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Friday September 5, 2008

Shorts: U.S.

Palin impresses pro-Israel lobbyists

Sarah Palin met this week with pro-Israel lobbyists to express her support for U.S.-Israel ties.

Palin, the Alaska governor who was tapped last week by Sen. John McCain to be his vice presidential running mate, met for 45 minutes Sept. 2 in the Minneapolis area with several leaders of AIPAC. Also in attendance at the AIPAC meeting was Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.), the McCain campaign’s most prominent Jewish backer.

“We had a good, productive discussion on the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship, and we were pleased that Gov. Palin expressed her deep, personal and lifelong commitment to the safety and well-being of Israel,” the group’s spokesman, Josh Block, said in a statement. — jta

McCain seeks Chabad support

Sen. John McCain appealed to the Chabad-Lubavitch movement to support his presidential run.

McCain made the appeal in a conference call last week with 40 of the movement’s rabbis, according to Shmais.com, which reports on news and activities within the Chabad-Lubavitch community.

As a tax-exempt nonprofit, Chabad-Lubavitch is forbidden from endorsing candidates, a status that the Shmais report stressed. — jta

Biden touts Obama to Florida seniors

Joe Biden tried to reassure older Florida Jews that Barack Obama would be strong on Israel.

Biden, the Democratic nominee for vice president, was introduced by a Holocaust survivor at a speech before several hundred at a retirement community in Broward County.

“By any objective fact, Israel is less secure today in the world than it was eight years ago,” Biden said. “I promise you … we will make it more secure.”

Biden also urged his audience to ignore Internet rumors that Obama is secretly a Muslim, calling the rumors “scurrilous.” — jta

Group launches Gulf Coast relief programs

The Jewish Funds for Justice is collecting donations to help with the Hurricane Gustav relief and recovery effort.

Donations will support community investment and volunteer services in the areas most impacted by the storm, which struck the Gulf Coast nearly three years after Hurricane Katrina devastated it.

Last week the foundation launched the 8th Degree, the first person-to-person microloan program in the United States. It will partner contributors nationwide with small business owners along the Gulf.

More information is available at www.jewishjustice.org. — jta

ZOA gets Google to remove material

The Zionist Organization of America applauded Google for removing from its Google Earth service what the group deemed objectionable material about Israel.

In a letter to the Mountain View–based company in July, ZOA said Google Earth, a popular service that provides detailed geographic information, was hosting “false and demonizing political propaganda about Jews and Israel.”

Users who searched for Israel or the West Bank, the ZOA said, were provided with information posted by pro-Palestinian users that appeared to be endorsed by Google. — jta

URJ appoints first female VP

The Union for Reform Judaism has named its first female vice president.

The appointment of Minnesota Rabbi Stacy Offner was announced last week. The liberal Union for Reform Judaism, led by Rabbi Eric Yoffie, represents more than 900 congregations in the United States and Canada.

Offner is the founding rabbi emeritus of Shir Tikvah Congregation, which was established in 1988 in St. Paul and Minneapolis. She taught Jewish ethics at Hamline University in St. Paul and was the first rabbi to serve as chaplain of the Minnesota State Senate. — ap

Spy testimony to be released

A U.S district judge ordered the release of secret grand jury testimony in the atomic spy trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

Judge Alvin Hellerstein ruled last week that testimony taken in 1950 and 1952 should be released. The witnesses who gave the testimony are still alive but have not consented to the release or could not be located.

The Rosenbergs, who were convicted of passing nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union, were executed in 1953. It has been proven that Julius Rosenberg was a spy, but there has been considerable debate over the conviction of Ethel Rosenberg. — jta

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