Roundup

Palestinian
Flag In D.C.
WASHINGTON
(JTA) -- The
Obama adminis-
Palestinian flag
tration will allow
the PLO office in
Washington to fly the Palestinian flag and
assume the title of "delegation."
The change in status comes with no
enhancement in diplomatic status, U.S.
officials said.
The new privileges for the Palestine
Liberation Organization office do not
mean the representation has "any dip-
lomatic privileges or immunities:' State
Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said
last Friday.
"At the request of the PLO representa-
tive, which we have granted given the
improvement in the relations between the
United States and Palestinians, they have
requested permission to fly the Palestinian
flag:' he said. "And they have requested
permission to call themselves the General
Delegation of the PLO, which is a name
that conforms to how they describe their
missions in Europe, Canada and several
Latin American countries."
Crowley said the steps have sym-
bolic value and reflect improved rela-
tions between the United States and
Palestinians, but they have no mean-
ing under the Vienna Convention on
Diplomatic Relations.
A White House spokesman sug-
gested the changes would help spur the
Palestinians toward direct peace talks with
Israel, a key demand of the Israeli and U.S.
governments.
"This decision reflects our confidence
that through direct negotiations, we can
help achieve a two-state solution with an
independent and viable Palestine living
side by side with Israel:' Tommy Vietor
said. "We should begin preparing for that
outcome now, as we continue to work with
the Palestinian people on behalf of a bet-
ter future
PLO representation in Washington was
made illegal under a number of laws in
the mid-1980s, when the group was widely
regarded as terrorist.
Since 1993, at the launch of the Oslo
peace process, U.S. presidents have exer-
cised their prerogative to waive the ban
every six months. Obama and his prede-
cessor, George W. Bush, have cultivated the
PLO and its leadership of the Palestinian
Authority as a means of stemming the
influence of Hamas, a radical Islamist ter-
rorist group.
A number of lawmakers have sought to
reinstate the ban, saying the Palestinian
Authority has not moderated enough, cit-
ing among other factors the Palestinian

refusal to enter direct negotiations.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., the
ranking member on the U.S. House
of Representatives Foreign Affairs
Committee, tied her efforts to eject the
PLO from Washington to congressional
efforts to move the U.S. embassy from
Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, another law that
presidents have routinely waived since its
passage in 1995.
"Instead of giving more undeserved
gifts to the PLO, it's time for us to kick the
PLO out of the U.S. once and for all and
move our embassy in Israel to Jerusalem,
where it belongs:' she said in a statement.

Chelsea Under A Chuppah
NEW YORK (JTA) -- Chelsea Clinton was
married under a chuppah in a ceremony
co-officiated by a rabbi.
Rabbi James Ponet, head of the Joseph
Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale,
was joined by Rev. William Shillady, a
Methodist minister. Clinton and the
groom, Marc Mezvinslcy, reportedly were
married under a chuppah, in a ceremony
that featured friends and family recit-
ing the seven traditional blessings and a
ketubah, the traditional Jewish wedding
contract. The event took place Saturday
night before the end of the Jewish sabbath.
Mezvinsky, who is Jewish, wore a yarmulke
and prayer shawl.
Ponet, a Reform rabbi, has been the
Jewish chaplain at Yale since 1981. He cur-
rently teaches a college seminar with Dr.
Ruth Westheimer on "The Family in the
Jewish Tradition:' according to the bio on
the Slifka Center website. He and his wife,
Elana, also "lead a weekly discussion in
Slifka Dining Room on the value of peace
in Jewish life and thought?'

A New Name?
NEW YORK (JTA)
-- The leader of
Conservative Judaism's
flagship institution said
the movement is debat-
ing a name change.
Arnold Eisen, chan-
Arnold Eisen
cellor of the Jewish
Theological Seminary,
made the comment in a July 22 meet-
ing with reporters and editors at the
Forward, the newspaper reported.
"I'm open to it. I'm open to it," Eisen
reportedly said when asked about the
possibility of a name change.
The newspaper quoted Eisen as say-
ing that the "leading candidate right
now" is the name Masorti, the Hebrew
word for "traditional;' which is the name
Conservative Judaism goes by in Israel
and other countries outside of North
America.

