2 — THE BULLETIN — Thursday, March 21,1991
Persian Gulf war gave Israel Mideast 'edge,' Cheney says
■ Israel Sun
LIFE GOES ON in Israel: although his house was hit by Scud, man continues to pray amid ruins. Home was later razed to ground by. local authorities.
Jjfpan makes gesture te Isreel
;:: JE;RUSiiI^EM.—^ Jap^n has sent a mjsjssage of sym* -pathy to Israeli ^ctimS;Of Iraqi missile attacks, and has promised to improve its relations with Israel. ^ .1
The message was delivered here by Japanese deputy foreign minister HisashiOwada, who was on a brief official visit, a rare occurrence given the cool relations between the two countries.
The visit came at a time when officials here felt slighted by Tokyo*s failure to include Israel on a list of countries affected by the war to which it plans to offer substantial V flnancialaid. The Japanese official explained the aid was i f^r^^lopingCQuntrieSi and Israel is regarded as a deve-ilQp^iJouotffy'and.therefore not entitled to it.
Israeli foreign minister David Levy told his guest that Israel expects an end to Japanese compliance, on both the govemmeiital and private levels, with the Arab economic boycott against Israel.
In part because of Japan*s heavy dependence on Arab oil, Tokyo has been reluctant to challenge the Arab boy-cott.^\s a result, several leading Japanese corporations, including major car manufacturers, refuse to sell their products to Israel. jta
By DAVIDFRIEDMAN
WASHINGTON - IsraePs military superiority over its Arab neighbors, has, been increasedrgreatly by the destruction ' of lraq*s - offensive military capability; United States defence-secretary Dick Cheney told a largely Jewish audience here.
The U.S. remains committed not only to Israel's security, but also to maintaining its qualitative military edge, Cheney told the national leadership assembly of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
It is ''important to recognize that the threat to Israel has heen substantially** decreased by the successful outcome of the Persian Gulf \yar, Cheney saidi*israers qualitative edge, hasi, accoidingly, increased substantially.**
As a result of the Gulf crisis, said Cheney, U.S.-Israel relations are ''as close as they have ever been.** He explained that
the relationship ' that previously existed, and the experience of strategic cooperation, had made it easier, for Israel and the U.S. to work togetlier and move quickly to meet the threat posed to Israel by Scud missiles;
But Cheney also pointed out that, without the longstanding American defence relationship with Saudi Ara- -bia, the U.S. would not have been able to mount the large force in the Gulf iieeded to drive Iraqi president Saddam H ussein*s army out.of Kuwait.
He noted that more than 25 percent of military sales .to Saudi Arabia had been to build bases and infrastructure which was used by the U.S. and other coalition forces in the Gulf War. These bases 'Mo not threaten Israel or any other country,** he said.
Referring to years of opposition to Saudi arms sales from the Conference of Presir dents, Cheney said, *?No one can say now, as some have
Jewish communities memoriaiized
' NEW YORk — More than 5,000 European Jewish communities that were destroyed in the 'Holocaust will be remembered' by Jerusalem*s Yad Vashem Holocaust Mem-
Foundation, dedicated to supporting lemnants of; Eastr em European Jewry. . .
The Kartens were cited for their **dedication and outr
over the years, that Saudi Arabia has no one it.needs to defend**against. Hiscomment may have been an early, attempt to head oiff a fight overa $ 14 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia that the adminr istration of U.S. president George Bush is expected to propose later this year;
Some 200 people attended the day-long leadership as-semblyat George Washington university to express appreciation for the administration*s -leadership in the Gulf crisis^ pride in U.S. troops, and solidarity with Israel, said Conference of Presidents
chairman ShoshanaCardin. Arab states seeking peace
must agree to open negotiations with Israel without preconditions, Israeli foreign minister David Levy said in a message he sent to the assembly. **Withih this framework, the Palestinian issue will be addressed, and, together with the residents of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, an appropriate resolution will be found,** said the message.
Likewise, Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Shamir, in a phone call to the conference, said that Israel is ready to talk with any Arab country about peace without preconditions.
believe that the events of the past six months have given even greater validity to our peace plan of May 1988," he added. .^re.<
standing leadership on behalf orial with the inscription of of YadVashem programs.^ names engraved on stones of Both wej-e ghetto fighters who the rough-hewn buildings that fought tbe Nazis. jta
will constitute the Valley of i-^ ■ - • • • r^M.a^» 'V.^'
Destroyed Jewish Communi- OfGt pOWOBf SBnt tO EtulOplB
The project, begun in 1983, will be completed in the spring of 1992, International Society of Yad Vashem chairman Eli Zborowski told 1,000 guests
as food for Jewish children
NEW YORK — A high-protein food supplement widely used in weight-reduc-
Israeli Arab militants^auiich^^
party to oppose Soviet ahyah at the society*s annual dinner tion programs is being sent to ^ f^f^ u^-^ Ethiopia to enrich the meagre
diets of an estimated 12,000 Jewish children waiting with their parents to emigrate.
About 48,000 portions of Slim-Fast, a chocolate-flavored, water-soluble powder, has been donated by the manufacturer, the Thompson Medical Co., it was announced here by Barbara Ribakove Gordon, national director of the North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry.
''Although Slim-Fast is best known for its use in weight-reduction diets, the food is very nutritious, and contains a substantial percentage of the required protein, vitamins
MUSMOUS — Thirteen prominent Israeli Arab militants have met here to launch a hew political party that will oppose Soviet Jewish immigration to Israel.
