Newspaper Page Text
Marchers for Soviet Jewry
charged fines, court costs
by Joseph Polakoff
TSI's Washington correspondent
WASHINGTON—Eight Washing-
ton-area Jews, including a rabbi
and five women, one a cantor, paid
fines and court costs totalling $60
each from their own pockets after
being convicted of illegal demonstra
tion against the Soviet Embassy on
behalf of Soviet Jewry.
Judge Joseph Hannon in the
District of Columbia Superior Court
sentenced the eight to six months
of unsupervised probation and fined
them $50 and court costs of $10.
He also forbade them to demonstrate
at the embassy while on probation.
Judge Hannon also issued a warrant
for the arrest of Glen Ritcher, the
executive director of the Students
Struggle for Soviet Jewry. Richter,
w ho lives in New York, was reported
on a visit to Israel when the court
proceedings were held.
In mid-December, five rabbis
were directed to pay $50 each or
spend 15 days in jail for the same
infraction of the law barring demon
strations within 500 feet of a foreign
embassy. The rabbis chose to go to
prison to indicate their solidarity
with Jews persecuted for their
religious practices in the Soviet
Union. They were the first to go on
trial of 132 arrested at the Soviet
Embassy between May 1 and
November. The rabbis, known as
“the five Maccabees,” pointed to
discrimination in the penalty imposed
upon them in contrast to the govern
ment’s dropping prosecution against
more than 3,000 anti-apartheid
demonstrators who were arrested
for violation of the same law at the
South African Embassy.
However, the eight fined by Judge
Hannon did not allude in their trial
to that contrast in government
action.
Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt, 33, of
Bowie, Md., who is vice president
of the Greater Washington Board
of Rabbis, told The Southern Israelite
the group, “did not challenge the
constitutionality of the law or raise
a selective prosecution issue.”
Weinblatt said because of the
“increasingly severe condition and
treatment of Jews in the Soviet
Union, we felt it imperative to
bring our plea directly to the gates
of the Soviet Embassy.
“We did not bring up the selective
prosecution issue because we did
not want to contribute to divisiveness
in the black and Jewish communities
or to the misconception that our
government was pursuing a position
that could be perceived as anti-
Semitic. Unfortunately, the reason
is the government appears to be
acquiescing in the Soviet request to
prosecute those demonstrating at
its embassy, while the South African
government did not.”
Besides Rabbi Weinblatt, the
defendants were David Shneyer, a
retired cantor; Cantor Sue Romer;
Cantor Cal Chizever; Gail Greenberg;
Dr. Shulamith Elster, vice headmaster
of the Jewish Day School in Rock
ville, Maryland; Adi Raport, a
Hebrew teacher; and Karen Wolf,
of the Jewish National Fund in
Washington.
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Israel to join in first celebration
of Martin Luther King Jr. Day
In recognition of the first cele
bration of the new American federal
holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr., Israel’s President Chaim
Herzog has declared Jan. 20 to be
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day in
Israel.
Dr. King has long been admired
in Israel for his courageous leadership
of the civil rights movement in the
United States, his frequently demon
strated friendship for the Jewish
people, Zionism and the State of
Israel, and his eloquent rejection of
anti-Semitism in all its forms. His
tragic assassination in 1968 caused
deep anguish among all Israelis.
In tribute to Dr. King, a special
memorial forest bearing his name
was planted in 1976 in the Galilee,
near Nazareth. It now consists of
over 10,000 trees and is growing
constantly as both Americans and
Israelis plant additional trees in his
memory. On Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. Day, Israel’s highest political
body, the Knesset, will hold in his
honor a special afternoon session,
which will be opened by the speaker
of the Knesset and will be followed
by a reception in the Knesset’s
Chagall Hall. Participating will be
the president of the state, members
of the government of Israel and the
Knesset, key Israeli public figures,
American diplomats, representatives
from the general diplomatic com
munity, and representatives of every
American organization with offices
in Israel. Schools and universities
in Israel are expected to com
memorate the day with special
programs which will pay tribute to
Dr. King’s life and works.
In advance of Israel’s own cele
brations of Dr. King’s birthday,
The Embassy of Israel in Washington-
together with the Martin Luther
King Jr. Federal Holiday Com
mission, the Jewish National Fund,
the International Association of
Official Human Rights Agencies
and the America-Israel Friendship
League—will host a special com
memoration in Washington on
Jan. 15.
This will be the second consecutive
year in which such an embassy
event will be held.
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PAGE 7 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE January 10, 1986