Orthodox Rabbis Support Gays
NEW YORK (JTA) -- Dozens of Orthodox
rabbis have signed a statement of prin-
ciples calling for the acceptance of gays in
the Orthodox community.
The statement, signed by rabbis in the
United States and Israel, was released July
29, the same day as a Gay Pride parade in
Jerusalem.
"All human beings are created in the
image of God and deserve to be treated
with dignity and respect (kevod haberi-
yot)," the statement says. "Every Jew is
obligated to fulfill the entire range of
mitzvot between person and person in
relation to persons who are homosexual
or have feelings of same sex attraction.
Embarrassing, harassing or demeaning
someone with a homosexual orientation
or same-sex attraction is a violation of
Torah prohibitions that embody the deep-
est values of Judaism?'
The statement continues: "Halachah
[Jewish law] sees heterosexual marriage as
the ideal model and sole legitimate outlet
for human sexual expression. The sensitiv-
ity and understanding we properly express
for human beings with other sexual ori-
entations does not diminish our commit-
ment to that principle?'
Signed mostly by Modern Orthodox
rabbis, as well as educators and mental
health professionals, the statement was
drafted following a panel held six months
ago in New York that included three gay
graduates of Yeshiva University. The
school's spiritual supervisor, Rabbi Yosef
Blau, hosted the panel.

Israel In U.N. Flotilla Probe
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israel has agreed to
participate in a United Nations investiga-
tion of the Gaza-bound Turkish flotilla
incident.
"Israel has nothing to hide Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said
Monday after informing U.N. Secretary
Ban Ki-moon that Israel would participate
in the panel that he is establishing. "The
opposite is true. It is in the national inter-
est of the State of Israel to ensure that the
factual truth of the overall flotilla events
comes to light throughout the world, and
this is exactly the principle that we are
advancing?'
Netanyahu and his inner Cabinet of
seven ministers made the decision to par-
ticipate in the international probe.
Geoffrey Palmer, the former prime min-
ister of New Zealand, and Alvaro Uribe,
the outgoing president of Colombia, will
serve as chair and vice chair of the panel.
Its two additional members will be from
Turkey and Israel.
It marks the first time that Israel will
serve on a U.N. committee that is investi-

gating its activities, according to Haaretz.
Israel's Navy intercepted the Gaza-
bound flotilla, which originated in Turkey,
on May 31, when violence on the deck of
one of the ships, the Marmara, led to the
deaths of nine Turkish nationals, including
one dual Turkish-American citizen.
An independent Israeli public commis-
sion chaired by retired Supreme Court
Justice Jacob Turkel also is investigating
the incident.

Israel Breaks Power Mark
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Electricity use in
Israel to combat a heat wave blanketing
the country hit an all-time high, according
to the government-run electric company.
The country broke the mark on Sunday,
according to the Israel Electric Corp.,
when temperatures reached nearly 110
degrees Fahrenheit in some places.
Humidity of 70 percent during the day
and 90 percent at night is making it feel
much worse.
Company officials have called on Israelis
to reduce use of major appliances during
peak hours, between noon and 5 p.m.
Electric reserves reportedly are very low.
Damages from the death of more than 1
million chickens in the heat wave, which
began two months ago, is being estimated
at $1.3 million. Expected to continue for
several more days, the excessively hot
weather is being attributed to extremely
hot winds from Saudi Arabia, Iraq and
Syria, Haaretz reported.

Anti-Semitism 'Troubling'
NEW YORK (JTA) -- The number of
anti-Semitic incidents in the United
States remained at a "sustained and
troubling" level, according to the Anti-
Defamation League's annual audit.
The 2009 audit of anti-Semitic inci-
dents, released Tuesday, recorded 1,211
incidents of vandalism, harassment and
physical assaults against Jewish individu-
als, property and community institutions
across the U.S. last year.
The number fell from the 1,352 inci-
dents reported in 2008, but some of the
decline was likely because of revised
methodology for reporting and tracking
incidents that was unveiled in the '09
audit, the ADL said.
In the latest audit, the incidents
include 29 physical assaults on Jewish
individuals, 760 incidents of anti-Semitic
harassment and threats, and 422 cases of
anti-Semitic vandalism, according to the
report.
Some incidents that occurred in 2009
were not tallied under the new method-
ology, which takes a more conservative
approach to counting certain types of inci-
dents, including graffiti and swastikas.

Roundup on page 12

10 August 5• 2010