In public, pro-Israel forces con-
tinue to insist that next year's
$3.2 billion in aid to Israel is safe.
But in private, they say that the
accelerating momentum driving
the budget cutters — and the fact
that even core domestic programs
will be slashed when the blood-
letting is finished — will make it
almost impossible to resist any
effort on the House or Senate
floor to cut Israel's aid.
The budget chaos also means
that it is unlikely Congress will
scrape together additional funds
to support the faltering Middle
East peace process. There is
growing speculation that Syrian
President Hafez Assad's reluc-
tance to continue direct negoti-
ations with Israel is related to his
perception that the conservative
Congress is not likely to give him
the aid and trade benefits that he
wants.
The rush to cut the budget will
also give Washington less flexi-
bility in supporting the experi-
ment in Palestinian self-rule in
Gaza and the West Bank.
In theory, Pentagon programs
are safe from the meat-axe bud-
geting. But when the numbers
start to fly, nothing will be safe,
including the numerous strate-
gic cooperation programs that are
vital for Israel's security.
But there is another aspect to
the upcoming battle of the bud-
get that should concern the Jew-
ish community. The recent
terrorist explosion in Oklahoma
was just one more indication of a
new social volatility in our nation,
a growing level of intolerance and
intergroup friction that threat-
ens our democracy itself.
In recent decades, the govern-
ment-funded social service net-
work has played a significant role
in limiting the impact of enor-
mous disparities of wealth and
opportunity that continue to char-
acterize our society, despite our
egalitarian ethos.
In a sense, part of our big fed-
eral budget deficit is the price we
all pay for a modicum of social
stability.
Hasty, ill-considered efforts to
balance the budget by hacking
away at programs that ease the
lot of millions of Americans may
add enormously to the rise in in-
tergroup conflict.
In the impending budget fight,
powerful groups will be able to
protect their government perks
more effectively than the power-
less; that, too, will add to the ex-
plosiveness of our current social
environment.
And as history teaches with
such depressing clarity, times of
burgeoning social strife are al-
ways bad for the Jews. ❑
NJCRAC Seeks
Pollard's Parole
New York (JTA) — As Jonathan
Pollard nears his first parole
hearing, most of the organized
American Jewish community is
now calling for his release.
The National Jewish Commu-
nity Relations Advisory Council
called on the U.S. Parole Com-
mission to parole Pollard.
Mr. Pollard, a former U.S.
Navy analyst, was arrested in
November 1985 for passing clas-
sified information to Israel. After
pleading guilty, he was sentenced
in 1987 to life in prison.
Mr. Pollard will first be eligi-
ble for parole in November. The
parole hearing is scheduled for
May, according to Pollard lawyer
Nancy Luque.
Ms. Luque called the NJCRAC
letter "a critical piece of support
for Pollard's parole, signaling an
across-the-board belief that he's
paid for his crime."
NJCRAC is an umbrella group
for 13 national and 117 local com-
munity relations agencies.
NJCRAC's support at this
juncture, said Ms. Luque, has
added weight because of
NJCRAC's reluctance to support
Mr. Pollard's quest for clemency.
"It isn't like this is just a bunch
of Jews getting together and say-
ing he should be given a break.
These were some of his harshest
critics in some ways," she said.
NJCRAC's long-standing re-
fusal to engage in advocacy for
Mr.Pollard made it the focus of
some of the Jewish community's
most heated debates over Mr.
Pollard.
In the 1980s, a NJCRAC com-
mittee decided that Mr. Pollard's
fate was not a matter of Jewish
communal concern because there
was no evidence that anti-Semi-
tism motivated the life sentence
imposed on Mr. Pollard.
But after Mr. Pollard's legal
appeals were exhausted, his time
in prison lengthened and his
staunch supporters attracted in-
creasing numbers of people to the
campaign for his freedom, the
mainstream Jewish organiza-
tions began shifting their stance.
As an umbrella group, howev-
er, NJCRAC was one of the slow-
est to change course.
In 1993, delegates to the orga-
nization's annual plenum voted
down a proposal to ask President
Clinton to review Mr. Pollard's
sentence with an eye toward
clemency.
The next year, NJCRAC ap-
proved sending a letter to the
president.
In Honor of National Nurses Week
May 6 - May 12
The Greater Detroit Chapter of Hadassah
Nurses Council Recognizes and
Supports Our Colleagues in Israel.
Patricia Averbuch, RN
Linda Belkin, RN
Nancy R. Berman, RN, CS, MSN
Debbie Bernstein, RN, BSN, MBA
Randee Bloom, RN, MBA
Suzy S. Darmon, RN
Deborah Orloff-Davidson, RN, MPh
Audrey Demak, RN, BS
Fern Carnick Edelstein, RN
Debra Eichenhorn, RN
Annette L. Frumin Elyazam, RN, MSN
Marilynn Emmer, RN
Deedee Fair, RN
Jan Walters Faultersack, RN, BSN
Laurel Felsenfeld, RN, BSN, CRRN
Jane M. Foreman, RN, BSN
Pamela Friedman, CRNA
Sharon Gadoth'
Lisa Gather, RN
Susan Gibbs, RNC
Susan Ginzler, BA, RN
Meredith Goldberg, RN, BSN
Carol Golob, RN, BSN
Meryl Greene, RN, BSN
Cathy Herman, RN, BSN
Roslyn Holtz, RN
Barbara Horowitz, RN, MSN
Elaine Horowitz, RNC, BA, BSN
Libby Kaplan, RN
Susan Kay, RNC, M.Ed.
Bonnie Sue Korn, RN, MSN
Randee Kovacs, RN, BSN
Shirley Kramer, RN
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Susan T. Lankowsky, RN, MSN
Susan D. Loss, RN, BSN
Debra L. Luria, MSN, RN, CS
Cindy Madgy, RNC
Andrea Marcus, RN, MS
Adele Mattingly, RN
Phyllis Meer, RN, BSN, CPNP
Joyce Meckler Miller, RN, BSN
Cynthia Nagel, CRNA, BSN
Barbara Nowak
Elaine Robins
Rita G. Rubin, RN
Agnes Schare, RN, BSN
Joy Schumacher
Elaine Serling, RN
Deborah L. Silverman, RN, BSN
Lori Steinlauf, RN
Barbara Stern, RN
Rhoda Tashjian, RN
Gail R. Victor, RN, BSN
Carol Walters, RN, BSN
Elaine Webber, MS, RNCS
Rosanne Weiler, RN
Sandra Weiss, RN, BSN
Lois Winer, BSN, RN
Wendy Winkler, BSN, RN
Beth Zoller, RN
For membership information call Hadassah 683-5030 or 357-2920
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