Newspaper Page Text
Page 26 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE December 5, 1986
Continued from page 1
adds, “so he kept it all inside.” He
went on with a scheduled appear
ance before a Bet Shean audience.
“You can imagine how he felt.”
says an aide. “Even as the words
were coming out of his mouth,
inside his mind was turning.”
Shamir’s people immediately
contacted Defense Minister Yit
zhak Rabin’s military secretary
and asked for an emergency meet
ing. Rabin agreed. By 9:45 p.m.,
Peres was located in Givat
Schmuel. near Tel Aviv; he con
curred as well. It was now near
ing 3 p.m. in New York. The goal
was to issue a denial in time for
the evening network newscasts.
They had three hours.
Even as Shamir's helicopter
began flying south. Peres' car
was speeding down the express
way back to Jerusalem, and
Rabin, who was at home in Jer
usalem, was contacting his top
aides for background informa
tion. By 10:30 p.m.. the troika
had arrived in Shamir’s office to
convene what is being called
“T he Prime Minister's Forum.”
Surrounded by their key staff
aides, Shamir. Peres and Rabin
“first began to clarify with each
other what they knew about it
(cash from the arms deal), so
there would be no misunder
standing,” a source privy to the
meeting recalls. They all quickly
agreed that they were unaware
that the money would end up
with the Contras, according to a
source with firsthand knowledge
of the session.
Then they poured over a
transcript of Meese's comments.
Although a quick reading yielded
what Meese actually said, they
needed “certain clarifications”
about what the attorney general
actually meant, an official asserts.
Phone calls were made, and com
munications exchanged with
Washington. “This time,” explains
a source familiar with the late-
night activities, “they also called
on people from outside the gov
ernment who knew the States,
who knew Washington, and asked
their advice. That’s one of the
main reasons they acted so swiftly
and effectively.”
“They knew they were fighting
a deadline,” a key staff aide
declares. “(Israeli press counsels)
Baruch Binah (in New York) and
Yossi Gal (in Washington) kept
telephoning and telling us ‘There’s
a fire here, a fire against Israel,
and we must put it out—before
the seven o’clock news.’” The
three leaders had already per
ceived that the “fire” was not in
Congress “as much as in the
media predicting what would
happen in Congress in the days
to come,” explained a source.
The troika decided to consult
the principals in Washington
before going public. Shortly after
I 1:30 Jerusalem time, 4:30 p.m.
Washington time, Peres tele
phoned Ed Meese himself to dis
cuss the issue, and to explain that
Israel would be issuing a denial.
Secretary of State George Schultz
was also telephoned and the out
lines of the proposed statement
reviewed for his approval. Both
Fiasco
Shultz and Meese agreed with
the general outline of the Israeli
denial.
Rabin, Peres and Shamir then
each contributed to the drafting
of a spartan but clear statement.
At about midnight in Jerusalem,
the first draft was ready. Press
advisers to all three ministers
were then called in to review it.
Amongthem was Eli Rubinstein,
formerly consul general in Wash
ington, and very familiar with
the East Coast media. The draft
was passed around among the
advisors and “very few words
were changed," avers a source
familiar w ith the edited copy. “In
fact,” she adds, “nothing of sub
stance was taken out, only a few
words for stvle."
It was now nearly 12:45 in the
Israeli morning, and almost 6
p.m. in the United States. “There
was a great concern they couldn't
finish in time to transmit the
message and make the network
news,” admits one of those who
attended the session. But even as
the last corrections were made to
the declaration it was now just
a few minutes before the hour— a
phone call was made to press
counsel Yossi Gal's direct line in
the Washington embassy. Gal
had been standing by all day.
The call went through on the
first try. Gal anxiously listened
as the declaration was first read
in Hebrew and then in English.
The statement ended. “The gov
ernment of Israel was surprised
...that part of these funds were
transferred to the Contras...Israel
has no knowledge of it...and is
not ready to serve as a conduit
for such a transfer.” Gal lost no
time. He immediately telephoned
the networks, who were also
standing by.
When the network news aired
that evening, the denial was read
at the top. Informed of this, the
three ministers and their staffs
“felt very proud that they were
actually able to get the statement
out by 1 a.m.,” says one of their
staffers. “Given the intense polit
ical dif ferences around here,” adds
a source familiar with the tense
efforts, “it might be called a small
miracle.”
c 19X6. International Features
Convert ecstatic over decision
concerning ‘stamp’ on passport
by Joseph Polakoff
I Sl\ W ashington correspondent
WASHINGTON-At 6 a.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 2, Rabbi David
Kline, the spiritual leader of
Temple Shalom, a Reform con
gregation in Colorado Springs,
Colo., was awakened by a phone
call from a joyous woman in Jer
usalem with news that he des
cribed as “phenomenal.”
She was Shoshanna Miller, 43,
who informed him that she had
won her case before Israel’s
Supreme court that formally recog
nized.in effect, her conversion to
Judaism by him four years ear
lier. In a historic decision affect
ing all branches of Jewry, the
tribunal overturned a government
ruling that would stamp the word
“convert" on her passport. The
court held that identifying con
verts in that manner damaged
Jewish unity.
Under Israel’s Law of Return,
all Jewish immigrants are guar
anteed automatic citizenship.
However, leaders within Israel's
Orthodoxy sought to amend the
law on the ground conversions as
generally performed by non-Or-
thodox rabbis were not in accor
dance with Halacha, traditional
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Jewish law. They therefore sought
to make legal a ruling that “con
vert” be stamped on the passport
of an immigrant w'ho had con
verted without Halachiccertifica
tion.
Miller, whose first name was
Susan before her conversion by
Rabbi Kline and who immersed
herself in a mikva (ritual bath),
had appealed to the supreme
court to grant her official recog
nition as Jewish by eliminating
“convert.” Her appeal followed
the failure of the Ministry of
Interior in a lower court to deny
her that request. Kline said Miller
had telephoned him from Hebrew
Union college, the Reform semi
nary in Jerusalem, which he said
had “guided her through the pro
cess” in the legal channels.
Uri Regev, her attorney, was
reported in Jerusalem as saying
the supreme court decision
“blocks Orthodox attempts to
put them (Reform and Conser
vative Jews) outside the legiti
mate framework of Judaism."
Miller said she was “ecstatic"
about the decision and it was
“the end of a nightmare” for her.
Marriage, divorce and conver
sion are treated in Israel under
Orthodox precepts. Of the three
and a half million Jews in Israel,
fewer than 9,000 are Reform or
Conservative. In the United States
they total about four million.
I he number of “converts” immi
grating to Israel is few.
Kline, in a telephone interview,
said Miller, a granddaughter of a
Baptist minister, had come to
Colorado Springs eight or nine
years ago from a small town in
mid-Missouri near Sedalia. “She
gradually became more and more
interested in Judaism,” Kline said.
“When she came to me she already
was interested in conversion and
was ready in a few months.”
Her first contact with Judaism
was while in high school when
she saw a play about Anne Frank
in St. Louis and read Leon Uris’
“Exodus.” In meetings with a
Jewish woman in college she
became impressed with Jewish
tradition and commitment. Mas
tering liturgical Hebrew, she
served as cantor for three years at
Temple Sholem before going to
Israel. “She is a tremendous
chazzanit,” Kline said.
Temple Shalom, where Kline
has been serving for I 1 vears. has
a congregation of about 350
fa milies.
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