THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Israel Abortion, Autopsy Resolutions Are Pending
JERUSALEM (JTA) —
The coalition crisis over
abortion law has been av-
erted for the present, and
coalition leaders say they
are confident it will be re-
solved finally soon.
The turnabout came
Wednesday afternoon,
when Premier Menahem
Begin decided to impost
what is known as the
"Transfer Law" on the abor-
tion amentdment. This
means in effect turning the
vote on the amendment into
a vote of confidence in the
government.
Begin did this after the
six Likud "rebels" who op-
posed the amendment at its
first tabling informed him
that they would vote for it if
he turned it into an issue of
confidence by imposing
upon it the "Transfer Law."
The six are: Sarah Do-
ron, Ehud Olmert, Zal-
man Shuval, Akiva Nof
(Democratic Movement),
Avraham Katz and Yit-
zhak Berman.
As a result of Begin's new
tactic, Aguda's "Council of
Sages," which convened in
Jerusalem, gave its Knes-
seters another two weeks in
which to ensure that the
amendment goes through.
According to the Council
of Sages decision, if the
amendment is not passed by
then, the party must leave
the coalition immediately
and automatically. "This is
our final session on this sub-
ject," the 13 sages who
attended the meeting (out of
16 council members) de-
clared.
Aguda Knesseters said
later the sages had been
unanimous —in the wake of
confident assurances by
Knesseters Shlomo Lorincz
and Menahem Porush that
the government majority
for the amendment was now
secured.
The Knesseters said
they had informed the
sages that Laborites in
the Knesset were saying
that Begin had erred, and
that there was no major-
ity, "but this is ground-
less,' said Porush. "His
own calculations showed
a clear majority" he as-
serted.
Meanwhile, the govern-
ment has decided to submit
to the Knesset without
delay an amendment to the
Pathology Law that would
severely limit the circum-
stances under which autop-
sies can be performed. The
move is clearly intended to
placate the Aguda Israel
bloc.
The proposed autopsy
amendment was unanim-
ously approved by the
Cabinet last week. It would
permit autopsies only if the
deceased person had agreed
prior to death or if the fam-
ily of the deceased con-
sented afterwards.
The only exception would
be in cases where foul play
is suspected. Under the pre-
sent law, a panel of three
doctors can override the
family's objections.
Meanwhile, MK David
Glass of the National
Religious Party has re-
vived another dormant
religious issue that could
lead to an all-out battle in
the Knesset and possibly
topple the government.
As chairman of the Knes-
set's Legal Committee he
has begun hearings on
the "Who Is a Jew?"
amendment to the Law of
Return.
The amendment, pro-
posed more than a year ago
by Kalman Kahana of the
Poalei Agudat Israel, would
add to the law governing
conversions to Judaism the
words "according to
Halakha" (religious law).
This would invalidate con-
versions performed by any
but Orthodox rabbis. It is
one of several concessions to
the Orthodox that Begin
committed himself to in ex-
change for their support
when he formed his coali-
tion government two years
ago.
It is strongly opposed both
within Israel and among
Reform and Conservative
Friday, December 1, 1919 11
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Jews overseas. But the
three religious factions —
the NRP and the two Aguda
parties — are inexorably
committed to it.
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Iranians in France Reported
Keeping Out of Public Glare
PARIS (JTA) — The large
Iranian community in
France, unofficially esti-
mated at about 30,000
people, has kept out of sight
and out of the public glare
since the Ayatollah Ruhol-
lah Khomeini took power in
Iran last January.
More than half of the
resident Iranian commu-
nity in France consists of
students who so far have
avoided either organizing or
participating in demonstra-
tions, public meetings or
any political pronounce-
ments for or against Kho-
meini.
This exceptional discre-
tion is due to the French
legislation on aliens which
enables the government to
expel foreigners at the
slightest provocation. Polit-
ical activities are generally
regarded by the French
government as sufficient
reason to warrant an ad-
ministrative expulsion
order usually carried out
within a few days.
This arbitrary French
attitude applies to prac-
tically all foreigners
studying or living in this
country and is frequently
used against Arab work-
ers or students.
Khomeini was the one ex-
ception to the rule. The Ira-
nian religious leader was
permitted to conduct his
anti-Shah campaign from
his residence at Neauphle-
le-Chateau, outside Paris,
at will.
Last week, President
Valery Giscard d'Estaing
explained in a television
interview, "Had we taken
any action against him
(then) our own people would
have been in the situation
in which the American hos-
tages find themselves to-
day."
During Khomeini's stay
in France, hundreds of Ira-
nian supporters called daily
at Ills home. Most of them
were Iranian workers or
students from West Ger-
many, Switzerland and the
Scandinavian countries.
The other half of the Ira-
nian resident community
consists of middle class
people, many of whom are
opposed openly or more dis-
creetly to the new Teheran
regime.
Anti-Crime Rally
NEW YORK (JTA) — A
campaign to reduce crime in
New York city was
launched last week in lower
Manhattan at a rally of
some 700 New Yorkers,
most of them Jews.
The
rally
was
spearheaded by the Crown
Heights Coalition, an inter-
racial group organized to
cope with problems in a
racially-troubled section of
Brooklyn which is the cen-
ter of Lubavitcher settle-
ment.
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