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News Briefs
Rabbi slain in Pittsburgh
TORONTO (JTA)—Some 1,000 persons attended the hastily
called funeral April 18 of 24-year-old Rabbi Neil Rosenblum,
killed by an unidentified assailant while visiting his wife’s parents
in Pittsburgh for Passover.
Reports indicate that Rosenblum, dressed in traditional Ortho
dox garb, was approached by a white man driving a dark colored
automobile who stopped to ask for directions.
The assailant is said to have gotten out of the car and fired six
bullets into the victim at close range. Rosenblum reportedly gave
police some information before his death.
Rosenblum, father of a 4-week-old daughter, was attending the
graduate school of the Her Israel Yeshiva in Toronto and it was
there that the funeral took place.
Goldstein brothers arrive in Israel
TEL AVIV (JTA)—Isai and Grigory Goldstein, brothers who
waited almost 15 years for visas to leave the Soviet Union, have
arrived in Israel last Friday with a plea that the Jews they left
behind in the U.S.S.R. not be forgotten.
Isai, accompanied by his wife, Elizabeta and their 15-year-old
son, Avi, said at Ben Gurion Airport: “Our dream has at last come
true. We want no more publicity. All your attention must now be
given to those who have been left behind. There are still hundreds
of thousands wanting to leave."
Exit visas were granted them earlier this year after Sen. Edward
Kennedy intervened on their behalf during a visit to Moscow.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews riot in Israel
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Three soldiers and three policemen
were injured by rioting ultra-Orthodox Jews in the Mea Shearim
quarter last Saturday night. Eight religious zealots were arrested
after several hours of violent demonstrations.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews also clashed with police in Petach Tikva
last Friday night when they were prevented from marching on the
Heichal Cinema to stop a Sabbath performance there. One of the
marchers was arrested for assaulting a policeman.
Scientists see progress on AIDS
CARACAS, Venezuela—New progress in the battle against
AIDS and other diseases of the body’s immune system was
reported by scientists from Israel, the United States and Venezuela
at an International Conference on Developments in Immunology.
The conference was co-sponsored by Bar-Ilan University of
Israel, the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer
Institute of Washington, D.C., and the Ministry of Science of
Venezuela. It was attended by nearly 500 researchers from the three
countries, making it one of the largest scientific conlerences on
immunology ever held.
WJC wants Waldheim to testify
NEW YORK (JTA) — An official of the World Jewish Con
gress has proposed that Austrian presidential candidate Kurt
Waldheim should come to the organization’s Geneva office to give
testimony under oath of his war-time activities.
The proposal came as a counter-offer to Waldheim’s invitation,
in an interview published in an Austrian weekly magazine, to meet,
in Vienna with WJC Secretary General Israel Singer.
Egypt cuts oil prices to Israel
JERUSALEM (JTA) —Egypt, which supplies Israel with one
quarter of its oil, has reduced prices by approximately 25 percent,
thus saving the Israel Treasury over $50 million a year.
Israel will pay $8.75 for a barrel of heavy crude oil, down from
$12.10; and $10.75 for light crude, down from $13.25. Energy
Minister Moshe Shahal said he hoped the price cut will be passed
on to consumers immediately after Passover.
Nazi jailed to keep him in U.S.
NEW YORK (JTA)- Karl Linnas, a Nazi concentration camp
commander in Estonia during World War II, is being held at a
federal prison in Manhattan because of concern that he might flee
the country.
Linnas, who was stripped of his U.S. citizenship in 1981, is
appealing a 1982 deportation order issued because of his participa
tion in war-time atrocities.
S
Poignant P.S. to ‘Was it
Editor:
On March 14, 1986, you had a
guest column “Was it by chance,"
about two people, Gerda Haas and
Jerry Siegel, who met at a Elder-
hostel up in Maine. Gerda was the
instructor on a course on the
Holocaust Jerry was one of her
students.
These two people, Gerda, a
Holocaust survivor — Jerry, a
young GI, had met in 1945 to
spend Yom Kippur at the home of
the Erlanger family in Lucerne,
Switzerland.
When I read the article, my curi
osity was aroused and immediately
I cut the article and wrote a letter
and sent the clipping to a cousin of
mine nee Erlanger in Lucerne. By
return mail I had an answer from
her. It was one of her nephews in
whose house these two people
spent that Yom Kippur in 1945.
