Jewish groups, led by the Anti-
Defamation League, this week joined
forces with gay and civil rights
organizations to press for the meas-
ure to be included in one of the
omnibus spending bills most
observers expect to be passed in lieu
of stalled appropriations measures.
The hate crimes coalition is hoping
the White House, which has made
passage of a new hate crimes bill a top
priority will use its leverage as
Congress and the administration jock-
ey for political advantage in the end-
game budget fight.

Remembering Yates

The longtime dean of the Jewish dele-
gation in Congress and the lawmaker
most responsible for creation of the
U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is
dead.
Former Rep. Sidney Yates (D-Ill.),
who came to the House when Harry
Truman was president, died last week
in Washington after a long illness.
Yates left Congress in 1998 after 24
terms.
Yates was best known for his ardent
support for conservation and for the
arts. He is credited with saving the
National Endowment for the Arts
from congressional critics.
"He was the unofficial dean of the
nonexistent Jewish caucus," said Mark
Talisman, a top congressional staffer in
the 1960s and a longtime Jewish
activist.
Yates was the major reason Jewish
lawmakers did not get together in an
official caucus comparable to the
Congressional Black Caucus. Yates,
reflecting an older generation of
Jewish leaders, wanted Jewish lawmak-
ers to keep a relatively low profile, and
avoid the appearance of constituting a
formal bloc.
But he hosted frequent meetings of
the Jewish members, and was widely
respected and admired by his col-
leagues.
And Yates is remembered for his
major role in the creation of the U.S.
Holocaust Memorial Museum. He
used his clout as chair of the Interior
Appropriations subcommittee to win
federal funding for the museum on
Washington's Mall, and acted as a con-
gressional watchdog on its behalf after
its opening.
He served on the original
Presidential Commission on the
Holocaust, and in 1981 was appointed
to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial
Council, which built and runs the
museum. He continued to serve on
that panel until his death.

Iranian Victims

Legislation that would allow victims of
Iranian-sponsored terror to tap that
country's frozen assets in the United
States jumped onto the congressional
fast track last week; final passage could
come this week.
But the measure only covers com-
pensatory damages, leaving open the
much bigger issue of punitive awards
against the Teheran regime.
The measure was tacked on to a
wide-ranging anti-crime bill in the
House last week that also included
renewal of the Violence Against
Women Act, a top priority for Jewish
women's groups, and new programs to
fight sexual trafficking.
It passed the House by a whopping
371-1 vote, and Senate approval is
expected before the end of the week.
That pleased Stephen M. Flatow, a
New Jersey lawyer and the father of
Alisa Flatow, a Brandeis student who
was killed in a Gaza terror bombing in
1995.
Flatow's family won a $247 million
judgment against Iran based on its
support for the terrorists, but they
were blocked from collecting any
money because of the administration's
concerns about diplomatic retaliation.
The new legislation represents a
compromise worked out with the
administration under which Flatow
and other victims and victims' families
will be paid by the government from
funds collected from rental income
from seized Iranian diplomatic and
consulate property in the United
States, and money in the foreign mili-
tary sales account.
But "we are not permitted via the
statute to reach the funds for punitive
damages," Flatow said. Out of the
$247 million settlement, only $22
million was for compensatory dam-
ages.
And Flatow had hoped to make it
easier to get at "third parties that are
serving as agencies and instrumentali-
ties of the Iranian government. But
the administration would not lower
the standards for what constitutes such
groups."
Still, Flatow proclaimed the congres-
sional move a step toward fairness to
terror victims and their families.
"We are satisfied," he said this week.
"We worked all summer on a compro-
mise with the administration. They had
started off saying we couldn't collect
anything out of Iran's assets in this coun-
try; with the swelling of opinion against
that, and fact we kept hammering away,
they finally realized they had to do
something. This was the result." ❑

gaff
Saki
Andrew Marc Leathe

and Women'
k 0 xx

M

Now

Original Price

51:2UNO QICCI

Somerset 6outh • 18t, Level

(248) 649-4433

Previous sales excluded

We carry a large selection of leather coats and jackets.

SOUTHFIELD

20 n 0-2 n

October 21 & 22, 2000

Reading Rainbow

February 3 & 4, 2001

Jazz for a New Generation

November 11 & 12, 2000

February 24 & 25, 2001

More Stuff

Ishangi's Africa

November 18 & 19, 2000

April 7 & 8, 2001

Otherwise Known As
Sheila the Great

December 2 & 3, 2000

Norman Foote in Concert

December 16 & 17, 2000

Are You My Mother?

April 28 & 29, 2001

Footprints on the Moon

May 5 & 6, 2001

Peter Pan

May 19 & 20, 2001

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Amelia 13eclelia &the
&The Very Quiet Cricket Baby & Other Stories

eason Tickets just $30 each (for 5 shows). Individual shows $8 (adv,ance) $10 (at the door)
Performances: SaturdayS at 11 am._40-nr-Cfttiplje
ws, birthday parties and drama
workshops available. Tickets at all Ticketmaster outlets including Hudson's and Harmony
House or by calling the Youtheatre Ticket Office at (248)557-PLAY

