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Vol. LXIV No. 38 Omaha, Nebr.
dbMViNG NEBRASKA AND IOWA SINCE l^po 22 SIvan, 5747 Friday, Juna 19, 19B7
Appointment of diplomat ends Shamir, Peres dispute JERUSALEM (JTA) -The Cabinet confirmed the nomination of career diplomat Moshe Arad to be Israel's next Ambassadw to the United States. Arad, 52, who is presently Ambassador to Mexico, was summoned home for meetings with PreMoshe Arad mier Yitzhak Shamir and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. ' He will succeed Ambassador Meir
Lav! cost estimated at $82 million each TEL AVIV (JTA) - The Finance Ministry, vehemently opposed to the Lavi fighter plane project, has submitted statistics comparing unfavorably its costs with the latest model American F-16s, an aircraft of similar capabilities. The Finance Ministry also sharply criticised the Defense Ministry for its handling of the Lavi project. It accused the defense establishment of deliberately failing to inform the Treasury of the. Lavi'a-actual coats, Haaretz reported. . According to seiiior Finance Ministry sources quoted by the newspaper, the remaining development costs of 75 Lavi jets exceed by $2 billion the price of 75 F-16s. The Lavi's overall maintenance is estimated at $3.5 billion compared to the defense establishment's 1980 estimate of $1.23 billion, the sources said. From start to finish, the cost of producing 150 Lavi aircraft is $82 milllpn per plane, compared to $35 million per F-16, according to the Finance Ministry estimates. The Ministry conceded that abandonment of the Lavi project would affect the jobs of some 4,500 employees of Israel Air, craft Industries (lAI) in the short term. But even if the Lavi is shelved, there will be no change in the government's manpower needs, because the $300 million provided by the U.S. for the Lavi would be applied to research fmd development in other high technology industries, the Ministry said. It predicted a demand for even more workers than are presently employed on the Lavi project. llie Lavi is Israel's second-generation jet fighter. Originally, 300 were prcijected bat now only 75 are slated to go into production in the early 1990s, Haaretz reported.
Rosenne, whose four-year tour of duty in Washington expired on May 31. An official announcement will be made when the U.S. formally concurs with the appointment. Arad's nomination ended months of wrangling between Shamir and Peres over who wmild fill Israel's most important diplomatic poet abroad. Until now, each man's proposal was vetoed by the other. Shamir consistently supported Hanan Baron, a recently retired diplomat. Peres reportedly rejected him on grounds he would not go over well on television. Baron left the foreign service and is now vice president of the Weizmann Institute of Science. Arad served previously as ComptoUerGeneral in charge of information. Earlier in his career he was an aide to Justice Minister Yaacov Shimshon Shapira. Arad's nomination was opposed by only one Cabinet member—Likud Liberal Gideco Patt, who is &(inister of Science and TechBoiogy.
Yom Ha'atzmaut plans for 40th The Yom Ha'atzmaut (Israel Independence Day) 1988 Conunittee has invited interested members of the conrniunity to attend a planning meeting, July 1 at 7:30 p.m. in Room 10 of the Jewish Community Ceiiter in connection with .the 46th anniversary celebration.
Ethiopians in responsum as "foMedged Jews" NEW YORK, NY - The taw Committee of Conservative Judaism lias ruled that Ethiopian Jews should be accepted as "fullfledged" members of the Jewish, community, leading the president of the Rabbinical Assembly to call upon |;he Chief Rabbinate in Israel to accept the validity of their status aajews. In the past, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel has placed obstacles in the path of their complete ao^ptance. There are an estimated 15,()00 to 1(1,000 such Jews currently in Israel. The Committee on Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly! representing 1,200 Conservative rabbis Internationally and 1.5 million congregaiits, adopted a responsum recognizing members of the Beta Israel community of Ethi(^iia as "fullfledged Jews, requiring no conversions," basing this conclusion on hiUakhic sources (sources from Jewish Law), and the Ethiopian Jews' "theological beliefs and the knowable facts of their history." (The Beta Israel are also known as Ethiopian Jews and have formerly been called Falashas.) "This action by the Law Committee justly recognizes the Jewishnesii of our long oppressed and long isolated Ethiopian coreligionists," declared Rabbi Joel Roth, chairman>of the Law Committee. He added that "we hope that those still remaining in Ethiopia will soon be able U) join their famiUes and fellow Jews jn Israel." RA President Rabbi Kassel Abelson, of Minneapolis, called for'an "end of Israel's Chief Rabbis to their objections to the ad-
Legitimacy of Israel still challenged By Judith Colp WASHINGTON (JTA) - Israel's legitimacy continues to be challenged on the international scene, according to experts speaking at the conference of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists held here last week. Eugene Rostow, visiting research profes' sor of law and diplomacy at National Defense University, Washington, D.C., warned that a 1984 decision of the International Court of Justice may have provided the Arab countries with rationale to wage war against Israel. In the case, Nicaragua asked the court to order the U.S. to cease mining Nicaraguan ports and aiding attacks on its territory. The court ruled in favor of Nicaragua by prohibiting the right to intervene in another state for political and moral reasons. But the court made clear that this did not apply in cases involving decolouzation. Rostow, Undersecretary of State for Po-
litical Affairs in the Johnson Administration and one of the drafters UN Resolutions 242 and 338, said the exclusion provides a legal loophole for the Arab states to fight against Israel, which they consider a colonial power. "It's a very ominous imd dangerous idea," said Rostow. He explained that the decision challenges the provision of the UN Charter, which prohibits the international use of force except for (Kuposes of selfdefense, j "To go b^ond the limited (and controversial) principle of humanitarian intervention and recognize a general legti right to assist revolutions against governments characterized as 'colcmist' or otherwise repugnant on political or moral grounds is to... authorize war of all against all," Rostow said in a paper he wrote on the subject. But Rostow added that the very eix'mbmce of the UN Charter may pnivent the worst from happening.
