Newspaper Page Text
The Southern Israelite
The Weekly Newspaper For Southern Jewry • Since 1925
Vol. LXII
Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, January 3, 1986
No. 1
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Jury finds racist group
guilty in Seattle trial
It’s a deal
Ivory Coast President Felix Houphouet-Boigny shakes hands
with Prime Minister Shimon Peres in Geneva last month. After a
secret meeting the two leaders announced the decision to restore
diplomatic relations between Israel and the Ivory Coast.
SEATTLE (JTA)—Ten members
of The Order, a violent anti-Semitic
and white supremacist group based
in the Northwest, were convicted
Monday of racketeeringcharges that
included murder, armed robbery
and counterfeiting as part of their
plot to kill Jews, deport non-whites
and overthrow the government.
The verdict in the trial, which
began in September, was reached
after the jury deliberated for two
weeks.
Each of the nine men and one
woman convicted of violating the
1972 federal Racketeer Influenced
and Corrupt Organizations(RICO)
Act was found guilty of at least two
offenses.
The 10 who were on trial were
among 23 members of The Order
indicted in April on similar charges.
Eleven made plea-bargain arrange
ments and never stood trial, another
was convicted of the murder of a
highway patrol officer, and one is
still at large.
The jury heard from 370 witnesses
and received approximately 1,500
pieces of evidence to support the
prosecution’s contention that the
purpose of The Order was to over
throw the “Zionist-controlled”
government.
The Order was charged with the
1984 murder of Alan Berg, the
Jewish radio personality who was
outspoken in his condemnation of
anti-Semitic and rightwing indivi
duals and outfits.
Convicted of racketeering Monday
were Bruce Carroll Pierce, who
was captured last spring in Rossville,
Ga.; Randolph Duey, Gary
Yarbrough, Andrew Barnhill,
Richard Kemp, David Lane, Andrew
McBrearty, Randall Evans, Frank
Silva and Jean Craig.
Pierce, Duey, Yarbrough, Kemp
and Barnhill were also found guilty
in an assortment of charges relating
to armored car robberies, while
Duey and Silva were convicted of
harboring a fugitive and Duey was
found guilty of various firearms
counts.
Richard Scutari, reportedly the
Order’s security chief, has not been
caught. David Tate, who was among
those originally indicted, was found
guilty in November of killing a
Missouri state trooper. The founder
of the group, former tax protester
Robert Mathews, was killed in a
shoot-out with federal agents.
Israel focuses on Li by i
in wake of latest attac
by Yaacov Ben Yosef
Special to The Southern Israelite
JERUSALEM — The terrorist
attacks in Rome and Vienna last
Friday have raised the distinct
possibility of an Israeli retaliation
against PLOtargets. Major pressure—
both for and against such a retaliation—
has been building on Prime Minister
Shimon Peres. Meanwhile, the
potentially dangerous situation
created by the emplacement of
Syrian ground-to-air missiles in
positions threatening Israel’s intelli
gence overflights of Lebanon has
taken a step for the worse.
The terrorist attacks, staged at
Rome’s Da Vinci Airport and at
Vienna’s Schwecat Airport, left 18
dead (15 in Rome, 3 in Vienna) and
another 1 12 wounded (75 in Rome,
37 in Vienna). The terrorists, using
hand grenades and automatic
weapons, launched their attacks
within minutes of each other, in
essentially public areas, but near
the El A1 check-in desks. One Israeli
was killed; a second was in critical
condition. Credit was taken by the
Abu Nidal group, a breakaway
unit once part of the PLO, now
under the auspices of Libya.
Hawks in the Israeli cabinet are
reportedly insisting to Peres that
he take action since to do otherwise
would create the impression of
Israeli diffidence to terrorism; but
American Assistant Secretary of
State Richard Murphy urged the
Israeli government to check carefully
just who was responsible for Friday’s
attacks before retaliating.
Peres on Sunday evening gave
the impression that Libya was the
focus of Israel’s attention as far as
identifying those who carried out
the twin attacks. In a Jerusalem
speech, the prime minister accused
Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi
of “drumming up hatred and
extremism.” Peres called Libya “the
world center of international
terrorism;” he charged Libya with
“the indiscriminate killing of men,
women and children.”
