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A Million Moms
Gun-control effort gets serious backing
from Jewish organizations.
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10
efforts," said AJCongress director Phil
Baum. "We are working very closely
with the planners of the march." The
ewish groups will be at the fore- Religious Action Center of Reform
Judaism and the Orthodox Union,
front of the May 14 "Million
groups that rarely find themselves on
Moms' March" in Washington,
the same side of controversial issues,
an effort to mobilize public
are also supporting the gathering.
outrage to blast through congressional
The RAC will begin the day with a
roadblocks against serious gun control
"(Gun) Locks and Bagels" event to
measures.
welcome participants.
In fact, the architect of the march
"The march is really something
was moved to action by the televised
that's taken off quite dramatically in
images of last summer's grisly Jewish
our community," said RAC Associate
Community Center shootings in
Director Mark Pelavin."
California.
The march Web site makes it clear
Donna Dees-Thomases, a New Jersey .
its planners are fed up with the unwill-
parent, said that the impetus for her
ingness of the Republican-led House of
decision to organize the march, which
Representatives to buck the National
promoters hope will attract upwards of
Rifle Association and other powerful
100,000 women in Washington and
pro-gun
groups. House Majority Whip
thousands more in selected cities around
Tom DeLay (R-Texas), who told a
the country, was the JCC shootings and
Capitol Hill newspaper that "This
the fact that her own children attend a
House is a Pro-Gun House," is pic-
JCC in New Jersey.
tured on the home page wearing a
"On Aug, 10 (1999), I had a wake-
dunce's cap in a "time out" corner.
up call," Dees-Thomases said in an
But the organizers aren't strictly
open letter on the March Web site. "I
partisan;
they give their "Mom's Apple
was watching news about the Granada
Pie"
award
to a number of public offi-
Hills day camp shooting. The images
cials, including New York Gov.
of terrified children being led in a line
George Pataki and Rep. Connie
from the carnage that had just taken
Morella (Md.), both Republicans, for
place inside were too much to bear.
"I felt ashamed — ashamed because their support for stronger gun laws.
I've sat back while others battle the
gun lobby to protect our children."
Boy Scout Case
A week later Dees-Thomases
The Supreme Court was due to hear
applied for a march permit, put up a
arguments this week in a New Jersey
Web site and began organizing.
case involving a Boy Scout leader who
An unusual coalition of Jewish
was expelled from the organization
groups have signed on. Several expect to
because he is gay.
play leading roles in the event.
The Boy Scouts of America argues
"The march is really resonating in the
that James Dale violated the section of
Jewish community because it focuses on
the Scout oath requiring members to
children, and on the sensible gun con-
be "morally straight." But lawyers for
trols that should be in place to protect
Dale, who sued the Scouts in 1992,
our kids," said Sammie Moshenberg,
say the organization is a kind of quasi-
Washington director for the National
public institution that cannot be
Council of Jewish Women, which will
allowed to discriminate.
host busloads of members from cities up
The New Jersey Supreme Court
and down the East Coast. "This march
agreed with that interpretation last
is really speaking to our people."
year in ruling in Dale's favor. That's
Also on board: Hadassah and the
the position supported by the Anti-
American Jewish Congress, which is
Defamation League, which has filed
leading a nationwide petition drive
an amicus brief supporting Dale.
backing stronger gun laws.
"The Boy Scouts is comprised of
"This is something we hope will
hundreds of thousands of people,"
give added impetus to our own
said Michael Lieberman, ADL's
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Washington counsel. "It's not a 'club,'
strictly speaking. That's one of the dis-
tinctions on which this case turns."
And the Scouts are an American icon,
he said; if the group is allowed to dis-
criminate, it will have a chilling
impact on civil rights in general.
The Orthodox Union has filed an
amicus brief on the other side.
"We're supporting the Boy Scouts,"
said Nathan Diament, director of the
group's Institute for Public Affairs.
"We don't think the New Jersey
Supreme Court or any other court or
legislature should be able to tell a pri-
vate civic association what their beliefs
should be." And Diament said a- rul-
ing against the Boy Scouts could ulti-
mately force churches and synagogues
`to be bound by gay rights laws.
"
US. Presence
The Israeli-Palestinian talks are back
on track, but it doesn't look like the
track will lead to the comprehensive
"final status" agreement originally
scheduled to be completed by Sept. 13.
Despite public denials, Clinton
administration officials are increasingly
resigned to the possibility of a new,
open-ended interim agreement that will
give the Palestinians some of what they
want, including statehood, but put off
decisions on the toughest issues, includ-
ing Jerusalem and refugees.
On Monday, Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright announced she
will travel to the region in six to eight
weeks. Administration sources say one
goal will be to set up a summit
between Prime Minister Ehud Barak
and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Administration officials describe
Arafat's visit to Washington last week
and his three-hour session with
President Bill Clinton as mostly a
handholding session intended to reas-
sure the Palestinian leader.
But Arafat did come away with one
major concession. When Israeli-
Palestinian talks resume next week in
Ella, U.S. negotiators will be at the
table as active participants. That could
be a significant turning point in the
negotiations, an observer said.
But it doesn't necessarily mean U.S.
officials are ready to jump in with
their own proposals to bridge the gaps
between the two sides.
"The important point is that the
U.S. will now be able to make its own
assessment of whether the two parties
are getting anywhere," he said. "They
will no longer have to depend on the
assessments of the Israelis and
Palestinians."