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1.UP FRONT

Speech By Bush At U.N.
Stirs Up Hornet's Nest

JAMES BESSER and
IRA RIFKIN

Special to The Jewish News

id President Bush, in
his speech to the
United Nations this
week, intend to link the
Arab-Israeli conflict with
diplomatic efforts to defuse
the Gulf crisis?
Media pundits tended to
answer in the affirmative.
The Baltimore Evening Sun,
for example, editorialized
last week that the president
had unequivocally estab-
lished "linkage." The Wash-
ington Post, meanwhile,
tread somewhat more gin-
gerly, saying that the presi-
dent had only established "a
loose link."
The next day Thomas
Friedman, The Times'
Pulitzer-Prize winning Mid-
dle East analyst, weighed in
with a column saying that
the president, at the very
least, had established "an
implied link between the
two conflicts in the sense
that how the Gulf crisis is
resolved will have a major
effect on how, or whether,
the longstanding Arab-
Israeli conflict can also be
resolved."
Pro-Israel activists, on the

other hand, tended to play
down the president's
remarks as a restatement of
the obvious and not a new
— or ominous — sign of a
shift in American policy.
Israeli Foreign Minister
David Levy was also re-
ported to have attached little
significance to Mr. Bush's
statement.
The consensus held that
the speech, in so far as Israel
is concerned, was vintage
diplomatese intended to be
all things to all listeners.
Bolstering this argument
was the president's follow-up
news conference, at which
Mr. Bush cautioned against
reading into his speech any
shift in administration
policy.
Stated American policy
since the beginning of the
Gulf crisis has been to reject
Saddam Hussein's attempts
to link an Iraqi withdrawal
from Kuwait with any
aspect of the Arab-Israeli
conflict, particularly an
Israeli withdrawal from the
territories. But two
paragraphs buried about
mid-way through Mr. Bush's
Monday talk to the U.N.
General Assembly cast
doubt over continued White
House adherence to that

policy in the face of a loom-
ing bloody showdown with
Iraq.
The fear is that Israel will
be pressured to accept a set-
tlement it deems unfair so
that Saddam Hussein will
have an opportunity to back

down while still saving face
in the Arab world.
"Let me also emphasize
that all of us here at the
U.N. hope that military
force (against Iraq) will
never be used," the presi-
dent said. "We seek a

peaceful outcome, a diplo-
matic outcome. And one
more thing: in the aftermath
of Iraq's unconditional
departure from Kuwait, I
truly believe there may be

JNF Seeking
Land Sponsors

People of Israel Live) will
solicit sponsors for a Torah
to be written in Israel. The
proceeds will go to educa-
tional and social programs
for Soviet immigrants to
Israel.
Proceeds also will be used
to combat a missionary cam-
paign directed at Soviet olim
by evangelical Christians
and "Messianic Hebrews."
Am Yisrael Chai is a pro-
ject of Yad L'Achim, a 36-
year-old Israeli organization
that has been recognized by
the Absorption Ministry for
its work helping in the daily
needs of new olim from
throughout the world.
Mr. Begun, an engineer
and mathematician, will
take the completed Torah to
a Jewish community in the
Soviet Union for public
dedication.
For information, contact
the Am Yisrael Chai Sefer
Torah Project, c/o Yad
L'Achim, 1322 Avenue J,
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11230, (718)
377-5100.

Continued on Page 10

ROUND UP

New Organization
Fights Hunger

Cambridge, Mass. — A
group of Jewish leaders from
the United States, Latin
America, Africa and Israel
has launched a new interna-
tional organization to reduce
world poverty and hunger.
The group, Hesed Interna-
tional, was formed in re-
sponse to what its organizers
say is a growing despair
among the world's poor for
improvements in their stan-
dard of living.
Hesed International, based
in Cambridge, Mass., has in-
itiated emergency relief
campaigns for Mozambique
and Ethiopia, and has
planned development pro-
jects to benefit the poor in
Sri Lanka, the Philippines,
Zimbabwe, Mali, Nicaragua
and Brazil.
The group is headed by Dr.
Laurence Simon, a specialist
in problems of Third World
poverty and aid, and Rabbi
Marc Gopin, a graduate of
Yeshiva University.
"The talmudic rabbis saw
gemilut hasadim (acts of

great kindness) as a
cornerstone of spiritual life,
not only because it is ordain-
ed as a mitzvah, but because
it is through acts of hesed
that one can achieve a
unique moment of intimate
relation to the Divine
Presence in this world."
Rabbi Gopin said.
For information, contact
Hesed International, 32
Shepard St., Suite 34, Cam-
Mass., 02138, (617)
491-3006.

Jewish Soldiers
Observe Holidays

New York, N.Y. — Jewish
men and women in the U.S.
armed forces serving during
the Gulf crisis joined Jews
worldwide in celebration of
Rosh Hashanah and Yom
Kippur last month.
On the aircraft carrier
USS Saratoga, on duty in
the region, Rabbi Maurice
Kaprow led his sea-going
military congregation in
High Holy Day services.
Rabbi Kaprow is one of the
44 full-time Jewish military

Rabbi Maurice Kaprow and John
Dalpe prepare to lead Jewish ser-
vices aboard the USS Saratoga.

chaplains on active duty
with American forces.
Rabbi Kaprow, a lieute-
nant in the Navy, said Jew-
ish crew members shared
challah and apples and
honey on Rosh Hashanah.
He said the challah was
"baked by the ship's bakers
using a recipe from the First
Jewish Catalogue."
Rabbi Kaprow's efforts
aboard the Saratoga were
replicated throughout the
region, under the leadership
of Army Chaplain Rabbi Ben
Romer in Saudi Arabia and
Navy Chaplain Robert
Feinberg, serving in the
Sixth Fleet.

New York — The Jewish
National Fund is seeking
sponsors for its land devel-
opment work at sites
planned for housing Soviet
Jewish immigrants.
The cost for sponsoring an
individual site housing one
family is $5,000.
The JNF's work at the
sites is part of its Operation
Promised Land campaign,
the goal of which is to
reclaim land in the Galilee,
Jerusalem and Negev re-
gions for the absorption of
thousands of Soviet Jewish
emigres, as well as other
olim and young Israelis.
For information, call the
JNF, 1-800-542-8733.

Refusenik Heads
Olim Project

New York (JTA) — Dr.
Yosef Begun, who waited 17
years to emigrate from the
Soviet Union, is heading a
new project aimed at helping
Soviet olim to Israel.
"Am Yisrael Chai" (The

Compiled by
Elizabeth Applebaum

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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