representative of the U.S.-based Committee to Free the Pollards, Pollard writes that he no longer is sure whether he wants to live in Israel when he completes his jail sentence.
The former Navy intelligence analyst was convicted of passing classified documents to the Israelis in 1986 and was sentenced to a life sentence at a maximum security prison.in Marion, 111. He is eligible for parole in 1996.
His wife, Anne, was convicted of being an accessory to her husband's crime after the fact, and is serving two concurrent five-year sentences in a separate facility.
Pollard said Israeli Embassy officials in Washington had not only refused to grant him and his wife asylum when he faced arrest, but that they even cooperated with U.S. authorities in their capture.
"The government of Israel — in no way do I mean the citizens of Israel — has betrayed Anne and me, and in
doing so, I believe, has betrayed the people of Israel," Pollard writes.
He also blames Israel for doing nothing to help bring to an end what he alleges is daily harassment of his wife, who suffers from a rare gastrointestinal disorder among other ailments.
He said she is suffering "hellish pain." JTA
Ben-Aharon touted as envoy
' TEL AVIV — Yossi Ben-Aharon is Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir's latest choice to succeed Moshe Arad as Israeli ambassador to Washington, reported^. ;
But Foreign Minister Moshe Arens is said to be unenthusiastic about appointing Ben-Aharon, who currently serves as director general of the Prime Minister's Office.
Moreover, aides to Vice-Premier Shimon Peres, who has veto power over top ambassadorial appointments, say he is opposed to having Ben-Aharon serve in the high-profile post.
Peres vetoed Shamir's previous choice for the position, Ehud Olmert, a Likud minister without portfolio in the Cabinet.
IDF/Israel Sun
Am FORCE DAY Was cotebreSed in tsrael to^ SGrtaJ display In one off basse, top: Hsiicopters swoop ovsr various planes. Bottom: Gfaduatos off IDF's iinti-alrcraft school show parontis their skills at ceremony. Missile is seen ffew tenths off second after fflrlng.
TEL AVIV — A tiny mouth bone that was discovered in excavations at the Kabra caves on the Carmel coast has convinced scientists that prehistoric man, unlike the monkey, was able to talk, according to Tel Aviv University professor Baruch Ernsburg, member of an international research team working at the excavation site.
Vichy policeman dies at 79
PARIS — Jean Leguay, a Vichy regime police official believed responsible for rounding up Jewish children for deportation to Nazi death camps, died of liver cancer at 79.
Although his collaboration with the Nazis was notorious, Leguay managed to evade justice and had a successful business career in France and the United States after World War II.
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Rome police seize Nazi banners
ROME — Police raids on homes and hangouts of far right-wing soccer fans netted a quantity of Nazi banners and insignia, along with pistols, knives and other weapons.
About 30 raids were mounted on the eve of a big match between Lazio, one of Rome's main soccer teams, and* Ascoli,
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Public Enemy numbers none
NEW YORK
Public
Enemy, the rap group mired in controversy by one of its members' anti-Semitic statements, has apparently broken up. The group's publicist. Bill Adler, said Public Enemy leader Chuck D contacted him and told him the band would no longer be recording together.
Earlier, Chuck D told a press conference that group member Professor Griff was no longer in Public Enemy. Griff came under harsh criticism after making virulently anti-Semitic remarks in a newspaper interview.
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