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Friday June 29, 2007

Shorts: U.S.

Lantos: Bring Israel into NATO

The chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee called for Israel’s inclusion in NATO.

Rep. Tom Lantos (D-San Mateo) made his remarks in a June 22 hearing, calling on NATO to consider expanding its borders beyond Europe and North Africa. “Why not allow firmly democratic nations, such as South Korea, New Zealand, Australia and Israel, to join the world’s greatest military alliance?” Lantos asked. — jta

Vonage sued for discrimination

The United States is suing Internet phone service provider Vonage for religious discrimination against an Orthodox Jew. In a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Newark, N.J., Vonage is charged with preventing employee Mikhail Rozenberg from participating in mandatory training because he had missed work in the fall of 2005 for the Jewish holidays.

The suit alleges the company refused to give Rozenberg positions he was qualified for. The company’s management is accused of telling him, “You will not fit here.”

“This is an egregious case of religious discrimination,” said Spencer Lewis Jr., director of the EEOC’s New York office. — jta

Gift to aid Holocaust search

A $1 million gift to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum will help survivors and victims’ families access an extensive database on 17.5 million people.

The donation by Norman and Irma Braman of Florida will assist the Washington museum in opening and disseminating information from the International Tracing Service in Bad Arolsen, Germany. The Bramans’ gift will expedite the museum’s process of allowing survivors and families to view the documents at the museum and online.

The museum must develop software to make the 50 million recently transferred documents searchable, upgrade its hardware to support the files and train staff to search its contents. — jta

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