Ian efforts, especially her advocacy on
behalf of children and women.
Previous recipients of the award
have included former First Lady
Eleanor Roosevelt and Nobel Laureate
Elie Wiesel.
The Zionist Organization of
America sees the award as another slap
at Israel. "We've expressed our concern
that we don't think a Zionist organiza-
tion should be giving an award to
someone who has called for a PLO
stare with unrestricted sovereignty, and
who sat on a board that gave grants to
the pre-1993 PLO," said Morton
Klein, ZOA's president, referring to
Clinton's work with the leftist New
World Foundation.
"We think Henrietta Szold would
not have supported giving an award
named in her honor to Ms. Clinton."
Interfaith Effort
Retreats From D.C.
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, the Chicago
rabbi who had hoped to forge a new
alliance between Jews and evangelical
Christians to affect policy in
Washington, is retreating back to the
Windy City.
Rabbi Eckstein's Center for Jewish
and Christian Values, which opened
three years ago under the co-sponsorship
of two prominent senators, is closing its
Washington office.
The organization will
continue to operate
from the Chicago
headquarters of its
parent group, the
International
Fellowship of
Christians and Jews,
.4%
but Rabbi Eckstein
Rabbi Yechiel
conceded that the
Eckstein
organization would
shift its focus away
from hot political issues.
"We're pulling back; it's a retrench-
ment," he said. "It won't have the
same luster of being in Washington,
and it will be less directly political. It
will be activism in a different form."
One factor in the decision, Eckstein
said, was the difficulty of managing
the group by remote control. He
agreed that another reason was his
reluctance to do what it takes to have
an impact in Washington.
Eckstein's group helped push a
1998 law enlisting the federal govern-
ment to fight religious persecution
overseas, but was less successful in get-
ting Jewish and Christian groups to
oin on other issues.
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1999
Detroit Jewish News
27