»^03010-03 60^ "• 'VE33 HZSTORICAL SOC 1500 R ST LINCOLN NE 68508
SERVING NEBRASKA AND IOWA SMCE 19k Vol. LXIII No. 36 Omaha, Nab.
13 lyar, S74« Friday, May 23,1966
ADL issues special report on LaRouche The Anti-Defamation League ot B'nai B'rith declared it will not be muzzled by a complaint of election law violation filed against it by the LaRouche for President campaign organization — and at a news conference in Omaha (Wednesday, May 21), made public its new, comprehensive 54-page report on the political cult headed by Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr. Yitzak Santis, ADL's Plains States Regional Director, called the LaRouche complaint to the Federal Election Commission "an attempt to intimidate the League and-prevent it from continuing to expose the extremist group's anti-Semitism," He said that the LaRouche charge of ADL "intervening into the electoral process" is "baseless." Mr. Santis said the new complaint is not the first time the LaRouche movement has tried to silence ADL. There have been several libel suits — all of which failed. In one case, the court ruled that ADL's characterization of the LaRouche organization as anti-Semitic constituted "fair comment." ' Emphasizing that ADL "will continue as vigorously as ever to monitor and expose anti-Semitism and extremism whenever and wherever they exist," Mr. Santis said that the special report — "The LaRouche Political Cult: Packaging Extremism" — is the League's third on the movement since 1979. The latest ADL study traces the cult from its left-wing origins as an ally of the Students for a Democratic Society' (SDS) during the 19608 to its current form of extremism which the League said "defies categorizing." The cult, according to the study, employs "a secret strategy of deception" which includes: hiding its extremism while espousing such lelgitimate causes as support for strong defense and opposition to the Soviet Union; engaging in "dirty tricks" against public officials and others; alleged "skulduggery" in garnering loans and contributions, and using "fronts" with deceptive names which have public appeal — such as the National Anti-Drug Coalition and th« National Democratic Policy Committee. '— <Among the topics the study covers are the LaRouche organization's attempt to capitalize on the farm crisis. The report reveals LaReuche's visit to the farm of Tommy Kerrey in central Georgia where he announced his agricultural program. Kerrey, who has expressed his admiration for'
LaRouche, gained national attention in November, 1965, when he and Larry Humphries, founder of the Oklahomabased anti-Semitic paramilitary group called the Heritage Library, led a group of armed followers to a central Georgia farm to forcefully stop an eviction. The Heritage Library held a gathering in Kearney, Nebraska, in January, 1986, that was attended by some 250-300 farmers. Other topics covered by the report include LoRouche's coiftact with the Liberty Lobby and other far-right groups; its source of funding and its campaign strategies, including the 1986 Illinois primary; the cult's controversial presence and activities in Leesbur^, Virginia, where it maintains its headquarters; and its various "tactics of intimidation" including threats and pretense telephone calls. The report has two appendixes. One, "The LaRauche Cult's Fantasy World — A Sampler," contains seven pages of direct quotes expressing its anti-Semitism and bizarre attitudes on a broad range of subjects, including the slur linking Queen Elizabeth with drug pushing. The other, "The LaRouche Network," lists and discribes 27 LaRouche front organizations and publishing entities. Among them are: — The National Democratic Policy Committee, its political arm. The title has caused confusion among ^Democrats who have sometimes been led to support the group because they thought it was a part of the Democratic Party. The NDPC claimed in 1984 that it had 30,000 members of. whom 2,600 were on the ballot in local, state, federal and party elections. — The National Anti-Drug Coalition, which, ADL said, "typically has little in the way of an actual, practical program to fight drug abuse" but "has merely promoted LaRouche's fantastic conspiracy theories and solicited support for the organization."
— The Fusion Energy Foundation, which ostensibly promotes new energy technologies while striving to lure scientists, engineers and public officials concerned with energy problems into the LaRouche fold. — The Washington, DC-based Executive Intelligence Review, an elaborately produced propaganda publication with articles directed toward the security concerns of business and law enforcement. According to the report, the LaRouche cult is "conspiracy-haunted" and beliaves in "a paranoid theory of history" in which, for example, a "degenerate oligarchy" is "in criminal cahoots with the Queen of England aiidlhe British Royal family," The calt charges that (inspirators range "from Aristotelians to Zionists" and include the International Monetary FVmdl, the Rothschilds, the Jesuits, the Federal Reserve, Henry Kissinger, William F. Buckley — and the ADL. The ADL study assarts that the LaRouche operation has been marked since 1978 by such manifestations of anti-. Semitism as: — Singling out prominent Jews, Jewish families and Jew, ish organizations for abuse; — Echoing the discredited 2,000 year-old decide charge against Je^ — Chaiging that prominent Jewish families were instrumental in bringing Hitler to power and that the Holocaust is a hoax; — Claiming that there is a "hard kernel of truth" in the notorious anti-Semitic forgery. The Protocols of the Elders of ZioB. Mr. Santis warned that "the LaRouche political cult, like all forms of extremism, poses a threat to democratic values and institutions only if the American people remain unaware of its true nature."
