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THG BOSTON .otj w: TIMGS" ifiPn'/e f/ie vw/on a�c? make (t .plain upon tables JHABIIKKUK 2:2 , SJ TELEPHONE (617) 442-9681* � FEBRUARY 21, 1991 - VOX. XLV1, NO. 12 !b j ADAR 5751 Barney Frank Prods President On Aid To Israel By Susan Bloch BOSTON - Upset with Secretary of State James A. Baker's sharp rebuke of Israel' Ambassador Zalman Shoval, and concerned that the Congressionally-mandated $400 million loan guarantee to Israel has not. yet been implemented, "Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank has written a letter to President Bush expressing his displeasure and is circulating it in the U.S. House of Representatives, seeking additional signatures. (See full text of letter on page 11). Mr. Baker, in a display of temper rarely visited on allies, summoned Israel's Ambassador to the State Department last week and. according to reports, sharply criticized Mr. Shoval for remarks expressed in an interview with Reuters. "I've never heard of such a tantrum," said Congressman Frank. "I think the Administra- tion is upset because they are trying to undo what Congress did and didn't want to get caught at it. Congress voted the loan guarantee and the Administra- tion is holding it up. The Israelis have been pretty forthcoming. I think the Administration got so angry because they feel vulnerable." The Shoval rebuke is only the latest sign of American displeasure with Israel. There have been reports that a conversation between Finance Minister Yitzhak Modai and Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger was deliberately misconstrued and leaked. Informed sources state that Mr. Baker also worked over Defense Minister Moshe Arens very harshly in a recent visit. The source of Mr. Baker's "tantrum," was Mr. Shoval's remark: "We sometimes feel we are being given the runaround, although to the best of my understanding Israel has fully complied with the requests that were raised in this connection by the United States government." Last year, Israel had asked the United States government, not for funds, but to guarantee a $400 million loan to help resettle the wave of Russian immigrants. The large influx of Soviet Jews into Israel can be traced, in part, to the U.S. government's decision to limit Soviet Jewish immigration to the United States at 50,000 a year. That restriction, coupled with a growing rise in anti-Semitism in the Soviet Representative Barney Frank Union, has spurred large numbers of Soviet Jews to leave by any means possible, and to emigrate to Israel, which accepts them without restrictions. Last April, Congress approved the 1990 Supplemen- tal Appropriations bill, known as the "Dire Emergency Bill." It contained the $400 million loan guarantee, as well as $5 million in direct assistance for resettlement. The bill was signed into law immediately by President Bush. The appropriation contained the proviso that the money would be used for resettlement projects within the "Green Line," Israel's pre-1967 borders. Last fall, when Mr. Baker met with Israel's Foreign Minister David Levy, a memorandum was drafted which restated the State Department's restrictions, and Israel's agreement to them. The State Department also requested detailed information on Israel's budgetary outlays in the occupied territories, with an eye to monitoring new settlement activity. In testimony before Congress i two weeks ago, the Secretary of State said that Israel has not provided the U.S. with the additional information requested. Israel, according to Ambassador Shoval, feels all the information has been forward- ed. The Israeli Embassy released a formal statement after the Shoval-Baker meeting: "The Ambassador explained (to Mr. Baker) that some of the (Reuters) comments were taken out of context, although he said that there is indeed embarrass- ment and wonder in Israel concerning the recurring delays in giving the guarantees. It is known that Israel has given all the answers it was requested to give." The loan guarantee issue appears to be the pretext for deeper disagreement between the two countries. Reportedly, Mr. Baker was incensed with another part of Mr. Shoval's interview in which Israel sought increased aid. "Not being part of the coalition...we have not received one cent of aid in spite of the fact that we have had immense direct military costs...not to mention even the indirect economic costs...We demand that these needs and necessities be addressed as swiftly as possible." When President Bush forged the anti-Iraq coalition, the United States asked Israel to remain in the background, despite the fact that Saddam Hussein had threatened to "incinerate half the country. In the weeks before the war, Israel was urged not to act in a pre- emptive manner and was assured that the U.S would cover Israel in the event of attack. In the first days of the war, after Tel Aviv came under Scud attacks, the U.S. transferred Patriot missile batteries and American crews to Israel to defend the country. They have been successful, but several See Frank page 11 A Journey From The Land Of Glasnost To The Land Of Gas Masks By Glenn Richter "You'll need bitachon (trust)," the