Now...“Was it by chance” that I,
in Atlanta, Ga., should read that
by chance’
article in The Southern Israelite,
send it on to Lucerne, Switzerland,
and make this kind and so religious
man once more happy after 40
years, when he helped two young
people to spend our holiest day in
the midst of his family?
I believe strongly in “the other
force,” which is mentioned in the
article.
Liese B. Kaufmann
Libyan raid elicits U.S., Israel parallel
Editor:
The dilemma of finding both an
active and humane way of fighting
terrorism is not new to the State of
Israel.
1 am sorry for every innocent
man, woman and child who lost his
or her life in the American attack
upon Libya, but I am not sorry for
the fact, that now America, reeling
in shock from world criticism is
able to empathize with the pain
Israel feels when the entire world
turns against her whenever she
tries to actively defend her inno
cent citizens from terrorist attacks.
E. Ben Yaacov
Jerusalem
AlPAC’s impact on student
by Jennifer Laszlo
When the American-Israel Pub
lic Affairs Committee held its 27th
annual policy conference in Wash
ington last month, more than 500
students of all races, religions and
regions of the country, sat in on the
deliberations. One of those stu
dents, Emory University senior
Jennifer Lazslo, describes her reac
tions below. —Editor.
In Tom Dine’s (the executive
director of A1PAC) address, he
spoke of “the vanguard of a new
generation that appreciates the im
perative for political involvement
and for political activism.” I, proud
ly, am one of the Jewish-American
college students to which Mr. Dine
was referring. This was my first
AIPAC policy conference. Yet, I
am no stranger to activism, no
stranger to AIPAC.
I am a senior at Emory Univer
sity and will graduate with degrees
in both Judaic and international
studies. 1 have been active in Hillel,
written more newspaper articles
than I can count, worked part-time
as a Hebrew school teacher, gone
to sorority meetings, committee
meetings—you name it. But parti
cipating in AIPAC is an experi
ence for me, and 1 consider my po
litical activism to be my most im
portant extracurricular activity.
Let me explain how I got in
volved in AIPAC. I was a student
at Hebrew University in Jerusalem
when Jonathan Kessler, leadership
coordinator for AIPAC, came to
our campus to mobilize activity to
fight the Jordan arms sale. He’d no
sooner started when my friend
Frankie Goldberg picked up the
ball and started running with it.
Frankie got a group of us to get
American students in Israel to sign
a petition against the proposed
arms sale. 1 don’t know anyone
who didn’t sign it! We got over
1,000 signatures from all 50 states.
Don't forget this was done thou
sands of miles away from Washing
ton in just a few short days!
When I came back to America
my dedication to the survival of
Israel was still as passionate and
powerful as ever. But how could I
translate this intense dedication
into productive and concrete ac
tion? From the back of a tunnel
came the powerful call that Israel
has over me as a Jew, as an Ameri
can, as a student, and yes, as the
daughter of a Holocaust refugee.
AIPAC was the answer. From a
standpoint of cost benefit analysis
there is no better organization to
get involved in than AIPAC. Why?
It does not take much time to
have an impact with AIPAC. One
does not need to donate a lot of
money to make a mark. AIPAC is
exciting, well-organized, and most
importantly, effective. The caliber
of the people involved is extraor
dinarily high.
. The AIPAC Policy Conference
was in itself exhilarating. The
speeches were inspiring, even if
some of them were less than infor
mative to those of us who keep up
to date on political activity. 1 was
utterly struck by the sincere pro-
Israel statements of those such as
CIA Director William J. Casey,
Attorney General Edwin Meese,
Sen. Edward Kennedy and Sen.
John Heinz. My personal conver
sations with our elected govern
mental officials left me impressed
with their clear understanding of
the issues. A1PAC is largely respon
sible for all this.
Over 500 students attended the
conference. Unfortunately, over 200
of them had to leave after the first
day since there were not enough
scholarships around to cover all
the students who needed them.
This is a real shame for AIPAC.
since the representatives from so
many campuses around the coun
try went home that much less in
formed. Fortunately, I was able to
attend the full conference.
I came home to Atlanta truly
motivated by the conference. I was
nothing less than inspired by the
adult membership of AI PAC. Now
I’m working on a letter drive to
support the foreign aid package.
Israel needs those dollars.
PAGE 5 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE May 2, 1986