BAG A SUBSCRIPTION CAPITOL REPORT WOLF BLITZER Is Congress Punishing Israel For Its Spying? I Subscribe To The Jewish News Today And Receive A Sturdy Tote Bag With Our Compliments! If you ever need a reason to become a Jewish News subscriber, now you have two. For starters, there's our new tote bag. It's roomy ... perfect for workout clothes, books, diapers, knitting. Most important, you'll receive The Jewish News every Friday in your mailbox for 52 weeks, plus our special supplements. We bring you the latest — from West Bloomfield to the West Bank. There are also new entertainment and singles sections, an amazing marketplace of goods and services for sale and the most comprehensive array of advertising informa- tion in the area. A great newspaper and a complimentary tote bag await you for our low $24 12-month subscription rate. Bag A Subscription To The Jewish News Yesl Start me on a subscription to The Jewish News for the period and amount circled below. Please send me the tote bag. Please clip coupon and mail to: JEWISH NEWS TOTE BAG 20300 Civic Center Dr. Southfield, Mich. 48076-4138 This offer is for new subscriptions only. Current NAME subscribers may order the tote bag for $5. Allow ADDRESS four weeks delivery. CITY STATE____ZIP (Circle 1 year: $24 — 2 years: $45 — Out of State: $26 — Foreign: $38 One) Enclosed $ — -- --------------- — — --- -- — ---------- - 32 Friday, April 3, 1987 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS n a major setback for Israel and Egypt, a key Congressional subcommit- tee has rejected the Reagan Administration's proposals to restructure those countries' huge debts to the United States. Israel stands to lose $300 million next year alone and as much as $2.5 billion over the next decade unless the legis- lation approved last week can be reversed. Egypt, whose overall debt to the U.S. is less than Israel's, will lose slight- ly less. Congressional obser- vers agreed that the action was designed in part to punish Israel for the Jona- than Jay Pollard spy scandal. Democratic Representative David Obey of Wisconsin, Chairman of the House Ap- propriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, of- fered an amendment to post- pone any Administration debt-relief action in advance of full Congressional hear- ings. The two main benefi- ciaries of the debt relief are Israel and Egypt. Obey's panel quickly ap- proved the measure as he and other members charged that the Administration was try- ing to evade full Congres- sional authority by unilateral- ly advancing the proposals. Late last year, the Reagan Administration came up with a scheme to help Israel and Egypt in repaying the in- terest on outstanding mili- tary loans to the United States. The Administration's com- plicated proposal, which did not require any new legisla- tion, would have allowed both countries to reduce their an- nual repayments to the U.S. over the next 20 to 30 years while accepting a lump-sum "balloon" repayment at the end of the overall period. But that is now up in the air. Neither Egypt nor Israel had yet actually accepted the Administration's two sepa- rate options for such debt relief but senior officials from both countries believed that the options still represented a solid foundation from which they could bargain for yet more relief. Israel, in fact, was quietly letting Egyptian leaders take the lead in pressing Washhig- ton for better terms. Israeli officials, however, made no secret of their strong desire to take advantage of the Ad- ministration's willingness to restructure Israel's debt to the U.S., which this year will come to just more than $1 billion in repayments of prin- cipal and interest. The debt-relief idea had originally been raised in 1985 by Democratic Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii and Republican Senator Bob Kasten of Wisconsin, the chairman and ranking minori- ty member of the Senate Ap- propriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations. They withdrew their legislation shortly after Pollard, a U.S. Naval Intelligence analyst, was arrested on charges of spying for Israel. However, the Reagan Ad- ministration itself effectively revived the Inouye-Kasten proposal. Under a compli- cated accounting procedure . "We changed the rules In the early 1980's. We recruited an Israeli to spy on Israel, and he got caught. This Is not a one-way street:' developed by the Administra- tion, no additional appropria- tions would be required by Congress. The federal budget would not be affected. But all of that is now up in the air, according to pro- Israeli observers in Washing- ton who were clearly sur- prised by Obey's amendment and its speedy passage. So far, the Administration's proposed $3 billion economic and military_ aid package for Israel appears relatively safe. Obey's amendment postpon- ing any debt relief does not af- fect that overall aid package. Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate has opened an investigation into the accuracy and proprie- ty of Republican Senator David Durenberger's sugges- tion that the U.S. had re- cruited a_senior Israeli army officer during the war in Lebanon in 1982. The Minnesota lawmaker, the immediate past Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has been sharply criticized by U.S. national security officials for sup- posedly releasing sensitive and classified information. Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger has publicly denied Durenberger's allega- tion, as have Israeli leaders. But The Washington Post and other U.S. sources in Washington have confirmed the thrust of his remarks,