.Known as the Socialist NJational Front, the party elected veteran militant Man^ sour Kardoush as its fu-st chairman. Kardoush called
Soviets can get kits for
NEW YORK — The Jewish Education Service of North America has made available Russian-language Jewish holiday kits for Soviet Jewish immigrants.
The first kit, now availablcv is centred around Passover. The kit includes two videotapes, several audio tapes, a Haggada, comprehensive informational booklets, a board gamev puzzle, songbooks, childreii*s books, and posters of^Israel.
One video shows a Soviet family in Israel, reenacting a seder. The other is a mock ne'wsreel of the Exodus^ from ^ypt. ^ jta
the formation of the new party "a strategy for the Arab nation;** and said one of its primary concerns would be the influx of Soviet Jews. "We are the victims, because this immigration threatens our saifety aiid existence on our own land,** he declared.
Another plank in the new party*s platform will oppose any attempt to oblige Israeli Arabs to perform some sort of national service, since they do not serve in the Israeli army. A number of prominent Israelis have endorsed the "national service** idea in recent months.
Stressing ^lue fact tha| the party is socialist in its outlook, Kardoush said that "the wealth of Arabs must be distributed fairly and equally among all the Arab population — it must not be spent only on sheikh*s pleasures, directed by President Bush from thousands of miles away instead of by the 200 million Arabs here.**
The "new party's co-chairman is SalehBaransi, former leader of the AI Ard movement^ which was outlawed in 1964 because it opposed IsraePs existence. in a
here.
"Yad Vashem, the Jewish people*s central memorial to the Holocaust, is the only place in the world where the names of Jewish communities large and small, representing 1,000 years of flourishing Jewish life before the Nazi onslaught, are commemorated,** he said.
The dinner honored Ronald Lauder, former American ambassador to Austria, and Julia and Isidore Karten for their activities on behalf of Yad Vashem projects. Lauder, a director of the sdciety*s board of governors, established the Ronald is. Lauder
and. minerals,** Gordon said, adding, "It is also kosher.**
The powder will be shipped to Ethiopia and distributed there by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Commits tee, which maintains a medical and health program for Jews in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, Gordon said.
"We expect this food supplement to make a significant difference in protecting the health of the children who, together with their parents, are forced to live in terrible, makeshift housing in the slums in Addis Ababa,** she said. She thanked Dr. Edward Steinberg of Thompson Medical for "his concern and involvement in making this food available.** jta
Knifing nets 20 years
JERUSALEM^ A GazT resident who stabbed orchard-i^ Avraham Sapir last October to deflect suspicions thathe wascoUaborating with Israeli authorities has been sentenced to 20 years for attempted murder. The three-judge panel said acts such as those committed by Abdel Habib Abdullah, 24, are done by those who do not value human life.
Six Druse suspepted
JERUSALEM — Six residents of Majdal Shams, a Golan Heights Druse village, have been arrested on suspicion of helping organize local anti-Israel demonstrations, and throwing stones at civilians and security forces.
Israel hits targets
TEL AVIV The Israeli air force attacked what were called "vehicle depots of terrorist organizations** north of the Zaharani river in southern Lebanon, said an Israel Defence Force spokesman.
Former mayor dead
JERUSALEM — Morde-chai Ish-Shalom, mayor of Jerusalem from 19S9 to 1965, has died at 90. A Jewish labor xgtipneer, Ish-Shalom, who ^^sr responsible for building many Jerusalem landmarks, worked in a Jerusalem-area quarry for more than a decade.
A luiptiy thing happened .••
Scenei Two haberdashers at lunch.
Manny:**! rtiiisf be the wqdd*$ greatest salesman! Last week, agliy c^inc! iitttomyshopjust for a pair of shoelaces. By the time he wall^ed out, .1 talked him into buying a vest, shirt and tie,
Moc^ ^BK that's nothing.*
Manny; •*That> ntffftingr;^
Moc: "The other dfi^\4,^iAow came into my shop lopKiiig for a suit to bury her late tuiSh^din. By the time I got finished; with heri^l talked lier into buying an extra pair of pantsr
^swiAppeal
ULPAN CLASS gives Soviet Jewish newcomers to Israel headstart on Hebrew language; Israeli housirtgmihisitor Ariel Sharon resigned last week asoharrman of cablne
arid absorption, acousing industry and trade ministry—which he had formerly headed ~ Of talHnfif to create moffo Jobs for immlgranti.^
Tennis tourney moved amid fears
PARIS ^ The French Teiinis Association has shifted the Franco-Israeli Davis Cup match away from Marseilles at Israers insistence after the Israelis complained that their team faced security risks because of the Mediterranean city*s large Moslem population.
The Israeli request had raised the hackles of city authorities^ who underscored the city's equally large Jewish population, and the longtime rapport that existed between the two communities. But conceding the point, the French moved next month's match to Rennes.
♦ * *
LePen fined for gas*Giiamber slur
PARIS — A French court has imposed a $2,300 fine on— Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the extreme right-wing National Front, for insults he made in Septeniber 1988 abouta member of the French government which included a slur on gas chambers.
The court, in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre. imposed the fine for remarks Le Pen made in which he mockingly used the last name of Michel Durafour in conjunction with the wordv*crematoire." which means crematorium, or gas chamber. The word •*four** in French means oven.