HAVE YOU RECENTLY
LOST A LOVED ONE?
Hebrew Memorial Chapel
Announces
Grief Counseling Sessions
At No Charge
Pressure Is On Congress
To Approve Guarantees
JAMES D. BESSER
Washington Correspondent
group meetings at the chapel
on alternate Thursdays
beginning
August 29, 1991 at 7:15 p.m.
led by Elaine Burton Medwed, M.A.
For additional information,
call 543-1622
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Hebrew Memorial Chapel
26640 Greenfield Road
Oak Park, Michigan 48237
BAR-ILAN UNIVERSITY IN ISRAEL
AND ITS AMERICAN FRIENDS
MOURN THE PASSING OF
MAX STOLLMAN
ONE OF THE UNIVERSITY'S FOUNDERS;
FATHER OF ITS ESTEEMED MEMBERS OF THE GLOBAL
BOARD OF TRUSTEES, BARBARA AND BERNARD STOLLMAN;
HUSBAND OF THE LATE FRIEDA STOLLMAN,
THE UNIVERSITY'S "FIRST LADY" FOR SCORES OF YEARS; AND
BELOVED BROTHER OF PHILLIP STOLLMAN, THE HONORARY
CHAIRMAN OF THE UNIVERSITY'S GLOBAL BOARD OF TRUSTEES.
Bar-Ilan's accomplishments in its fewer than forty years would have been
impossible without the leadership, the vision, and the generosity of the
entire Stollman family. What they have done for virtually every worthy
cause of world Jewry and Judaism has won for them accolades beyond
description, but what they have done for Bar-Ilan makes them the fami-
ly that has been virtually peerless in Bar-Ilan's annals. To all of them
we extend sincerest condolences. Blessed we always were because of them
and blessed we are now that a second generation continues to lead.
May they be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.
RABBI EMANUEL RACKMAN, Chancellor
MRS. BELDA LINDENBAUM, President, American Board of Overseers
GENERAL (RES) YEHUDA HALEVY, Executive Vice President
NEAL ZALENKO, Detroit General Co-Chairman
LESLIE M. GOLDSTEIN, Mid-West Executive Director
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126
FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 1991
I
s the massive grass roots
effort on behalf of Israel's
impending request for
$10 billion in refugee ab-
sorption guarantees produc-
ing results?
. Legislators won't officially
tackle the issue until they
return from their summer
travels. But already, con-
gressional offices are repor-
ting that the campaign,
mounted by a coalition
under the direction of the
Conference of Presidents of
Major American Jewish
Organizations, is beginning
to bear fruit. The ad-
ministration seems reluc-
tant to approve of the five-
year loan guarantee unless
Israel halts West Bank set-
tlements, but Congress is
more positive toward Israel's
scheduled request.
In Nebraska, pro-Israel
leaders responded to early
calls for letters to senators
and congressmen by organi-
zing a massive state-wide
mailing designed to ge-
nerate an avalanche of mail
to Capitol Hill.
Jewish activists in Miami
have worked actively with
newspapers in the state,
resulting in a number of
stories explaining the hu-
manitarian basis of the loan
guarantee program, in
which the U.S. government
will back up loans to Israel
made by private banks.
Buffalo, Cincinnati and
Chicago have been hot spots
for organizers of the
September 12 mobilization
in Washington to punctuate
the pro-guarantees crusade.
In numerous states, Jew-
ish activists are taking ad-
vantage of the summer con-
gressional recess by meeting
with their senators and con-
gressmen.
"These are the kinds of
things the Jewish commun-
ity does best," said Dan
Mariaschin, public affairs
director for B'nai B'rith
International. "There's no
question that the response
from the community has
been phenomenal."
Although the campaign to
influence Congress is
scheduled to begin in
earnest at the end of the
month, congressional offices
are already feeling the im-
pact of the nationwide effort.
House and Senate staffers
report a big surge of pro-loan
guarantee mail and phone
calls in July. A second surge
is expected in early
September after rabbis
deliver messages on the loans
during the High Holidays.
"Every office is telling us
the same thing," said
Malcolm Hoenlein, director
of the President's Con-
ference and the man at the
center of the far-flung effort.
"They're receiving an
unbelievable amount of mail
on this. And remember: the
real push won't begin until
September."
In recent days, several pro-
Israel members of Congress
have been planning a
strategy for influencing the
Office of Management and
Budget —the important ex-
ecutive-branch agency that
will determine exactly how
much money the guarantees
will cost American tax-
payers.
As a result of last year's
infamous "budget sum/nit,"
budget director Richard
Darman must come up with
a figure that will represent
the costs of the loan guar-
antees to the American tax-
payer — at least as far as
government bookkeepers are
concerned.
That figure will reflect
OMB's assessment of the
probability that Israel will
default on the loans — some-
thing most observers con-
sider highly unlikely. But it
will also be an assessment
against Israel to help cover
other guarantees that go
sour.
Mr. Darman is expected to
"score" the loan guarantees
at anywhere from one to
seven percent of the $10
billion total. A very low
number could help ease the
loan guarantees through
Congress; a high number
might give legislators a good
economic excuse to pare
back Israel's request.
So far, OMB refuses to talk
about what they call
"hypothetical" loans; Israel
will not be officially making
its request until after Labor
Day.
Tactically, one more issue
has developed in recent days
to keep pro-Israel activists
on their toes.
What Israel wants, and
what pro-Israel groups here
are pushing for, is legisla-
tion granting the full $10
billion in guarantees, to be
spread out over five years.
But some legislators are
quietly suggesting that only
one year's worth of loan
guarantees should be ap-
proved at a time.