travel agent said when I expressed concern about a very tight Aeroflot-El Al connection in Budapest. As it turned out, the bitachon was more evident within the Jews of Russia whom my colleague, Henry Gerber and I encountered in a USSR-Israel journey on behalf of the Student Struggel for Soviet Jewry. There, the extraordinary became surrealistically normal. Many memories remain, but some stand out as significant symbols. ? The opening of the second annual conference of the Vaad, the umbrellla body of nealy 100 Jewish communities and another 100 Jewish organiza- tions across the USSR. There had been a debate whether to mention the Red Army's 'crushing tank roll into Lithuania, then Latvia. Presidium co-chair Yosef Zissels of Chernovtsy wanted the gathering postponed in protest.' Some American guests advised silence. But in an act of courage given the chill air now emanating from the Kremlin, co-chair Mikhail Chlenov, the venerable linguist who was Natan Sharansky's Hebrew teacher, bids us rise for a moment of silence for the martyred' nationalists. ? Heraldic-like shields with the names of 96 participating Jewish communities span the width of the balcony. Aroundus are delegates from Frunze and Tomsk in the far east, Tbilisi in the proud Caucasus, Dnepro- petrovsk in the historic Ukraine. A handsome Central Asian Jew wears a stunning purple robe brocaded with gold. My friend Yomtov, a Tat Jew from Pyatigorsk, is back again, but the middle-aged couple from Perm, known for its notorious labor camp, are not; perhaps they've gone on aliyah. Leningrad's Open Jewish University, a dream fulfilled for its creator Eliyahu Dworkin, displays pictures of former synagogues and Jewish cemeteries its members have discovered and lovingly cleaned in the Ukraine and Byelorussia. But when these young men and women leave, who will carry on their work? ? The main Arkhipova Street Synagogue is a beehive of activity in the morning after the minyan. Parents shepherd elementary-age children to the Jewish day school now in its second year. Its growth, spilling from the women's gallery now to the synagogue's main floor, is testament to the tender nurturing of its Chabad organizers. ? The work of the Vaad's Committee on Repatriation takes up much of an afternoon session. They discuss the nuts and bolts of a more systemic evacuation of Soviet Jews to Israel. One participant rises to report that local authorities are forbidding his community from leaving with its religious ritual 'terns. Outside, Moscovites are lined up in front of banks, frantically trying to change suddenly worthless 50 and 100 ruble notes. "Gorbachev reform," a young man sneers to us. It's clear this is yet another body blow to Soviet society which may search for scapegoats. ? Rumors and fragments of stories whirl around. An elderly Jew from Vitebsk, home of Marc Chagall, relates in Yiddish his single-handed attempt to build a synagogue. A demonstration outside the Kremlin against the Baltic incursion attracted 800,000 Soviet citizens. No, a foreign correspondent says, it was 100,000- No matter. I remember how lonely it was when six of us from SSSJ demonstrated in Red Square less than three years ago. Ben- Gurion Airport has just been Scudded comes an authoritative report. The story proves false. 1 mutter curses at Pan Am which made Henry and I ship our shortwave radios separately on "security" grounds, only to have them disappear. ? A group of us, holding our American, British and Canadian passports, brush by fur-hatted policemen to enter the Israeli tConsulate on Bolshaya_Ordinka. Street. In his white-painted office, graced by an Israeli flag and menorah, Consul-General Aryeh Levin succinctly paints the picture of Russian aliyah. As many as 1,000 Jews entering the building daily, mostly to pick up Israeli travel papers which will allow them to make their final visit to OVIR, the Soviet emigration office. Only 10 Israelis are permitted to work at the consulate, which functions as an embassy. Their work is a model of efficieny. No tea-toting Tel Avivian bureaucrats here. Despite the cold morning, hundreds of bundled-up Jews are lined up outside. Hawkers of Hebrew-language primers and maps of Israel work the crowd. To them, the uncertainty of a life ahead in Israel is preferable to the disintegration of Soviet politics, economy and society. Finally, a rumor proves that proves true. Henry hears that the first commercial El Al flight from Moscow to Tel Aviv is to begin that night. It's been held up over a year by Kremlin officialdom. Henry connects with the Israeli consulate and is told there's a 50 percent chance we can get on. See Myth page 10
Object Description
Title | The Jewish Times |
Alternative Title |
Boston Jewish Times The Jewish Weekly Times |
Publication Date | 1991-02-21 |
Publisher | Grand Rabbi Y.A. Korff |
Volume | 46 |
Number | 12 |
Frequency | Weekly |
Spatial Coverage |
Allston Brighton Brookline |
Subjects |
Newspapers--local editions Jewish newspapers--new england |
Language | English |
Access | Open access |
Rights | User has an obligation to determine copyright or other use restrictions prior to publication or distribution. Please contact the archives at reference@ajhsboston.org or 617-226-1245 for more information. |
