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Jy SERVING NEBRASKA AND IOWA SINCE 1920 vol. LXIX No. 43, Omaha, Nebr.
26 SIvan, 5792 Friday, June 26, 1992
Labor scores upset in Israeli election By Hugh Orgel TEL AVIV (JTA)-The Labor Party administered a severe trouncing to Likud in the elections for the '13th Knesset and stands the beat chance of forming the next government, according to computer projects broadcast L by Israel Television shortly after the voting ended at 10 p.m. local time Tuesday. The projections, based on exit polls, gave Labor 47 seats in the new parliament, up from 38 in the old, while Likud dropped from 40 to 33, a loss of seven seats. Final returns were not expected until the end of the week. But, Israeli commentators described the preliminary results as a "revolution." The projections stunned Likud politicians at the party's Tel Aviv headquarters. Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir said he wanted to see the final resulta before commenting further. At Labor headquarters) there was jubilation. "It will be a different country, a better country," exclaimed Haim Ramon, the party's campaign chairman. If the exit polls are correct, the left wing bloc led by Labor would have 64 seats in the new Knesset, against 56 seats for the Likud-led bloc of rightwing jind religious parties.
But the left's 64 would include two Arab parties on the far left, which won four seats between them. Labor Party leader Yitzhak Rabin has vowed not to take an Arab party into a Labor-led government. Without the Arabs, Labor and the allied Meretz bloc Would be one vote short of a Knesset minority, if the polls are right. Meretz was projected to have won 13 seats, making it the largest of the "smaller" parties. On the right, the Tsomet party increased its share of seats from two to six, and the extremist Moledet party gained a seat for a total of three, according to the projections. But the veteran Tehiya party, which had three seats in the outgoing Knesset, apparently failed to win the 1.5-percent minimtmi vote needed to qualify for the new Knesset. Others apparently failing to pass the threshold included the Progressive List for Peace, a mainly Arab party, and Rabbi Moshe Levinger's the Torah and the Land party. The religious bloc as a whole appeared to have lost four of the 18 seats it held in the outgoing Knesset. The National Religious Party and Shas remained steady at five seats each, but the combined Agudat YisraelDegel HaTorah list, known
as United Torah Jewry, won just four, according to the projections. Winning two seats each, according to the projections, were the Arab Democratic Party, led by former Labor Party Knesset member Abdel Wahab Darousha, and the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality, a Communist list also known as Hadash. The exit polls were taken at 50 dummy polling booths at carefully selected voting stations, where electors were asked, as they left, to repeat the vote they had cast for the Knesset,. The dummy stations closed at 8p.m., two hours before the official polls closed, to give time for counting and tabulation. Final results are expected today after the tabulation of votes cast by soldiers, Israeli sailors at sea, and diplomats and offidaTs'serving abroad. But the results will not be official until published next week in the Official Gazette. Once results are official, it will be up to Israel's president to designate a party leader to form a government. The candidate who succeeds in forming a govermnent becomes the ' designated prime minister. The government is officially installed- when the Knesset provides a vote of confidence.
Jule Newman bequest gives ADL $100,000 By Morris Maline and Susan Faley National ADL director Abe Foxman was in Omaha this week to present a special award to the Newman family in honor of a gift of $100,000 to ADL from the estate of the late Jule Newman. The gift was provided to ensure the viability of the ADL office in Omidia. "During the first week on my job 22 years ago, Ilearned that Omaha had a history and tradition of support for ADL. We always knew that we had 'family' who cared in Omaha. The purpose of this visit is to put our arms around our family in Omaha and to acknowledge their leadership and support." Bob Newman accepted the award on behalf of his father, and brothers, Murray, and the late Nick Newman. Dr. Patricia Newman, ADL regional board president remembered "Grandpa" (Jule) as a "thoughtful, openminded and fair man of action, who worked his entire life in selfless fashion for his family and community." Mr. Foxman stated that ' "it was a zchus, (a privilege) to stand here to attest that there is more good than evil in the world. We believe that it matters what we do, say,
National ADL director Abe Foxman Oeft) with Bob Newman. and act. As Jewish tradition teaches us, we can make a difference. One family has always reverberated around ADL. leadership and support. This is the first time we have had the opportunity to publicly say 'Thank youl' to the Newman family for their continued help and support." Mr. Foxman also utilized his time in Omaha to meet with the Jewish Press and with community)' leaders.. At these sessions, he suggested that Nebraska has a "magnificent oppor-
