Countdown

Jewish Funds Underwrite Illegal Settlement Activity

Volume III, No. 25
Posted on Friday June 21, 2002

Clinton Questions Priority of Targeting Iraqi Regime

In a Council on Foreign Relations speech, ex-President William Clinton questioned the timing of the Bush administration’s efforts to gain support for military efforts to topple Saddam Hussein. “Another far more important factor behind the vote [at the Arab Summit opposing an invasion of Iraq] is that [Arab countries] thought the United States was, like, on another planet coming to them to talk about attacking Saddam Hussein when we were not involved in the Middle East peace process at the time and had no operative peace process going. They thought our priorities were not in order…What you have to ask yourself is, in what order do we have to deal with this? He has no missiles to put war heads on that would reach us…Let’s make the most intense possible effort to build a legitimate peace process and have a diminishing of the violence in the Middle East…and do whatever we do with as much of a coalition as possible, and not unilaterally. Without giving up the right to take unilateral action…”

Jewish Funds Underwrite Illegal Settlement Activity

United Jewish Communities, the successor to the United Jewish Appeal, has decided their funds can be provided to Jews living in settlements in the Palestinian territories. Reversing a 35-year-old policy, the group justified the move as a response to increased violence against Israelis. Stephen Hoffman, UJC President, said the money would go to individuals, not entities. On another front, the World Zionist Organization inaugurated an initiative to transplant entire Jewish communities from the Diaspora to settlements in Palestinian territories. WZO leadership emphasized that each community targeted for transplant was free to choose where it wished to settle. WZO funds do not come directly from the American federations, but it continues to receive large contributions from individuals in the States who support the settlements policy.

Immigration News – Setting Priorities

Under pressure from the tourism industry, including Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, James Ziglar, INS Commissioner, agreed to meet with industry members to address their concerns, pending White House approval. Tourism proponents are unhappy with the proposal to eliminate the automatic six-month stay granted to international visitors. In a House subcommittee on Immigration hearing, members disagreed on the priorities for INS enforcement. Chair George Gekas (R-PA) said that the focus on domestic security concerns ignores the more than 300,000 “absconders” who are avoiding deportation orders and the millions of other illegal aliens. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) disagreed, saying the INS should not use its limited resources in efforts aimed at illegal immigrants: “To turn this need to go after terrorists into a need to oust those who pick our vegetables would be a real disservice.” Meanwhile, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved legislation that could permit more than 50,000 undocumented high school students to avoid deportation and go to college in the U.S., and asks the Attorney General to stop deportation and classify the students as permanent legal residents. Among other criteria, the student would have to qualify as someone of good moral character. No mention of the AG’s role in defining “good moral character.”

Heard Around Town…

Ad by prominent Palestinians: “Suicide bombings deepen the hatred and widen the gap between the Palestinian and Israeli people. Also, they destroy the possibilities of peaceful co-existence between them in two neighboring states.”

Professor August Richard Norton, expert on Hizbullah, on fallout from a US-backed Israeli attack on Hizbullah in Lebanon: “Yet another brilliant move in America’s charm campaign vis-à-vis the Muslim world. I have no doubt that there are voices in the Pentagon these days calling for unilateral US action, but, for now at least, adult supervision prevails.”

From an email petition against Alan Keyes leaving MSNBC: “This is a major setback for Israel. Everybody needs to write. This is especially important for you with Christian surnames to write in. Tell them… if they follow through…you will switch completely to Fox News!” Keyes, however, will be out, having refused a shift to an afternoon slot.

Bishop Desmond Tutu: “Israel will never get true security and safety through oppressing another people. A true peace can ultimately be built only on justice. We condemn the violence of suicide bombers, and we condemn the corruption of young minds taught hatred; but we also condemn the violence of military incursions in the occupied lands, and the inhumanity that won’t let ambulances reach the injured.”