Letters
Pollard's View
Congratulations to the Jewish
News for continuing to keep its
readers informed on the Pollard
case, most recently in an inter-
view conducted by Charley J.
Lewis ("Jailhouse Encounters,"
March 16, page 36).
In it, Jonathan Pollard
points out that former Defense
Secretary Caspar Weinberger
considers the Pollard spy case to
have been "a very minor matter."
Yet Weinberger's secret memo
to Judge Robinson, some 20
years ago, played a key role in
the judge's decision to sentence
Pollard to life in prison.
Why, one wonders, does
Weinberger's memo continue
to be classified "secret" after 20
years? The answer, it would seem,
does not involve national secu-
rity. Sadly, such secrecy under-
mines our justice system.
Also discussed in the inter-
view is the danger posed by Iran
becoming a nuclear power. If
this does happen, there is strong
likelihood that a nuclear war will
occur, a war possibly even more
devastating than World War II.
'Then the question would be why
did the United States not act pre-
emptively to prevent a foresee-
able disaster?
This would be a fair question
to ask except the United States
has acted in Iraq with the goal
of exporting democracy to Iran.
The problem in accomplishing
this goal has be tactical. The
strategy is noble.
Thus far, the failure to win the
war on terrorism in Iraq can be
largely attributed to a failure in
intelligence gathering. For exam-
ple, in locating leaders of the
insurgency and either capturing
or killing them.
If intelligence gathering can
be improved, if insurgent sup-
Corrections
plies can be interdicted, the Bush
strategy can succeed, something
we should all hope for and which
seems compatible with the views
Pollard expresses.
Irving Warshawsky
West Bloomfield
Answer Lies
On March 17, we attended a
meeting of the regents of the
University of Michigan. On
the agenda was an attempt by
four U-M faculty members to
reintroduce the issue of dis-
investment of U-M from any
financial involvement with
Israel.("Student Offers Defense,"
March 23, page 30).
Each person for disinvestment
was given five minutes to state
his or her case. We were appalled
by what we heard. The venom
and lies against the State of Israel
were most disheartening.
Fortunately, Brad Stulberg of
Farmington Hills, a sophomore
at U-M, had signed up for a
separate five-minute slot to rebut
their case, which he did bril-
liantly. If not for him, the opposi-
tion would have gone completely
unchallenged.
The regents are to be com-
mended for their consistent,
principled stand against these
obvious anti-Semitic and anti-
Israel attacks. It is important,
however, that lies not go unan-
swered and our position be rep-
resented to remind the regents of
the true facts.
It would be most helpful if the
Jewish community, students, pro-
fessionals, professors and Jewish
organizations could join in and
make their presence felt on these
occasions..
Diane Savin
West Bloomfield
Margo Gardner
Addressing Darfur
Double Checking
Robert Sklar's Editor's Letter
about the situation in Darfur was
important and timely ("Taking
Stock Of Darfur," March 23, page
5). The way Robert Sklar wrote
about Andi Nitzkin, just a regular
morn who inspires us all, was
outstanding.
In a show of support for mil-
lions of refugees displaced by the
world's worst humanitarian cri-
sis, MAZON: A Jewish Response
to Hunger has joined ranks with
a highly respected global inter-
national aid group to bring relief
to starving children and their
families in Sudan.
To date, MAZON.org has dis-
tributed $106,700 to the project.
The funds are sustaining the
efforts of Santa Monica-based
International Medical Corps
(IMC) as it works to battle
chronic hunger in Sudan and
neighboring Chad.
Once again, the Jewish News
is inspiring us all to get involved
and do the right thing to help .
others in need.
I was saddened to see a pic-
ture of David Gad-Harf, the
former executive director, with
negative comments from a
current board member of the
Jewish Community Council of
Metropolitan Detroit. David was
one of the finest people I have
met and did an outstanding
job as executive director ("In
Writing," March 23, page 32).
As a member of the board of
the Council for many years, I
sense now that people stay away
from Council positions where
they can be criticized in public
for any move.
The criticism of David was
way off base. He did the cor-
rect act as executive director.
Therefore, I would advise the
new executive director to be
very careful. I would not make
any decision without checking,
rechecking and checking again to
see if all people approve.
Joel E. Jacob
national vice chair
MAZON: A Jewish Response
to Hunger
West Bloomfield
ECO
—Michigan Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (Ml-COEJL): Healing the Earth with Jewish
Environmental Values. For more information, call (248) 642-5393, ext. 7, or write to
mi-coejl@jfmd.org.
Bloomfield Hills
Goldfein
srudA0 :Jamsuy
March 30 • 2006
• In "Technion At ePrize"
(March 23, page 14),
the man above should
have been identified as
Matt Engelbert, East
Central regional direc-
tor of the American
Technion Society. ePrize
Headquarters was incor-
rectly listed as being in
Ferndale. It's actually in
Pleasant Ridge.
Reduce Your Junk Mail — Save Trees!
Practice your own bal tashchit — do not waste or destroy trees. Get off direct mail lists. Write to the
Direct Marketing Association, Mail Preference Service, P.O.B. 9008, Farmingdale, NY 11735-9008 and
ask to be removed from mailing lists. Or use the on-line form found at
www.dmaconsumers.org/offmailinglist.html.
Until 2005, this country was the only member of the European Union to not
have a synagogue. Name it.
6
West Bloomfield
• In Celebrate! (March 26,
page 34), the name and
city of bride Lindsey Gross
of Kansas City were incor-
rectly published.
Judaism
mum 'cha Don't Know
eCopyright 2006, Jewish Renaissance Media
Leonard Trunsky
• The contact information
for the Night of Jewish
Films at Congregation Shir
Tikvah should be
pressagent6551@aol.com .
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