Metro
NI
American
Technion
Society
Is pleased to announce
The DETROIT CHAPTER BOARD OF DIRECTORS
2008-2009
Hunting Terrorists
Iraqi Jew in U.S. dedicates her life
to thwarting jihadists.
Keri Guten Cohen
Special to the Jewish News
A
Scott Leemaster, President
Tom August
Ronald Bassey
Dale Beavers
Joseph Ben-Gal
Arline Bittker
Bernard Cantor
Connie Colman
James Colman
Lauren Daitch
Cathy Deutchman
Eric Dobrusin
Amy Folbe
Zelda Gechter
Gordon Gold
Hadar Granader
David Jaffa
Austin Kanter
Alan Jay Kaufman
Bernard Kent
John Kessler
Linda Kovan
Don Lansky
Marshall Lasser
Arie Leibovitz
David L. Littmann
Esther Littmann
Deborah Livneh
Eric Yale Lutz
Lionel Margolick
Florine Mark
Dr. Richard Minkin
Pamela Opperer
Mark A. Pittman
Richard Polk
Cila Riff
Michael Serling
Howard Sherizen
Dr. Richard Stoler
Avi Varkovitzky
Mary Wartell
Lawrence A. Wolfe
Rabbi Herb Yoskowitz
Neal E Zalenko
* deceased
ADVISORY BOARD
Jonathan Aaron
Gerald Cook
Kenneth Eisenberg
Lawrence Jackier
Joel E. Jacob
Robert Schechter
Edie Slotkin
Allan Gelfond
East Central
Regional Director
Jo Strausz Rosen
Detroit Chapter Director
Barb Zeevi
Administrative Assistant
30230 Orchard Lake Road Suite 155 Farmington Hills, MI 48334
248 737 1990 wwvv-.ats.org
1.1:210
A28
November 13 • 2008
s
a Jew born in Iraq, Rita
Katz knows the results of
terrorism firsthand as well
as the blessings of a Jewish State and
the benefits of a superpower like the
United States.
Katz, author of Terrorist Hunter:
The Extraordinary Story of a Woman
Who Went Undercover To Infiltrate
the Radical Islamic Groups Operating
in America, spoke to more than 200
women at Federation's Women's
Department's second annual
Woman2Woman community fund-
raising event Nov. 3 at Congregation
Shaarey Zedek in Southfield.
Katz remembers an Iraq where
Jews thrived and her father was a
successful businessman in Basra's
large Jewish community. But trouble
began shortly after Israel's Six-Day
War. With Saddam Hussein in charge
of security, Katz's father and several
other Jews were imprisoned under a
false accusation of spying for Israel.
Their property was confiscated and
the family was moved to Baghdad
and forced to live under house arrest
in a stone hut.
After her father and the other
Jewish men were hanged in public
to cheers and feasting from Iraqis,
Katz's mother found a way to escape
with the help of friendly Iraqi Kurds.
They went over the mountains to Iran
and then made their way to Israel.
"The Jewish heritage in Iraq was
one of the oldest and culturally rich
in the world; now there are zero Jews
left in Iraq," Katz said.
After serving in the Israel Defense
Forces and experiencing the Yom
Kippur War, Katz gave in to her hus-
band and moved the family to the
U.S., where he had a two-year medi-
cal research grant.
"Those two years are now 10," said
Katz, who lives in the Washington,
D.C. area.
Answering an ad for a job for an
Arabic speaker launched her career
as a terrorist hunter. While sitting at
her desk, she noticed a Holy Land
Foundation brochure about raising
funds to sponsor Palestinian chil-
PAST PRESIDENTS
Murray Altman *
Lawrence Berry
Richard Blumenstein
Robert Brody
James Deutchman
Joseph N. Epel
Louis Gelfand
Harvey H. Goldman
Julius Harwood
D. Dan Kahn
Jerome J. Kanter
Leon Kay *
Jules W. Lev
Louis Milgrom
Louis G. Redstone
Samuel Rich
Morris Rochlin
James Safran
Karl B. Segall
Benjamin Wilk
Rita Katz at the Woman2Woman event
dren. She read the Arabic side first,
then the English side, then switched
back again to the Arabic.
"The English translation was dif-
ferent than the Arabic:' she said. "I
was surprised and couldn't believe
what was happening. Supporting
organizations fully associated with
Hamas were listed on the Arabic side,
but these names were left off the
English side.
"At that time, Hamas was an
underground organization that set
up front groups. These were well
known [in Israel and the Middle
East]. I found myself addicted to
this subject — how were they fund-
raising here and sending money to
Palestinians."
Katz began dressing in the modest,
concealing garb of a Muslim woman
to attend events in local mosques
— and record and video what she
saw to provide physical evidence.
She said she was scared and nervous,
but extremely happy to be doing
research that would expose these
front groups.
She formed an organization called
Search for International Terrorist
Entities, or the SITE Institute, a pri-
vate intelligence firm that uncovers
global terrorist networks. It searches
for messages and videos that might
give early warnings to terrorist activ-