U.N.: Israel
Must Pay
For Harm
To Lebanon

immigration laws. Yet it would be the
first step in enabling undocumented
immigrant workers to become equal
and legal contributors to their com-
munities, giving them a voice to fight
exploitation and, as legal residents, call
on the government to protect them.
Last year, the president and Congress
had a chance to replace our broken
immigration system with a new one
honoring core American principles and
faith-based values while serving essen-
tial U.S. interests. They failed to live up
to their responsibilities. By now, those
millions of undocumented workers who
came to the United States to work and
support their families, not to harm this
country — including undocumented
workers at the Agriprocessors plant in
Postville — could have been on the
path to legal status and, potentially, citi-
zenship.
The situation in that Iowa town is a
heartbreaking symptom of the collapse
of such legislation. Yet this tragedy also

provides the opportunity for open dis-
cussion that we must not squander. It
is critical that we not lose momentum.
We must push our lawmakers to move
forward early in the next administration
to prevent future abuses.
As consumers of the news, it is impor-
tant that we not "bite" when baited by
red herrings. We must recognize that it
is in our best interest as Jews to heed
our moral obligations and our biblical
injunction to "welcome the stranger."
Likewise, as Americans, it is in our
country's best interest to work together
toward constructive, compassionate and
reasoned change in our nation's immi-
gration laws.

❑

Gideon Aronoff is president and CEO of
H/AS, the international migration agency of

the American Jewish community, which has

been an advocate for fair and compassionate
immigration legislation.

C ome and

see \x/hof s new at

ci-ulot's

A

U.N. report reiterated a
call for Israel to compen-
sate Lebanon for damage
from the 2006 war.
A report published last week
by the office of United Nations
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon,
called "Oil Slick on Lebanese
Shores," commended Lebanon
for its cleanup efforts along the
Mediterranean coastline and urged
Israel to help pay for them.
"The secretary-general wishes
to urge the government of Israel to
take the necessary actions towards
assuming responsibility for prompt
and adequate compensation to the
government of Lebanon:' the report
says, according to U.N. spokesman
Farhan Haq.
The report cites World Bank data
that estimated the environmental
toll from the 2006 war at a mini-
mum of $526.9 million and a maxi-
mum of $931.1 million. This is not
the first time the U.N. Secretariat
has called on Israel to help pay for
the war's environmental costs.
The latest report will be made
available to the U.N. General
Assembly when it convenes in New
York later this month. ❑

T urquoise and

cliamonol stiletto

earrings in platinum.

"Try these sexy stiletto's
on for size"

of education and consequent inability to
earn better wages. For the past quarter-
century, real wages for American work-
ers without a high school education
have declined 22 percent. The decline
among those with no higher education
was 11 percent.
The reason: the tsunami of illegal and
impoverished immigrants. A study in the
1990s by Social Science Quarterly found
that for each 1 percent increase in the
proportion of immigrant workers with-
out a high school education in any job
category, wages for Americans perform-
ing that work fell 7 percent.
Legalization represents another prob-
lem of deep concern to the great major-
ity of Americans encouraging further
illegal immigration. President Reagan's
1986 amnesty increased illegal immi-
gration five-fold.
A huge majority of Americans support
attrition of the illegal population through
vigorous law enforcement, with more
than three-quarters choosing attrition
over amnesty in surveys. And attrition
works: A new study by the Center for
Immigration Studies shows the illegal

population fell by 11 percent from August
2007 to May 2008 because of stricter
immigration enforcement.
The anguish of well-intentioned people
is understandable, but open-borders
immigration harms poor Americans
without denting global poverty.
We can't mend the whole world here,
but massive illegal immigration can
devastate America. It endangers national
security, the social safety net, our most
vulnerable citizens and the dignity of
American labor. It challenges national
cohesion and sovereignty, and its pro-
ducing a population explosion with
incalculably ruinous consequences to our
environment and quality of life.
Empathy with Postville's victims can-
not justify these threats to the country
we love. El

Stephen Steinlight is a senior policy analyst

at the Center for Immigration Studies and
author of "The Fractious Nation?: Unity and

Division in Contemporary American Life."

He is former director of national affairs and
a senior fellow with the American Jewish
Committee.

Answering
Israel's Critics

The Charge
Former Israeli ambassador to
Canada Alan Baker charged
recently that there is an increasing
anti-Israel sentiment brewing in
the West, particularly evidenced by
inaccurate and false information
spread on college campuses and
by a media in which Israel is mis-
represented, unfairly criticized and
perceived negatively.

The Answer
Ambassador Baker says the answer
is to bring more pro-Israel view-
points to the media and to campus,
emphasizing Israel's progress and
America's benefits from it's diplo-
macy, security expertise and tech-
nological and medical advances.

scfiViiioT

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