INSIDE WASHINGTON
Jewish Groups Helped
Civil Rights Act Passage
JAMES D. BESSER
Washington Correspondent
L
ast week's passage of
the Civil Rights Act of
1990 by the House rep-
resented a major victory for
both the civil rights com-
munity and for a number of
Jewish groups that had
worked for the bill since its
conception.
The bill reverses a series of
recent Supreme Court deci-
sions that make it more
difficult for employees to
prove discrimination cases
against their employers. The
measure also provides for
monetary damages in some
cases of discrimination —
although a compromise
amendment puts a cap on
such damages.
For Jewish activists, it was
a grueling fight marked by
some of the most intensive
lobbying in recent memory.
"In the past week, we've
been involved in a tremen-
dous number of coalition
meetings," said Judy Golub,
associate Washington repre-
sentative for the American
Jewish Committee. "We
have visited so many mem-
bers of Congress I can't even
remember them all. We met
with Attorney General Dick
Thornburgh, and we walked
the halls on Capitol Hill to
find members who were
wavering on the bill."
Jewish groups like the
American Jewish Corn-
mittee and the Anti-
Defamation League also ac-
tivated their grass roots
networks to produce a steady
outpouring of calls and
letters to House members.
The Jewish organizations
played an especially signifi-
cant role in countering ad-
ministration claims that the
measure would promote in-
advertent quotas.
The bill, which cleared the
Senate last month, now
must go to conference to iron
out relatively minor differ-
ences between the two ver-
sions. That is not expected to
happen until Congress
returns from its August
recess.
Until then , the emphasis
will be on generating an-
other round of calls and
letters — this time to the
White House in an attempt
to head off a veto.
USSR Needs Jews'
Advice, Says UCSJ
The Soviet Union's move
toward democracy has pro-
foundly changed local
governments in the USSR,
according to a leading Soviet
Jewry activist just back from
a two-week trip to that coun-
try.
Jews' involvement in that
process will be a critical fac-
tor in protecting Soviet Jews
from the rising tide of na-
tionalism and anti-
Semitism, according to
Micah Naftalin, national di-
rector of the Union of Coun-
cils of Soviet Jews (UCSJ).
Naftalin and UCSJ's pres-
ident, Pamela Cohen, were
struck by the new openness
of local politics in the Soviet
Union — and at the in-
stability of these new-borne
institutions.
"The most dramatic thing
that happened to us is that
Pam was invited to speak at
the Leningrad Soviet," said
Naftalin, who explained that
this is the equivalent of a
city council. "In Leningrad,
the Soviet has been taken
over by a majority of pro-
democrats."
Naftalin stressed that this
grass-roots political revo-
lution needs support from
outside. And that Jewish
contributions to the process
are particularly important.
"They're going to need a
lot of help in defining their
actual authority," he said,
"and in getting advice on the
basic elements of governing
— how to organize a city
council, how to provide ser-
vices."
The bottom line, he
argued, is that the safety of
Jews remaining in the
Soviet Union may depend on
the success of this political
education process.
Despite his positive im-
pression of the local pro-
democracy movement, Naf-
talin also encountered wide-
spread fear that the entire
Soviet system was on the
verge of flying apart.
"This was the perception
of almost everybody we talk-
ed to — Jewish leaders, pro-
democracy leaders, even
some officials of the foreign
ministry," Naftalin said.
Will U.S. Push Repeal
Of Anti-Zionist Decree?
.
There are conflicting
signals coming from Wash-
ington about just how hard
the administration will
press for a repeal of the
United Nations 1975
"Zionism as Racism"
declaration.
Recently, Congress passed
legislation urging repeal of
the controversial proclama-
tion. The administration has
taken some quiet steps to
begin the process of convinc-
ing U.N. members to vote for
the repeal — including an
order by the State Depart-
ment to some 80 U.S. em-
bassies abroad to begin
sounding out foreign
governments on their posi-
tions on the issue.
Later this month, assis-
tant secretary of state for
international organization
affairs John Bolton will
travel to Israel to discuss the
international effort. Mr.
Bolton, according to sources
here, favors pressing for a
repeal even if it appears the
effort will fail; even a strong
showing against the Zionism
as Racism formulation
would represent a moral vic-
tory, according to this point
of view.
But others within the ad-
ministration worry that a
moral victory without an ac-
tual repeal could work to
Israel's disadvantage.
"They're looking at the
possibility that the debate at
the U.N. would be very hard
to control," said an official
with one Jewish organiza-
tion here. "Parliamentary
moves could turn this into
an even more anti-Israel
resolution than we have
now."
Still others within the ad-
ministration feel it would be
inappropriate for this coun-
try to press hard on the U.N.
issue until the Middle East
peace process moves for-
ward.
And the Israelis have
reacted to the mounting U.S.
effort with caution. The
Israelis appear wary of any
effort that is not certain to
succeed.
D.C. Mayor Marion Barry
No Anti-Semitic Element
Found About Barry Trial
When the drug and perjury
trial of District of Columbia
Mayor Barry went to the
jury last week, a group of
local religious leaders got
together in an attempt to
defuse some of the racial and
religious tensions swirling
around the sensational trial.
"Our sense is that the
racial polarization we've
seen during the trial pre-
date Barry's arrest," said
Rabbi Andrew Baker, presi-
dent of the Washington
Board of Rabbis. "The Inter-
faith Conference of
Metropolitan Washington
felt it was important to come
together and talk about
what might happen after a
verdict."
Despite the presence of
Nation of Islam leader Louis
Farrakhan at the trial,
Rabbi Baker said, the angry
rhetoric surrounding the
proceedings has not included
expressions of anti-
Semitism.
"While there has been a
lot of polarization, it is more
along the black-white lines,"
he said. "But to the extent
that we see heightening
black-white tensions, that's
obviously not good for black-
Jewish relations."
The interfaith statement
was signed by more than 80
religious leaders, including
two area rabbis.
Jews Trying To Overturn
Military Abortion Regs
In case anybody needed
any further proof that the
debate over abortion has
worked its way into every
corner of American political
life, the gigantic Pentagon
authorization bill became a
behind-the-scenes
battleground for some Jew-
ish groups concerned about
regulations making it
difficult for military per-
sonnel to get abortions.
Amid the controversial
proposals to eliminate the
B-2 "stealth" bomber and
slash the administration's
beloved "Star Wars" scheme
was a provision that would
have reversed a Reagan-era
measure that prohibits abor-
tions on foreign military
bases.
Last week, Sen. Timothy
Wirth introduced an
amendment to the Pentagon
spending bill to overturn a
Reagan-era regulation for-
bidding the use of military
hospitals abroad for abortion
services.
Before the policy shift,
military personnel and their
dependents could use
military hospitals for abor-
tions — if they paid for- the
service. Since then, military
families have been forced to
seek more expensive and
sometimes less safe
facilities.
Several Jewish groups
were involved in the fight,
including the Religious Ac-
tion Center of the Union of
American Hebrew Con-
gregations, the National
Federation of Temple
Sisterhoods and the Nation-
al Council of Jewish Women.
But in the end, the mea-
sure was set aside in the
rush to pass a Pentagon bill
before the summer recess.
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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
27