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Friday July 20, 2001

U.S. Report

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Daniel Kurtzer was sworn in as U.S. ambassador to Israel this week.

Afterward, he told an audience of diplomats that addressing the Middle East conflict is like walking a tightrope between treating cancer patients and searching for a cure for the illness, sources at the closed-door session said.

A former ambassador to Egypt, Kurtzer also told the small audience of Jewish leaders that he likes to handle issues without speaking to the media.

Kurtzer also encouraged American Jewish leaders to maintain contact with the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv.

Reform support rights for same-sex couples

WASHINGTON -- The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism railed against a proposal made by several conservative groups to amend the U.S. Constitution that seeks to define marriage as only the union between a man and a woman.

Mark J. Pelavin, the RAC's associate director, said the Federal Marriage Amendment "would defile the Constitution, enshrining homophobia and intolerance in a document which protects the rights of all Americans."

Meanwhile a fervently religious group used the opportunity to attack the RAC's inclusion of gay men and lesbians.

David Zwiebel, Agudath Israel's executive vice president, called the RAC's position "yet another sad example of how far the Reform movement has distanced itself from the faith of our fathers."

-- From our wire services

Racist trying to rock to anti-Semitic tunes

NEW YORK (JTA) -- A white separatist is trying to attract young supporters with a South Carolina-based record label specializing in racist and anti-Semitic rock.

William Pierce, 67, leader of the National Alliance and author of the 1978 racist novel "The Turner Diaries," says his Resistance Records label is "the soundtrack for white revolution."

The Anti-Defamation League estimates that Resistance Records receives 50 orders a day averaging $70 each.

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