While the Abu Nidal group took
credit for the airport attacks, Israel
tended not to be impressed with
such acknowledgements. “It’s
irrelevant who eventually claims
responsibility for the attacks,” stated
the prime minister on Sunday evening.
“Whether it is Abu Nidal, Nayef
Hawatme or George Habash, we
must not give in to the PLO. As
long as that organization stands
for terror, we will fight them all the
way.”
But there was one important
restraint on Israel’s wish to retaliate
for the Friday assaults and that
was the continuing, tense situation
with regard to the Syrian missiles.
Were the Israelis to carry out an air
Yaacov Ben Yosef
attack against terrorist elements in
the Beka’a Valley in Lebanon, the
Syrians might then be tempted to
call upon their SAM-2 missiles
recently deployed in Syria but near
the Lebanon-Syrian frontier. That
could lead to a serious deterioration
in the general military situation
between Israel and Syria.
The missile situation took an
even more serious turn last week
with the news that the Syrians had
reintroduced their SAM-6 and
SAM-8 ground-to-air missiles into
Lebanon. The Syrians oppose Israel’s
reconnaissance overflights of
Lebanon but Israel insists that such
flights are vital for its intelligence
gathering. Israel has stopped its
intelligence overflights of Lebanon
which are within range of the Syrian
missiles now that the Syrian missiles
are in threatening postures to
those flights.
The Israelis had hoped that, after
quiet diplomacy had failed to
persuade the Syrians to remove the
missiles they had introduced into
Lebanon on Nov. 20, a public
campaign which began Dec. 15,
would have the desired effect.
But with the reintroduction of
those missiles into Lebanon, it was
now clear that the public campaign
had had no effect either. In fact, it
The body of a second kidnapped
Jewish man was found in west
Beirut Wednesday.
The discovery of the body of
Isaac Tarrab, 53, followed by a
week the finding of the body of
39-year-old Haim Cohen Halala,
said to be an Iranian Jew doing
business in Lebanon.
A Moslem fundamentalist group
which calls itself the Organization
of the Oppressed in the World took
took only two days after the IL
went public—on Dec. 15—with
the fact that the Syrians had
introduced missiles into Lebanon
on Nov. 20, for the Syrians to go
ahead and reintroduce those missiles
into Lebanon.
Israel had kept this news quiet
until late last week, hoping to keep
the already-high tension on the
border from getting out of hand.
But Prime M inister Peres confirmed
it at a meeting with Israel’s editors
in Tel Aviv on Dec. 26.
Noting that the Syrians had moved
the missiles back into Lebanon
(“but not to the same locations”),
Peres added that Israel wanted to
avoid an escalation of tensions
with Syria by engaging in “an
exchange of rhetoric which may
lead to something more severe.
“It seems,” the prime minister
went on, “the best policy is a policy
of status quo. nobody will move,
nobody starts moving, yet the move
occurred and we are watching the
situation very closely.” Some Israeli
military analysts gave the Syrians
the benefit of the doubt, arguing
that they had put the missiles back
into Lebanon to defend their SA M-2
missiles in Syria near the Lebanese-
Syrian frontier. “It stems more
from Syrian fears that we are going
to attack them,” said former Deputy
Chief of Staff and Air Force
Commander David Ivri over Israel
Radio last Friday.
With the reintroduction of the
missiles in Lebanon, the chances of
an Israeli move to wipe out the
missiles seemed to grow. And, indeed,
some Israel’leaders began to sound
more threatening. Defense Minister
Yitzhak Rabin told a Tel Aviv
audience that Israel would deal
with the problem “in its own time
and according to its needs.” Foreign
Minister Yitzhak Shamir said that
the failure of Israel to retaliate
might be construed as weakness on
Israel’s part.
responsibility for the killings and is
reported to be holding hostage at
least two other Lebanese Jews.
The group said the killings were
in retaliation for shelling of the
southern Shiite villages by Israelis
and their Christian allies of the
South Lebanon Army. Israel has
denied involvement in the shelling.
Earlier, the organization, believed
to be composed of Shiite activists,
offered to release the Lebanese
Jews if 300 Lebanese prisoners,
mostly Shiites, in a southern village
of A1 Khiyam were freed.
Another kidnap victim
found dead in west Beirut
Horn wire reports
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