mission of Ethiopian Jews on halakhic grounds." Rabbi Abelson objected to the insistence of the Chief Rabbis that many of the Beta Israel Jews must undergo tevillah (ritual, immersion) to fulfill conversion requirements. He pointed out, for example, that the Orthodox Rabbinate in Israel refuses to recognize, and therefore refuses to register the marriages of Ethiopian Jews who have not undergone tevillah. He called for their "full acceptance immediately." Similar support was provided by Rabbi Akiba Lubow, secretary of the Law Committee, saying that "It is unconscionable to place obstacles in the path of Ethiopian Jews by placing extra-halakhic. requirements on them. How can we think of rejecting as part of the Jewish People an entire group whose identification with Judaism dates back many centuries?" he asked. Rabbi Steven Saltzman, Greensboro, N.C., a member of the Law Committee and author of the position paper adopted, notes that Ethiopian Jews "were a distinctly identifiable group who have been living in Ethiopia, isolated from the rest of the Jewish world for many centuries." Their presence • in Ethiopia, he reports, pre-dated either a Moslem or a Christian presence in Ethiopia. He continues, "The Ethiopian Jews considered themselves to be part of the Jewish people despite the fact that they were physically cut off from them." Rabbi Saltzman takes note of the fact that Ethiopian Jews continued to show a remarkable loyalty to their faith and traditions, observing Shabbat, kashrut (the Jewish dietary laws), family purity laws, hoUdays and daily prayer. "They believe in the God of our ancestors and they look to the land of Israel as the land of redemption." In addition to the estimated 15,000 to 18,000 Ethiopian Jews who have been reunited with their fellow Jews in Israel, there are roughly 7,000 more estimated to still be in Ethiopia, with several hundred more trapped in the Sudan.
AMIT to honor Dr. Sol Kutler AMIT Women has announced that the rescheduled'dinner honoring Dr. Sol Kutler will take place June 35 at 6:30 p.m. in Beth Israel Synagogue. Reservations may be made with Charlotte Kaplan, 551-5658, or Beverly Franklin, 334-7365. . Scheduled to speak are Norman Krivosha, chief justice, Nebraska Supreme Court; Rabbi Myer Kripke, rabbi emeritus, Beth El Synagogue; Kermit Hansen, past president. Suburban Rotary Club and Dr. Benton Kutler.
New Life dinner honors Survivors of tne Holocaust brael Boada confamd New life Oarttfleatea on Sunrlvuni of tlie Holocaiist daring • dlMr SiMiv ail^t at BaOi lanwl 8|iu«ogM. A» aatiaatad aflOyOOO b I^ mm* pm rti—li ditat «lw vwnhg. Ummtm, h die tw> lalt phatoa, aw aa loltowa; Fkda «^ Reaaa Awtir, Ada ad MHC Bnw, f^Xtte awl Jo* BMMatcr, Mindai and JaADI«Mo^fWadaMim»Carta>I^F>ttaMa,HildaCbttlla^ Miriam a^ Jiij ;4SSHB>iaii.ia3!*?SaBSeiSt •'
nac Graaaoian, Olga JaoalMnr, Peoden Kala. 8e|iU« Kaha, Boaa KoofMnup. Heien Manhehiicr. OotiMe Naa. Itoaaaad Dave BMitnw, Kiifcal aad Cari HeaMtmg, Ptoto aad AnmZaidtman. la tlUfhoto at.right anpn(ran partidpaata Matinqr New , Ocfda KleiB, Cantor Lao Fettmaa aad Yale Gotadiaw.