THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
20 Friday, June 11, 1982
Reagan Warning to Romania
New Bill to Curb Secrecy
on Arab Investments in U.S. on Jewish Migration Hailed
AMERICA - ISRAEL
ISSUES
AND
ANSWERS
Public Invited — No Charge
at the Sheraton Southfield Hotel
Friday — June 11, 1982 — 8:15 P.M.
HON. TOM CORCORAN
Member House Energy and
Commerce Committee
Saturday— June 12, 1982 — 8:00 P.M.
HON.
EDWARD J. DERWINSKY
A Ranking Republican Member
House Foreign Affairs Committee
HON. NICHOLAS VELIOTES
Assistant Secretary of State
For Near Eastern Affairs
Sunday — June 13, 1982 — 1:00 P.M.
HON. HARRY HURWITZ
Minister of Information
Embassy of Israel
Sponsors:
ZIONIST ORGANIZATION
OF AMERICA
National Executive Committee
Your Hosts:
Z.O.A. DETROIT DISTRICT
HAVE
NEW YORK (JTA) - -
Rep. Benjamin Rosenthal
(D-NY) has announced he
will introduce legislation to
end the secrecy on Arab pet-
rodollar investments in the
United States.
Addressing the annual
meeting of the Anti-
Defamation League of Bnai
Brith at the Grand Hyatt
Hotel in New York, Rosent-
hal said the Arab invest-
ments, which he said could
hold this country "hostage
to foreign government con-
trol," may total between $75
billion and $200 billion.
Rosenthal said his pro-
posed legislatiori would
have a three-pronged ap-
proach. It would require a
permanent registration sys-
tem to identify all past and
future investments;
country-by-country disclo-
sure on the breakdown of
foreign investments, and
establishment of an inde-
pendent government
agency to "delay or prohibit
foreign-directed invest-
ment" in areas sensitive to
the economy and national
security of the U.S.
The Congressman, a
member of the House
Government Operations
and Foreign Affairs
Committee, said the legis-
lation is needed because
of- a 1974 Treasury De-
partment agreement with
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait
and the United Arab
Emirates to keep confi-
dential the bulk of their
investments in the U.S.
He said the agreement
must be terminated.
Rosenthal told some 400
American Jewish commu-
nity leaders that Senate ap-
proval of the sale of AWACS
reconnaissance planes to
Saudi Arabia illustrated
the extent of petrodollar
influence on U.S. policy.
"If the vote had been
taken in secret, it never
would have been approved,"
the lawmaker said, "be-
cause a majority of mem-
bers of Congress believed it
was not in the U.S. national
interest."
Organized by Saudi Ara-
bian lobbyists, a massive ef-
fort was mounted to enlist
support for the AWACS sale
on the part of American
companies which do busi-
ness with Saudi Arabia, Ro-
senthal added.
"Tens of thousands of
telegrams were received
by Senators from busi-
ness leaders, including
the heads of such firms as
Rockwell International,
American Airlines, Fires-
tone Tire and Rubber
Co., Proctor and Gamble
and Wells - Fargo Bank."
Rosenthal warned that
Arab government invest-
ments jeopardized the in-
tegrity of the American
political process and can
threaten U.S. national se-
curity.
In the recent takeover of
the Santa Fe International
Corp. of California by
Kuwait, the Kuwaitis not
only obtained control over
five percent of the world's
oil rigs but of a Santa Fe
subsidiary which is engaged
in highly sensitive nuclear
research and engineering
for the Defense Depart-
ment.
Literary Award
for H. U. Prof.
JERUSALEM — The
Present Tense Award for
the best book on social and
political analysis published
in 1981 has been presented
to Hebrew University polit-
ical scientist Prof. Shlomo
Avineri for his book, "The
Making of Modern
Zionism."
NEW YORK (JTA)
President Reagan's stern
warning to the Romanian
government that it must
significantly improve its
emigration procedures for
Jews seeking to go to Israel
or face the loss of most fa-
vored nation (MFN) trade
status with the U.S., was
hailed as a "breakthrough"
by a Jewish emigration ac-
tivist.
But Dr. Jacob Birnbaum,
national director of the Cen-
ter for Russian and East
European Jewry here, said
that a major struggle is
shaping up in Congress on
this issue. He urged Ameri-
can Jews to support mem-
bers of both houses who are
seeking to block the exten-
sion of MFN to Romania for
another year because of the
Bucharest government's
treatment of ethnic and
religious minorities which
include Baptists, Pentacos-
tals, Orthodox and other
religious groups as well as
Jews.
(This week Dr. Jacob
Birnbaum said that he was
not seeking to block the ex-
tension of most favored na-
tion (MFN) trade status to
Romania when he urged
American Jews last week to
support letters circulating
in both houses of Congress
warning the Romanian
government to improve its
emigration procedures for
Jews and others.
(In a clarification of
remarks he made last
week, Birnbaum said he
hoped resolutions reject-
ing MFN for Romania
could be avoided if a
strong enough signal is
sent to Bucharest.)
Letters of protest to
President Nicolae
Ceausescu of Romania are
currently being circulated
in the Senate by Sens.
Daniel Moynihan (D-NY)
OT A BUICK FOR YOU!
SHELDON METZ, SALES MGR.
SAVE
CALL ME TODAY
600 S. MAIN, ROYAL OAK
0 r r
i Et 94
:A OW. b.
M
THURS.
548-3600
and William Armstrong
(R-Colo.) and in the House
by Reps. Stephen Solarz
(D-NY) and Robert Dornan
(R-Calif.).
Reagan, despite his
strongly worded criticism of
Romania's emigration
policies and procedures, has
recommended to Congress
that MFN status be ex-
tended to Romania for an-
other year.
Under the 1974 Trade Re-
form Act which incorpo-
rates the Jackson/Vanik
Amendment, Congress can
vote preferred trade status---
for Communist bloc cow,
tries only after the
determines that
they have open emigration
policies. House hearings on
the matter are expected to
begin this mongh. The Se-
nate will hold hearings in
July.
Reagan, in his message
to Congress declared that
he was "gravely con-
cerned about the Roma-
nian government's fail-
ure to improve its re-
pressive emigration pro-
cedures and the signific-
ant decrease in Roma-
nian Jewish emigration
to Israel which is disturb-
ing.,
Reagan's message noted
that "This emigration has
dropped from an annual
rate of some 4,000 prior to
the 1975 extension of MFN
to Romania to the current
(1981) low level of 952. Fur-
thermore, contrary to the
1979 agreement with
American Jewish leaders,
Romania continues to
maintain a considerable
backlog of long-standing
emigration cases. This
backlog at present invovles
at least 652 cases," Reagan
said.
Birnbaum said that a
"high White House source"
informed him that "The
Administration will now be
sending a very strong letter
to the Romanian govern-
ment." He said the Center
for Russian and European
Jewry "heartily applauds"
Reagan's message. He said
however that the backlog of
emigration applications in
Romania was "well over
1,000" rather than the 652
figure cited by the
President.
Birnbaum called on
American Jewish leaders to
"insist that the Romanian
government raise the flow
of Jewish emigration to the
rate current before
Romania obtained -MFN in
1975, i.e. 3,000-4,000 per
annum", and that it reduce
to less than six months the
application procedure for
emigration.
`Super Sunday
Head Named
NEW YORK — Jerome J.
Dick of Arlington, Va., has
been named national
chairman of the United
Jewish Appeal (UJA)
"Super Sunday," scheduled
for Jan. 23, 1983. Dick has
served as chairman of the
fund-raising telethon for
the last two years.
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