Source | American Jewish Historical Society-New England Archives, New England Historic Genealogical Society |
File Format | jpeg |
Description
Title | The Jewish Times |
Alternative Title |
Boston Jewish Times The Jewish Weekly Times |
Publication Date | 1991-02-21 |
Volume | 46 |
Number | 12 |
Access | Open access |
Source | American Jewish Historical Society-New England Archives, New England Historic Genealogical Society |
Page Number | 1 |
Transcript | THG BOSTON .otj w: TIMGS" ifiPn'/e f/ie vw/on a�c? make (t .plain upon tables JHABIIKKUK 2:2 , SJ TELEPHONE (617) 442-9681* � FEBRUARY 21, 1991 - VOX. XLV1, NO. 12 !b j ADAR 5751 Barney Frank Prods President On Aid To Israel By Susan Bloch BOSTON - Upset with Secretary of State James A. Baker's sharp rebuke of Israel' Ambassador Zalman Shoval, and concerned that the Congressionally-mandated $400 million loan guarantee to Israel has not. yet been implemented, "Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank has written a letter to President Bush expressing his displeasure and is circulating it in the U.S. House of Representatives, seeking additional signatures. (See full text of letter on page 11). Mr. Baker, in a display of temper rarely visited on allies, summoned Israel's Ambassador to the State Department last week and. according to reports, sharply criticized Mr. Shoval for remarks expressed in an interview with Reuters. "I've never heard of such a tantrum," said Congressman Frank. "I think the Administra- tion is upset because they are trying to undo what Congress did and didn't want to get caught at it. Congress voted the loan guarantee and the Administra- tion is holding it up. The Israelis have been pretty forthcoming. I think the Administration got so angry because they feel vulnerable." The Shoval rebuke is only the latest sign of American displeasure with Israel. There have been reports that a conversation between Finance Minister Yitzhak Modai and Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger was deliberately misconstrued and leaked. Informed sources state that Mr. Baker also worked over Defense Minister Moshe Arens very harshly in a recent visit. The source of Mr. Baker's "tantrum," was Mr. Shoval's remark: "We sometimes feel we are being given the runaround, although to the best of my understanding Israel has fully complied with the requests that were raised in this connection by the United States government." Last year, Israel had asked the United States government, not for funds, but to guarantee a $400 million loan to help resettle the wave of Russian immigrants. The large influx of Soviet Jews into Israel can be traced, in part, to the U.S. government's decision to limit Soviet Jewish immigration to the United States at 50,000 a year. That restriction, coupled with a growing rise in anti-Semitism in the Soviet Representative Barney Frank Union, has spurred large numbers of Soviet Jews to leave by any means possible, and to emigrate to Israel, which accepts them without restrictions. Last April, Congress approved the 1990 Supplemen- tal Appropriations bill, known as the "Dire Emergency Bill." It contained the $400 million loan guarantee, as well as $5 million in direct assistance for resettlement. The bill was signed into law immediately by President Bush. The appropriation contained the proviso that the money would be used for resettlement projects within the "Green Line," Israel's pre-1967 borders. Last fall, when Mr. Baker met with Israel's Foreign Minister David Levy, a memorandum was drafted which restated the State Department's restrictions, and Israel's agreement to them. The State Department also requested detailed information on Israel's budgetary outlays in the occupied territories, with an eye to monitoring new settlement activity. In testimony before Congress i two weeks ago, the Secretary of State said that Israel has not provided the U.S. with the additional information requested. Israel, according to Ambassador Shoval, feels all the information has been forward- ed. The Israeli Embassy released a formal statement after the Shoval-Baker meeting: "The Ambassador explained (to Mr. Baker) that some of the (Reuters) comments were taken out of context, although he said that there is indeed embarrass- ment and wonder in Israel concerning the recurring delays in giving the guarantees. It is known that Israel has given all the answers it was requested to give." The loan guarantee issue appears to be the pretext for deeper disagreement between the two countries. Reportedly, Mr. Baker was incensed with another part of Mr. Shoval's interview in which Israel sought increased aid. "Not being part of the coalition...we have not received one cent of aid in spite of the fact that we have had immense direct military costs...not to mention even the indirect economic costs...We demand that these needs and necessities be addressed as swiftly as possible." When President Bush forged the anti-Iraq coalition, the United States asked Israel to remain in the background, despite the fact that Saddam Hussein had threatened to "incinerate half the country. In the