GULF

CRISIS

Keeping Kosher

Continued from preceding page

mechanisms.
"There is too much left to
the individual in terms of
policy," said U.S. Rep. Ben-
jamin L. Cardin, D-
Maryland. "I would like to
see more control by the
military."
Contrary to Col. Peterson's
assertion, several military
officials have estimated that
between 30 and 100 kashrut-
observant servicemen are on
duty.
"The fact is, we do have
guys over there who are
kosher," said one Jewish
Army officer, who asked not
to be identified. "They
haven't brought it up be-
cause they assume that it is
not available. Or they have
been in the military long
enough to know that it
hasn't been available in the
past."
"If people knew that it was
available," he said, "there
would be more guys asking
for it."
As to the kashrut of
military fare, "There are no
kosher MBEs and no plans
to produce them at the pre-
sent time," said Jan
Finegan, a spokeswoman for
the Alexandria, Va.-based
Army Materiel Command,

which is responsible for the
military rations.
"I won't eat anything out
of an MRE," said the Jewish
Army officer, who is
kashrut-observant. "One or
two are trying to pick apart
their MBEs, taking a chance
that the peanut butter might
be kosher."
Dr. Stiebel added that
"theoretically I couldn't
even eat the applesauce, be-
cause I don't know where it
comes from."
Until these conflicts can be
resolved to the satisfaction
of the concerned servicemen,
they have begun an attempt
to secure their own kosher
rations, before they are sent
overseas.
Mitchell Ackerson, a
chaplain with the 2nd and
52nd Air Defense Artillery
in Ft. Bragg, N.C., said he
has been "trying to find a
kosher substitute ration for
those troops who do or would
prefer to keep kosher."
He has been asking kosher
food companies — including
B. Manischewitz Co. and two
Canadian firms that spe-
cialize in kosher pre-
packaged and dried camping
foods — about producing
ready-to-eat kosher meals. 111

Israeli Leaders Biting
Their Tongue on Iraq

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36

Anita's Kitchen • Baby & Me • Beach Bound • Bleu Moon
Complaisant/Stadium • Continental Exclusives • Creations by Pollak's
Designer Lady • Designer Shoe Outlet • F&M Distributors
The Honey Tree • ilona & gallery • Kitty Wagner Facial Salon
Leona's • Let's Entertain • Loehmann's • Mario Max
Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum • Max & Erma's
Miss Barbara's Dance Center • Ms. Threads • Nusrala's • Pages & Pages
Powerhouse Gym • Rare Coin Gallery • Rena Travel & Tour
Seventh Heaven • Sherri's • Silver Fox Furs

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1990

Since the Persian Gulf
crisis began, Israel has
been caught in a quan-
dary: It can't be perceived
as clamoring for the
United States to go to
war, yet its instincts for
survival call for Saddam
Hussein's military
obliteration.
These contradictory in-
terests keep popping up in
statements from Israeli
officials. In late August,
for example, Prime Min-
ister Yitzhak Shamir told
a Knesset committee,
"Israel isn't pushing the
U.S. to do anything. Who
are we to push the only
superpower in the world
today? We aren't pushing
the U.S. into any kind of
war.
But around the same
time, Defense Minister
Moshe Arens said, "If
Saddam Hussein remains
in his post, and if the
weapons in his possession
remain in his possession,
then there will be room
for worry from us, the
whole region and the
whole world."
This delicate balance
between not prodding

"

America into combat
while articulating Israel's
strategic interests has
continued as the crisis has
festered. In October, one
of Israel's highest
military officials caution-
ed that Israel did not in-
tend to advise the Bush
administration on its
policy toward Iraq. He
then added that a political
option "is the most
dangerous option."
And just last weekend,
Ariel Sharon, Israel's
Housing Minister, told a
group of visiting Ameri-
can Jews, "For Israel, for
the Middle East and for
the world, it would have
been much better if the
United States had not
stepped into the Persian
Gulf — if the end of the
crisis will be that Saddam
Hussein stays in power."
Mr. Sharon is often con-
sidered an outspoken
maverick on such
matters. But "this time,"
said a senior Israel offi-
cial, he "is saying what's
on all our minds. Maybe
its not wise to say it, but
it's the truth."
A.J.M.

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