RUN

UP

Jonathan Aaron Is Leaving
Guardian Industries Corp.

The son-in-law of the late William "Bill"
Davidson is parting ways with Guardian
Industries Corp. of Auburn Hills, the com-
pany that Davidson nurtured into one of
the world's largest manufacturers of auto
and architectural glass.
Jonathan Aaron, 42, of Bloomfield
Hills, who is married to Karen Davidson's
daughter, Mary, will join the Velvel Group in
Southfield July 1. The company specializes
in financial planning and life insurance.
He declined to elaborate on reasons for his
departure from Guardian.
Aaron, who has a law degree, was assis-
tant to the president under Davidson and
was Guardian's CEO. Both positions were
eliminated in a succession plan imple-
mented after Davidson died March 13. The
company now is run by a board of directors
elected by key Guardian employees, accord-
ing to Davidson's wishes.
Aaron continues as head of the
multi-million-dollar William Davidson
Foundation that will fund the many phil-
anthropic endeavors of the late billionaire
businessman/sportsman.

- Bill Carroll, special writer

Peres, Netanyahu Speak On Iran

Tehran/JTA — Israeli President Shimon
Peres voiced his support for the protest-
ers in Iran. "The Iranian people are
trying to reclaim their culture's image,"
Peres said Sunday during a speech at the
Jewish Agency meeting in Jerusalem. "Let
the young people speak. Let the women
— such a courageous group — voice their
thirst for equality
"You never know what will disappear in
Iran first — their enriched uranium or the
wretched government. We hope it's the gov-
ernment," he said amid reports of continu-
ing unrest in Tehran.
Appearing Sunday on NBC's Meet the
Press, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu said he supported President
Obama's handling of the situation, which
has been criticized by members of
Congress.
Netanyahu stressed that while Israel and
much of the world support the protesters
and want a change in government in Iran,
it is most important to prevent the sit-
ting government from developing nuclear
weapons. The Israeli leader said he believes
Obama is committed to preventing Iran
from becoming a nuclear power.

Mubarek Says Peace Is Possible

Cairo/JTA — Hosni Mubarak said a historic
peace settlement between Israel and the
Arab world is ever closer.
'A historic settlement is within reach,
one that would give the Palestinians their

A16

june

a2009

Exercising For A Cause

Joan Provizer of Farmington Hills
is seated in the center of friends
and family at the 30th annual walk
and run benefiting the Scleroderma
Foundation/Michigan Chapter, of
which she is a past president and
development director. A member of
Joan's Team - named in her honor
- Provizer participated in the June 7
event at the Detroit Zoo in Royal Oak. The team was the top online fundraiser
for the walk-run, raising $2,454. Provizer is one of 300,000 Americans suffering
from scleroderma, a chronic connective tissue disease generally classified as one
of the autoimmune rheumatic diseases.
For information on scleroderma, access the Scleroderma Foundation Web site
at: scleroderma.org . To make a donation, go to: www.firstgiving.com/30thwalk,
mail a check to Scleroderma Foundation, 30301 Northwestern Hwy., Farmington
Hills, MI 48334, or call (248) 865-7259.

state and freedom from occupation while
granting Israel recognition and security
to live in peace," wrote the Egyptian presi-
dent in an op-ed Friday in the Wall Street
Journal. "With President Obama's reasser-
tion of U.S. leadership in the region, a rare
moment of opportunity presents itself
Egypt stands ready to seize that moment,
and I am confident that the Arab world will
do the same."
'Mubarak said the Palestinian issue
requires the greatest urgency, but said that
many of the details of a final settlement are
well known, while the Arab Peace Initiative
provides a regional framework for such a
settlement.
The Arab initiative offered Israel full rec-
ognition in the Arab world if it retreated to
the 1948 borders and agreed to a just reso-
lution of the Palestinian refugee issue.
"Success of these negotiations will
depend on firm commitments from both
sides to uphold the credibility of the pro-
cess," Mubarak wrote. "Israel's relentless
settlement expansion, which has seriously
eroded the prospects for a two-state solu-
tion, must cease, together with its closure
of Gaza. For their part, the Palestinians
must continue to develop their institutional
capacity while overcoming their division to
achieve their aspirations for statehood."
He continued, "While full normalization
with Israel can only result from a compre-
hensive settlement, including the Syrian,
Lebanese as well as Palestinian track, the
Arab side stands ready to reciprocate serious
steps towards peace undertaken by Israel."