Grodinsky bequest By Larry Spears Foundation volunteer Murray H. Newman, chairinan of the Jewish Federation • of Omaha Foundation, has announced receipt of a cash bequest made to The Foundation from the estate of Omaha attorney William Grodinsky. Mr. Grodinsky, a long-time worker in the Jewish community and an avid supporter and volunteer to Boys Town, died in April 1986. A Foundation spokesman said, "Mr. Grodinsky was a man with numerous and varied interests in life. He was a dedicated supporter for many causes and was active in his leg^l practice right up to his death at age 90. The bequest, in the form of a cash gift for unrestricted uses, was presented to the Foundation last month. "Mr. Grodinsky was a deeply religious and devout individual who believed very strongly in the Jewish community. He was a member of the B'nai Jacob Adas Yeshuron Syn^ agogue and was instrumental in keeping that facility operational despite loss of membership and financial support. "His father. Rabbi Henry Grodzinsky (original spelling) was Omaha's first ordained orthodox rabbi, settling in this city in 1891."
^ Rabbi
Sam Fried gives gift Ann Kibel Schwartz, director of Cultural and Performing Arts at the Jewish Community Center, announces a gift to the Jewish community from Sam Fried and his children in memory of Mr. Fried's latewife, Magda. Tte gift, to be displayed in the JCC, is a sculpture of "Korchak with his children", the original of which is on the grounds of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. The aBnounceinent was made at the start ot Yom Ha'atzmaut festivities at the JCC last weekend. Photos of the activities appear on page 8.
Reform leaders demarKi equal rights in Israel
Alexander M. Schindler, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations is leading a mission of 36 members of the UAHC board of trustees that arrived in Israel this week [May 20] "to express our solidarity with the people of Israel, to measure the growth of the Reform movement in Israel and to demand equal rights for Reform rabbis and Reform Jews in the Jewish state." During their 10-day visit, the Reform Jewish leaders have met with Prime Minister Shimon Peres, Deputy Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, Minister Without Portfolio Moshe Arens and Knesset Foreign A^airs and Security Committee Chairman Abba Eban. In addition, the UAHC trustees will be received by President Chaim Herzog and U.S. Aipbassador Thomas Pickering. They also will dedicate a Jewish National Fund forest named in honor of Rabbi Schindler and visit Reform-sponsored Jewish institutions in Israel, which comprise 17 congregations, two kibbutzim, a free enterprise settlement near Carmiel that will be dedicated during the visit, the Leo tt
Baeck school in Haifa and the $25 million World Education Center, site of the Jerusalem campus of the Hebrew Union College — Jewish Institute of Religion. The Union of American Hebrew Congregations, central body of Reform Judaism, is composed of 791 Reform synagogues in the United States and Canada with a membership of 1.3 million. It is the fastest growing Jewish congregational body in the U.S. Schindler Statement In a statement defining the mission's purpose. Rabbi Schindler declared: "We have come to Israel to demonstrate our sense of unity with our fellow-Jews at a time when too piany people are staying away. The Jewish community cannot permit Colonel Qaddafi to determine how many of us will visit Israel this year. "At the same time, we will focus on the progress made by the Reform movement in Israel, the current status of our educational and religious institutions here and the dis-
crimination practiced by the Orthodox rabbinate in Israel. "We are particularly distressed by the refiisal of the religious establishment to accept as immigrants under the Law of Return Jews who 1M^ been'Converted by non-Orthodox rabbis. This is a clear-cut violation of the law that cannot be permitted to go unchallenged." The UAHC leaders arrived in Israel immediately following the semi-annual meeting of the board of trustees in St. Louis, Mo., where they adopted a resolution: (1) Urging that the Chief Rabbinate and the Orthodox rabbinate courts of Israel be stripped of all coercive power and official standing. (2) Calling on the Orthodox rabbinate in Israel, to lift all i«strictions against the right of Reform rabbis to officiate at life-cycle functions, including weddings and funerals. (3) Demanding that non-Orthodox synagogues in Israel receive government funding and support commensurate with that accorded to Orthodox congregations.