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Honoring Jewish Veterans
The Michigan Jewish War Veterans and Ladies Auxiliary paid tribute to all
Jewish military veterans at the unveiling of a monument at Great Lakes
National Cemetery in Holly on Oct. 25.
The monument, which reads "Lest We Forget:' rests with other memorials
on a path near the waterfront.
"This space in the military cemetery is for all the veterans groups to put
their monuments up, so we put our monument there said Harmon Tron,
chief of staff for the Michgan JWV. "It is dedicated to all Jewish veterans
— there were Jews in every war since the country began. It's a very simple
monument, only 4 feet high, but it means a lot:'
Tron believes Michigan's JWV is the first veterans group to put up a monu-
ment in this area of the cemetery. About 50 members attended the ceremony,
which included an honor guard.
Rabbi Karen Companez of Temple Beth El in Flint officiated. JWV State
Commander Gerald Order of Oak Park and Shirlee Marshall of the Ladies
auxiliary spoke. Hans Weinmann offered prayers. Ben DuChan, 18, of Ann
Arbor played taps at the unveiling, as he has for the JWV since he was 12.

— Keri Guten Cohen, story development editor

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President Shirlee Marshall of Southfield and honor guard Mani Delidow of
Oak Park.

Iranian Trade Ban
Michigan representatives Gary Peters,
D-Bloomfield Hills, Thaddeus McCotter,
R-Livonia, and Mike Rogers, R-Lansing, are
among 48 congressmen signing on to a letter
supporting President Obama's March exten-
sion of a trade ban more than a decade old
prohibiting U.S. firms from investing in Iran.
The signers see the ban as a supplement to
diplomacy in seeking to curtail Iran's pursuit
of atomic energy and a potential nuclear
bomb.
Some nations continue to invest in Iran.
"The Iran Sanctions Act of 1996 requires
the president to sanction entities that invest
more than $20 million in Iran's energy sec-
tor',' the letter said.
The act requires the president to impose
two of these sanctions on firms determined
to be a violator: denial of Export-Import
Bank financing; denial of U.S. export-licens-
ing of military technology; denial of U.S.
bank loans exceeding $10 million in one
year; prohibition on dealing in U.S. govern-
ment bonds; prohibition on U.S. government
procurement from the entity; restriction on
imports from the entity.
The letter cites 23 companies that are
likely violators or have pending deals or pre-
liminary agreements that would violate the
act. The originating nations include Canada,
Sweden, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway,
Russia, Japan, China, South Korea, Malaysia,
Brazil, Australia, Spain, Turkey, Austria and
Venezuela.
While saying Presidents Clinton and Bush
did not exercise their authority, the letter
pointed to Iran's "continued intransigence
and pursuit of policies that threaten to desta-
bilize the region:' The letter urged a determi-
nation on the list of possible violators.

24

November 5 • 2009

"Given Iran's continued violation of U.N.
Security Council resolutions ordering a halt
to uranium enrichment activities — and the
recent breach of the two-week deadline to
inspect Iran's underground facility at Qum
— we urge you to consider full implementa-
tion of the Iran Sanctions Act': the letter said.

Recognize Israel First
New York/JTA Americans believe the
Palestinians must accept Israel before they
get a state, according to a new survey.
The Anti-Defamation League's 2009
Survey of American Attitudes on Israel,
The Palestinians and Prospects for Peace
in the Middle East, released Oct. 26, also
shows that a majority of Americans would
back U.S. military action to keep Iran from
acquiring nuclear weap-
ons.
Fifty-six percent of the
American public believes
that a Palestinian state
must not be established
until the Palestinians
display a universal accep-
tance of Israel's legiti-
Abraham
macy, as well as a firm
Foxman
commitment to ending
Palestinian-oriented
violence. The opinion represented a 4 per-
cent gain from the last survey in 2007 and
comes despite U.S. government pressure
to halt Israel's settlement construction to
make way for a two-state solution.
"This latest survey of the American peo-
ple, coming at a time of a full range of chal-
lenging issues facing Israel and the region,
demonstrates a new breadth and depth of
American public support for Israel from
a variety of perspectives:' said Abraham

—

Foxman, Airs national director, in a news
release.
Fifty-four percent of respondents backed
U.S. military action to keep Iran from
developing a nuclear weapons program, up
from 42 percent.
Foxman noted that it was the first time
in the survey that a majority of Americans
backed such an option for the United States.
"The significant increase in Americans
viewing Iran as a threat and supporting, if
nothing else works, U.S. or Israeli military
options against Iran, reflect a new and
needed sense of urgency about the issue in
light of Iran's oppressive policies and the
discovery of a secret Iranian nuclear plant:'
he said.
Additionally, 67 percent of Americans
continue to view Israel as a strong U.S. ally,
up from 65 percent in 2007.
Despite Americans' continued support
for Israel, the survey showed that 48 per-
cent of Americans believe It is up to the
Palestinians and the Israelis to solve their
own problems; any lasting peace agreement
between them must be reached with mini-
mal involvement from the U.S., compared
with 39 percent who believe that peace will
take place only with heavy U.S. involvement.

Evangelicals Fete Israel
Washington/JTA Elie Wiesel addressed a
gathering of evangelical Christians at a salute
to Israel hosted by the John Hagee Ministries.
The John Hagee Ministries' 28th Annual
Night to Honor Israel featured not only
Wiesel, the Nobel laureate and Holocaust
survivor, but also Israel's minister of national
infrastructure, Uzi Landau, and its consul
general to the Southwestern United States,
Asher Yarden.

—

"Life is not made of years but of
moments;' Wiesel said. "Some are privileged
moments, and tonight I realized that I had to
come here also to live a privileged moment,
to be with you. Never in the history of my
people have we witnessed an event such as

Hagee, the president and CEO of John
Hagee Ministries, stressed his organization's
solidarity with Israel and the Jewish people.
He also encouraged the
crowd to read Wiesel's
book, Night.
The $9 million raised
for the evening in dona-
tions to Hagee's organi-
zation was distributed
to representatives of 29
Jewish and Israeli non-
Elie Wiesel
profits, charities and
humanitarian organizations.
Hagee also is the founder and national
chairman of Christians United for Israel, a
Christian, pro-Israel organization.

WAC Event Aids Hungry
Wooden Acres Camp (WAC) will hold its
annual reunion at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8,
at Yad Ezra kosher food pantry, 2850 W. 11
Mile, Berkley.
All WAC Summer 2009 campers are
invited to join in for an afternoon of com-
munity, sharing and fun. Each camper can
help by bringing at least 2 cans or packages
of pantry stable, kosher food. Help pack food,
watch the summer slide show and mingle
with friends and staff. A weekend at camp
for a family will be raffled off. RSVP: (248)
543-5697 or info@woodenacres.com.

Roundup on page 26