Obama's Help Sought On Shalit

lVashington/JTA — A Father's Day letter-
writing campaign urged President Obama
to help bring home a kidnapped Israeli sol-
dier. Jewish groups asked their constituents
to send thousands of cards and e-cards on
behalf of Gilad Shalit to Obama on June 21.
Shalit was taken hostage in June 2006

near Gaza in a cross-border raid by Hamas
terrorists. He has been denied access to the
International Red Cross during his nearly
three years in captivity.
The goal of the campaign, initiated by
the Council of Young Jewish Presidents, is
to raise the issue on Obama's priority list.
In his Father's Day card to Obama,
Shalit's father, Noam, wrote, "From one
father to another, I ask you to please use
the power of your presidency to free my
beloved son, Gilad. Because to have Gilad
home again would make every one of my
days Father's Day."
Electronic messages can be sent to the
president at www.whitehouse.govicontact/.
Sample messages can be viewed at the
CYJP Web site.
The campaign was coordinated by the
Jewish Community Relations Council of
New York, Jewish Council for Public Affairs,
Dor Chadash, Friends of the Israeli Defense
Forces, StandWithUs and the Zionist
Organization of America.

Pope Pius XII Helped Jews?
Rome/JTA — A New York-based founda-
tion says it will release original documents
showing that controversial wartime Pope
Pius XII worked to aid Jews during the
Holocaust.
In a June 16 statement, Pave the Way
Foundation President Gary Krupp said the
2,300 pages of documents, dating from
1940-45, were discovered through the
foundation's private research and provide
"strong support to the argument that Pope
Pius XII — Eugenio Pacelli — worked dili-
gently to save Jews from Nazi tyranny"
Krupp said many of the documents were
discovered in a monastery in Avellino, Italy.
Krupp, who is Jewish, has close ties with
the Vatican and twice has been named
a papal knight. He announced last year
that Pave the Way, a nonsectarian founda-
tion that promotes interfaith cooperation,

would investigate the papacy of Pius XII
by interviewing eyewitnesses and gather-
ing publicly available documentation and
newspaper accounts.
The aim of the investigation is to dis-
prove critics who accuse Pius of having
turned a blind eye to Jewish suffering dur-
ing the Holocaust.
In his statement, Krupp criticized his-
torians with "private agendas" for having
"let down" the public by failing to research
properly

Prison Bar Mitzvah Furor
New York/JTA — A New York City
Corrections Department official and a
prison chaplain have resigned in the wake
of a lavish bar mitzvah held in prison. The
departments bureau chief for facility opera-
tions, Peter Curcio, who allegedly approved
the bar mitzvah for inmate Tuvia Stern's
son, submitted his resignation on June 15,
the New York Times reported.
Curcio told the New York Post, the day
after his resignation, that head chaplain
Imam Umar Abdul-Jalil signed off on the
bar mitzvah.
On June 16, Rabbi Leib Glanz, a chaplain
for city jails who arranged the bar mitzvah,
also resigned over the scandal, the New
York Post reported. Glanz was in the middle
of a two-week suspension over the scandal
when he announced his resignation. Glanz
is a prominent member of the Satmar
Chasidic community who has ties to law
enforcement and city and state political
figures, according to the Times.
The catered event for 60 non-prisoners,
including several prominent rabbis, was
held Dec. 30 and included a band, china
and a performance by Orthodox Jewish
singer Yaakov Shwekey.

Answering
Israel's Critics

The Charge

While in Gaza last week, former U.S.
President Jimmy Carter criticized
Israel's blockade of that territory, say-
ing its residents are treated more like
animals than human beings

The Answer
All Israeli soldiers and civilians were
withdrawn from Gaza in 2005. The ter-
rorist Hamas movement is completely
responsible for the conditions there.

- Allan Gale,

Jewish Community Relations Council

of Metropolitan Detroit

Jewish Renaissance Media June 25, 2009