museum hierarchy suggest
that the West German re-
quests were rejected "directly
and forcefully" as inap-
propriate for a museum
designed to commemorate the
victims of the Nazi regime.
Legislators
Opposing
Arms Sale
As Secretary of Defense
Frank Carlucci travels
through the Middle East,
there is growing speculation
that his trip may be laying
the groundwork for a new and
huge arms sale to. several
Arab countries.
In response, three leading
pro-Israel legislators are plan-
ning a letter to President-
elect George Bush in what
one House staffer called "a
shot across the bow. We want
Alan Cranston:
Opposing arms sale.
Bush to know that the kinds
of sales we've been hearing
about will be strenuously op-
posed."
For several weeks, there has
been speculation about a sale
to Saudi Arabia that would
include advanced F-18 air-
craft, Sidewinder missiles
and Bradley Fighting
Vehicles. Some estimates of
the final price tag of the sale
have gone as high as $8
billion.
"We are pretty sure of the
details of the sale," said an of-
ficial with a Jewish group
that's planning to fight the
sale. "The only question is
when it will be made official—
and the final totals of the
sale."
The letter opposing the sale
is being put together by Rep.
Mel Levine, (D-Calif.), Rep.
Larry Smith, (D-Fla.), and
Sen. Alan Cranston,
(D-Calif.).
Jewish Groups
Took Low Profile
On Arafat Visa
The worldwide debate is
continuing over Secretary of
State George Shultz's deci-
sion to block a visa for PLO
leader Yassir Arafat, but
some Jewish leaders are
quietly patting themselves on
the back for their role in the
affair.
With few exceptions, Jewish
groups maintained an excep-
tionally low profile during the
furious debate within the
State Department over Ara-
fat's request to come to New
York.
In part, the low-key ap-
proach reflected divisions
within the Jewish communi-
ty over the wisdom of denying
Arafat a visa. And in part, it
reflected a determination to
make sure that the decision
was seen as based on
American interests, not
Jewish pressure.
"We get criticized when we
make mistakes, so I think it's
important that the Jewish
community could get credit
when it does things well,"
said Malcolm Hoenlein, ex-
ecutive director of the Con-
ference of Presidents of Major
Jewish Organizations. "We
never went forward and
demanded this action; there
was never any implication
that we tried to promote this
decision."
Instead, Hoenlein said,
Jewish groups relied on
Shultz's inherent dislike of
terrorist. organizations—and
on low-key information about
the role of the PLO in a varie-
ty of violent acts.
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Court Postpones
Appeal
Jerusalem (JTA) — Israel's
High Court of Justice will not
hear John Demjanjuk's ap-
peal of his war crimes convic-
tion and death sentence until
next May.
The postponement was re-
quested by Demjanjuk's
defense attorney, Yoram
Sheftel, who must find a
replacement for the late Dov
Eitan.
Eitan, a member of the
defense team, recently com-
mitted suicide by jumping
from the 15th floor of an office
building in downtown
Jerusalem.
Demjanjuk was identified
at his trial as the Treblinka
death camp guard known as
"Ivan the Terrible."
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 3'