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Friday May 25, 2007

Shorts: U.S.

Jews’ opinions vary on immigration bill

Jewish groups had mixed reactions to an immigration reform plan that would grant earned legalization to immigrants contributing to American society. The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society said the proposed legislation “represents a step in the right direction,” but also worried that its provisions fall short of comprehensive reform.

Gideon Aronoff, the HIAS president, expressed concern about deemphasizing family reunification in favor of a point system based on skills and fluency in English.

Jewish Funds for Justice applauded the proposed legislation for “the inclusion of a provision for a path to citizenship.” The Anti-Defamation League welcomed the package, saying it provides an opportunity to advance the vital cause of keeping our nation both welcoming and secure by seeking to address the problems that have led many to circumvent U.S. immigration law. — jta

U.S. ambassador regrets Pollard comments

The U.S. ambassador to Israel voiced regret after speaking harshly about Jonathan Pollard.

Richard Jones said Monday, May 21, that Pollard, a U.S. Navy analyst who in 1985 was sentenced to life in prison for passing military secrets to Israel, had “sold out his country” for money and was fortunate not to have been executed. He also said it is unlikely that Pollard will ever be released.

The comments sparked furor in Israel, where many consider Pollard a hero, prompting Jones to issue a statement of clarification the following day. The statement said his remarks had been “misinformed and misleading,” and did not reflect U.S. policy. — jta

U.N. won’t name JNF access to panel

The United Nations has decided not to grant the Jewish National Fund access to its Economic and Social Council now extended to more than 2,800 nongovernmental organizations.

By a vote of eight to seven (the nations opposed included Egypt, Qatar and Sudan) with three abstentions, the U.N. Committee on Non-Governmental Organization rejected the JNF’s application last week. “The bottom line is Palestine versus Israel and Israel’s right to exist,” said Joseph Hess, JNF national vice president for government relations. “The eight countries who voted against us weren’t voting against the significance of our work. It was all about politics.”

A representative of the Palestine Observer Mission said the JNF had not provided proof that it was not active in the “Palestinian territories.” Together with the Syrian delegation, the mission had lobbied the committee to reject the JNF application. — jps

Survivor group opposes Singer

The American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendants will not support the re-election of Israel Singer as Claims Conference president. The decision makes the American Gathering the third of the conference’s 24 member organizations to take a public position on Singer, who was fired from the World Jewish Congress in March after years of allegations of financial mismanagement. The other two are Agudath Israel World Organization, which is supporting Singer, and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry Inc., which opposes him. — jta

Anne Frank memorial hit by vandals

Vandals toppled and damaged a bronze statue of Holocaust victim Anne Frank in Boise, Idaho, two months after the memorial was plastered with neo-Nazi stickers.

Damage to the 226-kilogram statue of the girl, whose diary of hiding from the Nazis during World War II made her a human rights heroine, included a broken finger and scrapes on the head. The life-sized memorial depicts Anne Frank seated in a chair just south of downtown. Vandals uprooted the chair, sending the entire sculpture crashing to the ground. — ap

Kucinich backs funding for Palestinians

The United States should fund the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich said.

Kucinich, a U.S. congressman from Ohio, blamed U.S. and international policy isolating the Palestinian Authority as long as it is governed by Hamas, a terrorist group, for the factional violence now ravaging the Gaza Strip. “As a result of the suspension of international aid, the number of Palestinians living in deep poverty, defined as those living on less than 50 cents a day, nearly doubled to more than 1 million people, according to the United Nations Relief Works Agency,” he said.— jta

GOP hopeful’s slur against Israel surfaces

A Texas congressman vying for the Republican presidential candidacy reportedly once described Israel’s government as the most powerful “bad” lobby in Washington.

“By far the most powerful lobby in Washington of the bad sort is the Israeli government,” Ron Paul wrote in a 1992 newsletter to constituents and quoted in a 1996 article in the Houston Chronicle. Paul also said Zionists stifle criticism, the Chronicle reported. Paul, the only Republican candidate who opposes the Iraq war, is a marginal candidate. His quotes about Israel, as well as unsavory comments about blacks and crime, are resurfacing on blogs. — jta

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