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Friday August 6, 1999

U.S. Report

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Citing the need to take forceful action against hate violence, black and Jewish members of Congress are calling for passage of legislation to strengthen federal law on hate crimes.

An array of black and Jewish groups joined more than a dozen lawmakers, led by Reps. Benjamin Gilman (R-N.Y.) and Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), at a Capitol Hill news conference last week.

They said the fire-bombings of the three synagogues in Sacrament and the shooting spree in Illinois and Indiana underscore the need for the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, approved by the Senate last month.

Lawyers charged in probe of rabbis

NEW YORK (JTA) -- Two lawyers were among those charged last month with conspiring to intimidate a witness in a widening incest-rape case involving two rabbis in Brooklyn.

George Meissner and Richard Finkel previously represented Rabbi Bernard Freilich, who is accused of attempting to prevent a woman from testifying that her father repeatedly raped her when she was a child. Freilich and Rabbi Pinchas Shor pleaded not guilty to separate charges last month.

Clinton won't address U.N. on Yom Kippur

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- U.S. Jewish leaders are applauding President Clinton's decision not to address the opening ceremony of the U.N. General Assembly because it falls on Sept. 20, Yom Kippur.

"The president acted in consonance with America's highest ideals, which call for respect of all our citizens and their beliefs," the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations announced this week.

Lycos removes ad from Jews for Jesus

NEW YORK (JTA) -- The Lycos Web site has removed an ad placed by Jews for Jesus that appeared on the search engine page dealing with Jewish issues.

B'nai Brith Canada welcomed the decision, saying Jews for Jesus had "abused the credentials of a reputable company such as Lycos in order to give legitimacy to propaganda and indoctrination."

Warning on Hitler was ignored by U.S.

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- The U.S. State Department failed to act after it was warned in 1940 that Hitler had approved exterminating thousands of physically and mentally ill Germans, according to papers found by the L.A.-based Simon Wiesenthal Center.

Had the United States protested, "it may have given Hitler second thoughts about his Final Solution against the Jews," Rabbi Marvin Hier, the center's founder, said last week.

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