gloomy picture of U.S. for-
eign aid. He said the foreign
aid budget — $14 billion this
year —will be consumed by
interest charged to the reci-
pients, and said the situa-
tion will not change "as long
as President Bush has a
`read my lips' attitude.
Israel and everyone else will
be seriously affected."
The only change in policy
proposed by the administra-
tion, Obey said, is to in-
crease the overall foreign aid
budget by $400 million. The
increase would be for
miltary aid.
The $300 million mention-
ed in recent months for
E2 stern Europe has not been
earmarked and "we will
have to reduce other foreign
aid outlays to find the
funds," he said.
Obey proposes cutting
military aid to Turkey,
Greece and Portugal
—specifically, payments for
allowing U.S. bases in those
countries — and using the
savings to provide more
economic aid to all reci-
pients.
Relations between Israel
and the United States have
deteriorated in recent mon-
ths, Obey said. "I honestly
believe President Bush
simply misspoke himself"
when he recently denounced
Jewish settlement in
Jerusalem. Obey believes
tension exists between Bush
and Israeli Prime Minister
Yitzhak Shamir over the
stalemated Middle East
peace process.
Internally, Obey said,
Israel "is being afflicted
with the same governmental
paralysis" seen in other
countries.
"The budget response in
the United States for the last
four years has been, 'The
peace dividend will be divid-
ed in this way: 50 percent for
foreign aid, 50 percent for
deficit reduction, 50 percent
for domestic spending and 50
percent for new math
teachers in Washington.' ".
He said unless the centrist
parties in Israel are given an
opportunity to govern, the
deterioration in relations
between Israel and the West
will continue for two to three
years. "I believe Shamir will
be able to form a govern-
ment, but I wouldn't give
you a nickel for it," he said.
"I don't know what Shamir
wants to do for peace."
During a question-and-
answer session, Obey was
asked why he led opposition
last month to a sense-of-the-
Congress resolution suppor-
ting Israel as the capital of
Jerusalem.
"I don't know anybody in
Congress who thinks
Jerusalem should not be
Israel's capital or that
Jerusalem should be divid-
ed," Obey responded. "But I
think the timing on this was
very stupid. Timing this
after the release of a hostage
(Robert Polhill) was like tell-
ing the Arab world to go to
hell.
"Congress has already
spoken on this issue and this
was nothing more than a
congressional press release."
Asked about Sen. Robert
Dole's recent Middle East
trip and pronouncements on
Jerusalem, Obey said Dole is
"a sophisticated man with
unsophisticated knowledge
of foreign affairs. He didn't
have to go to the Middle East
to know that the Jerusalem
resolution was a problem,
but he falls off both sides of
the horse on lots of issues."
Obey was pessimistic
about future foreign aid
levels. He said the U.S.
government's domestic
spending had fallen 40 per-
cent since 1980 and the
government will be
pressured to reduce foreign
aid to provide more domestic
programs.
Robert Alexander Jewelers
invites you to our
Spring Show.
Friday Evening, May 4th Saturday, May 5th.
❑
I NEWS 1
Lithuanian
War Criminals
Identified
Jerusalem (JPFS) — Listed
names of former Lithua-
nians suspected of war
crimes have been handed to
the embassies of West Ger-
many and Australia by
Efraim Zuroff, the director of
the Jerusalem branch of the
Simon Wiesenthal Center.
Another list will be hand-
ed to American authorities
in Washington. The list for
West Germany contains 131
names, 39 of which con-
stitute "good material for
prosecution," Zuroff said.
This means the suspects are
known to be alive and
residing in West Germany.
Zuroff said he expects Ger-
many to look into the possi-
ble whereabouts of the other
suspects listed, since his of-
fice was unable to do so.
The list submitted to
Australia contains 55
names, 19 of which are in
the "good material" class.
The information they con-
tain is based mainly on the
so-called "Koniuchovsky
File." A survivor of the
Kovno ghetto, Leibl
Koniuchovsky spent four
years after the war collec-
ting testimony from other
survivors regarding the
Lithuanian police.
Rings by Bagley & Hotchkiss
Bagley and Hotchkiss will bring their entire collection of rings, along with their
brand new collection of earrings and bracelets. A perfect gift in all price ranges for
Mother's Day, Graduation and Father's Day.
WINE & CHEESE
Friday, May 4th 6-10 p.m.
Saturday, May 5th 10 a.m. -6 p.m.
Robert ALEXANDER
Jewelers
Awarded Certificate by GlA in Diamond Grading
A Third Generation of Quality and Tradition in Diamonds and
Diamond Jewelry, passed down from Norman Allan
32419 Northwestern Highway Farmington Hills, Michigan 48018
Located between Middlebelt and Fourteen Mile Road
313.855-0040 Store Hours: Monday-Saturday 10-6 Thursday 10.8
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
13