weeks before the war, Israel was urged not to act in a pre- emptive manner and was assured that the U.S would cover Israel in the event of attack. In the first days of the war, after Tel Aviv came under Scud attacks, the U.S. transferred Patriot missile batteries and American crews to Israel to defend the country. They have been successful, but several See Frank page 11 A Journey From The Land Of Glasnost To The Land Of Gas Masks By Glenn Richter "You'll need bitachon (trust)," the travel agent said when I expressed concern about a very tight Aeroflot-El Al connection in Budapest. As it turned out, the bitachon was more evident within the Jews of Russia whom my colleague, Henry Gerber and I encountered in a USSR-Israel journey on behalf of the Student Struggel for Soviet Jewry. There, the extraordinary became surrealistically normal. Many memories remain, but some stand out as significant symbols. ? The opening of the second annual conference of the Vaad, the umbrellla body of nealy 100 Jewish communities and another 100 Jewish organiza- tions across the USSR. There had been a debate whether to mention the Red Army's 'crushing tank roll into Lithuania, then Latvia. Presidium co-chair Yosef Zissels of Chernovtsy wanted the gathering postponed in protest.' Some American guests advised silence. But in an act of courage given the chill air now emanating from the Kremlin, co-chair Mikhail Chlenov, the venerable linguist who was Natan Sharansky's Hebrew teacher, bids us rise for a moment of silence for the martyred' nationalists. ? Heraldic-like shields with the names of 96 participating Jewish communities span the width of the balcony. Aroundus are delegates from Frunze and Tomsk in the far east, Tbilisi in the proud Caucasus, Dnepro- petrovsk in the historic Ukraine. A handsome Central Asian Jew wears a stunning purple robe brocaded with gold. My friend Yomtov, a Tat Jew from Pyatigorsk, is back again, but the middle-aged couple from Perm, known for its notorious labor camp, are not; perhaps they've gone on aliyah. Leningrad's Open Jewish University, a dream fulfilled for its creator Eliyahu Dworkin, displays pictures of former synagogues and Jewish cemeteries its members have discovered and lovingly cleaned in the Ukraine and Byelorussia. But when these young men and women leave, who will carry on their work? ? The main Arkhipova Street Synagogue is a beehive of activity in the morning after the minyan. Parents shepherd elementary-age children to the Jewish day school now in its second year. Its growth, spilling from the women's gallery now to the synagogue's main floor, is testament to the tender nurturing of its Chabad organizers. ? The work of the Vaad's Committee on Repatriation takes up much of an afternoon session. They discuss the nuts and bolts of a more systemic evacuation of Soviet Jews to Israel. One participant rises to report that local authorities are forbidding his community from leaving with its religious ritual 'terns. Outside, Moscovites are lined up in front of banks, frantically trying to change suddenly worthless 50 and 100 ruble notes. "Gorbachev reform," a young man sneers to us. It's clear this is yet another body blow to Soviet society which may search for scapegoats. ? Rumors and fragments of stories whirl around. An elderly Jew from Vitebsk, home of Marc Chagall, relates in Yiddish his single-handed attempt to build a synagogue. A demonstration outside the Kremlin against the Baltic incursion attracted 800,000 Soviet citizens. No, a foreign correspondent says, it was 100,000- No matter. I remember how lonely it was when six of us from SSSJ demonstrated in Red Square less than three years ago. Ben- Gurion Airport has just been Scudded comes an authoritative report. The story proves false. 1 mutter curses at Pan Am which made Henry and I ship our shortwave radios separately on "security" grounds, only to have them disappear. ? A group of us, holding our American, British and Canadian passports, brush by fur-hatted policemen to enter the Israeli tConsulate on Bolshaya_Ordinka. Street. In his white-painted office, graced by an Israeli flag and menorah, Consul-General Aryeh Levin succinctly paints the picture of Russian aliyah. As many as 1,000 Jews entering the building daily, mostly to pick up Israeli travel papers which will allow them to make their final visit to OVIR, the Soviet emigration office. Only 10 Israelis are permitted to work at the consulate, which functions as an embassy. Their work is a model of efficieny. No tea-toting Tel Avivian bureaucrats here. Despite the cold morning, hundreds of bundled-up Jews are lined up outside. Hawkers of Hebrew-language primers and maps of Israel work the crowd. To them, the uncertainty of a life ahead in Israel is preferable to the disintegration of Soviet politics, economy and society. Finally, a rumor proves that proves true. Henry hears that the first commercial El Al flight from Moscow to Tel Aviv is to begin that night. It's been held up over a year by Kremlin officialdom. Henry connects with the Israeli consulate and is told there's a 50 percent chance we can get on. See Myth page 10 |
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