A fresh look at some recent stories in the headlines. Israel Bonds Holiday Appeal Down A Bit City-Suburb Differences On Joint Agenda ALAN /RISKY ASSOCIATE EDITOR RUTH LITTMANN STAFF WRITER I Conservative, Re- form and Humanist congregation will feature some of metro- politan Detroit's major political players in a dis- cussion about city-suburb relations. Congregation Beth Shalom — Temple Shir Shalom and the Birm- ingham Temple have joined hands to sponsor Detroit and Its Suburbs: Confrontation or Cooper- ation. A Search For a Common Agenda." The dialogue will be held at the Birmingham Temple 8 p.m. Nov. 25. There is no charge. Panelists will include Oakland County Execu- tive L. Brooks Patterson, Wayne County Executive Edward McNamara, De- troit City Council Presi- dent Maryann Mahaffey and Don Barden, a De- troit business leader. A nitial figures show that investments in Israel Bonds from the annu- al High Holidays appeal at 14 area synagogues were down 16 percent from last year. Appeal chairman My- ron Milgrom and Her- shell Wais, director of the Israel Bond campaign in Michigan, said 691 pur- chasers invested in $1.8 lion. Mr. Milgrom said the 1993 figures are not final, as many investors take the pledge cards home with them and make their deci- sion after the hol- idays. "It's not fair numbers because the $2.18 million is last year's final figure and the $1.8 mil- lion this year is prelimi- nary," Mr. Milgrom said. "That number always goes up." The local Israel Bonds is planning to send a fol- low-up letter to persons who invested last year but not this year. Last year's High Holidays ap- million in Israel Bonds peal accounted for 12 per- during the Rosh cent of Bonds' $17.9 Hashanah and Yom Kip- million Michigan total. pur appeals this year. In Money invested in Is- 1992, 771 purchasers in- rael Bonds is used by Is- vested nearly $2.2 mil- rael for economic Milgrom said the 1993 figures are not final. development. Congregations partic- pating in the High Holi- days appeal included: Adat Shalom, Beth Abra- ham Hillel Moses, Beth Achim, Beth Shalom, B'nai David, B'nai Moshe, Shaarey Shomay- im, Shomrei Emunah, Bais Chabad of West- Bloomfield and the Young Israels of Green- field, Oak-Woods, South- field and West Bloomfield. "The event, we are hoping, will drama- tize the need for co- operation between Detroit and its sub- urbs. In order for the city of Detroit, which is on the eve of a ma- jor election, to begin anew, the polariza- tion that has existed and continues to worsen must be re- L. Brooks Patterson versed," said Marty Sponsors of the event Burnstein, former pres- also say the forum ident of The Birmingham demonstrates interde- Temple and event coor- nominational teamwork. dinator. "Different congrega- Rabbi David Nelson of tions with three different Congregation Beth spiritual leaders can Shalom believes the come together on impor- event holds significance tant issues, not in the for Jews. spirit of competitiveness, "When we travel but in the spirit of trying abroad or wherever we to be part of the solution are we say we're Detroi- to a major dilemma of ters. That has to mean our time," Rabbi Nelson something," he said. "Our said. "The dilemma is our future is tied to the well- relationship to our core being of our city." city." President Clinton Promises Jewish Community Council Investigation On Missing Protests Demjanjuk ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM ASSISTANT EDITOR p resident Bill Clinton is committed to re- solving the question of four Israeli service- men, three of whom have been missing in action for more than 10 years. In a letter to Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., the president said the fate of the men remains an impor- tant humanitarian issue for the United States" and promised to "contin- ue to pursue the matter in every way possible." This past summer, the American Zionist Move- ment and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Orga- niza- LESLEY PEARL STAFF WRITER tions launched major campaigns to press for the release of Israel De- fense Force soldiers Zachary Baumel, Zvi Feldman and Yehuda Katz, all missing follow- ing a 1982 clash in Lebanon with Syrian forces; and Air Force Capt. Ron Arad, who in 1986 was taken by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. President Clinton's comments came in re- sponse to a letter initi- ated by Rep. Ackerman and cosigned by 73 members of Congress. Rep. Ackerman's letter urged the White House and State Department to "work diligently" to gain the release of Ron Arad _ the only one of the four believed to be still alive — and in- formation on the other three. eannie Weiner isn't happy John Demjan- juk is living comfort- ably in Ohio. Neither are other indi- viduals in the 270 orga- nizations comprising the Jewish Community Council over which Ms. Weiner presides. In response to the re- turn to the United States of the admitted concen- tration camp guard, the JCCouncil has aproached U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno in protest. A letter, following the unanimous vote of coun- cil representatives, states no legal evidence casts doubt that Mr. Deman- juk served in the German SS at the Trawniki train- ing camp, and his undis- puted years as a Nazi war criminal bar him from entering the United States. The JCCouncil sup- 41 ports the U.S. Justice De- "Some sympathy has partment and its contin- been expressed that Mr. uing search for Nazi war Demjanjuk is old and the criminals and urges ac- Holocaust was a long tion be taken to deport time ago. Some people Mr. Demjanjuk don't think he was Ivan "For Jews, being sym- the Terrible. That's not pathetic to the point." immigrants — as we are an immi- grant na- tion — it is striking when there is a clear ex- ception to the law here," Ms. Weiner said. We're alerting Ms. Reno to the fact that more than 270 organi- zations in Detroit alone John Demjanjuk agree with this thinking.