tunity" to enact hate crime legislation while avoiding pitfalls rejected in the recent Supreme Court decision in the Wisconsin case. In addition to the need for legislation, Mr. Foxman asserted that a more vigorous response is needed on the part of the American public to reject a greater permissiveness toward hate in all of its forms, be it political candidates or music rappers. "We need the same passionate effort used by
A report to the community from the past president of Federation ^filitor's note: In an effort to preeent a complete historical record of Jay Lamer's comments at the recent annual meeting, the Jnriah Pnaa I* printing the text of his talk in (all in thla Isane. Mr. Ijemer, immediate past president of the Federation, spoke on June 14 at the Jewish Commnnity Ceater. His comments are aa follows: Having reflected on my past two years as president ' of the Jewish Federation of Omaha. I would Uke to devote my comments now net so much to recounting the ' accomplishments that I feel we have made in improving the efficiency and level of service provided by the Omaha Fedaration to the Jewish community and to Its partner in larael, the Jewiah Agency, but rather to an iraue that has concerned me for some time. There's no shortage of challeogea facing Jews at home and around the world: Challeagaa tike antiSemitism ... poverty... the reunification of families divided by Wan and iron curtaina... a lack of opportunity due to dlacrlmlnaUon or droumstance.. .i|the challenge of care for the aifing and of aducaUoo for the young... thachalhogeof liTMlaadofthamilUaaJews cuirantly, or eoon to be, on the move to a new home. There'* another thing you can be sure of: and that whan te oamM to {Ming thoM chaUangaa, the global Jewish comimintty fanlly pulla together, every tltte, We are a family, spread acroas the ^obe, and In way* too nuroerou* to count, we are for ud atand by each other. We do It by guarantaelnf that Jew* are aafe. and . have food and • place to.aleep ... can atudy herit«c*... c«n emigrate to laraal and, once thara.
can rebuild their lives in freedom and security. That i* the Jewish way! First, and foremost, 1 must say that I think the Omaha Jewish community is to be congratulated for stepping forward this year, not only to support the meet successful campaign we have ever had. but in engaging in two Exodus drivee over thepast two years, one in which we will continue next year in order to try to attain the subsequent goal of 12,600,000.1 think that the commum'ty has been forthcoming and deserves a wellearned thank you. As operation coeta and the costs of delivering services to the community rise; as the range of community needs expand; there is increased pressure on available reaourcee. At the same tiny, it i* dear that the task of raising the needed doUars to meet these obligations in the future will become more and more difficult. Our agiDciaa rely more and more on their ability to produce additional dollara internally through fees and separate fund-raieers. Of neceeaity, the acope of their activities focusee on a constituency that can pay| one, for example, that uses the Health Club, ratlwr thitn the Adult Education program. We are competing in the general community ar*na, hut not really addrwilng our uniquely Jewieb concern*. The queatioo being iSoasidered la whether we can create a Nautllu* room equal to Prairie Life, not whethv we can do a better job meeting the Jewish edubational need* of our community. We know that the anawer to theee queetion* 1* that we can do neith«r. Wq cannot compete with a glorified «pa, nor can wo adequately confront the Jewiah need* of our eooununity. Both aniwere are predicated on the
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availability of funds. We do not have the funds neces* Bces-H sary to create that spa, and we cannot seemingly afford Ffordfl to have programming that will not produce plus dollars. Thi* aingie iaaue has the potential of creating animoeity whore harmony has existed, fostering interagency strife Where cohealon and unity may have prevailed, and, a* a remit, aetting into motion an nngntng downward qpiral, both In available funds and in community aolidar ity. The "We-They" atmosphere that has at timee existed in our community among the Federation, agendee, and synagoguee just cannot ht allowed to continue. "Too much is at stakel I, frankly, am concerned and am speaking about this now because I hear it out in the community, or I have heard it said, that the reason many people give to our campfign is not out of commitment or obligation, but because they feel good. The way to make people give more in to make than feel better, and if we don't make them feel better^ and they don't faai good about the "J"; or they don't feel good about the Bhimkin Home; or thty don't feel good about BBYO; or they don't feel good about laraei because of the controversy ovar "Who is a JewT," or the need for laraeli electoral rtform: or they don't feel good about Mr. Shamir and hla wilUngneae or unwillingneee to become involved In pfaoe iaiy«tivae, or hif poeitlon on the reeettkoNBt of Sovlat Jowe In the occupied tarritoriee-than peopb are going to reduce Or withdraw their gifta to the annual campaign. That, in my view, ia limply not the Jewiah wayl ... and Is par tkularly dangaroua. (Contieued oa>Pe«* 3)
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