Free Pollard, Urges
Ex-Justice Official
WASHINGTON (JTA)
-- Michael Mukasey, the
most recent Republican
U.S. attorney general, says
Jonathan Pollard should
be released.
Jonathan
Mukasey, President
Pollard
George W. Bush's third
and last attorney general,
writes in a letter to President Obama that the
convicted spy's life sentence imposed in 1987
is "utterly disproportionate" to his crime
because his espionage on Israel's behalf was
not motivated by a desire to harm the United
States, the Jerusalem Post reported on Dec.
23.
There has been a flurry of activity in
recent weeks on Pollard's behalf: Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he
will formally ask Obama for the spy's release,
and a slate of Democratic Congress mem-
bers have written to Obama asking for his
release.
Pollard's wife, Esther, says he is ill.
In his letter, Mukasey references his career
as a federal judge and notes that in 18 years
on the bench, he imposed life sentences only
four times. According to the Post, the letter
does not say whether Mukasey recommend-
ed clemency to Bush while he was in office.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu is asking Obama for Pollard's
release as well. The last time Netanyahu
sought such a release, during his previ-
ous stint as prime minister in 1998, it was
linked to peace talks with the Palestinians.
President Clinton considered the request, but
turned down Netanyahu at the behest of his
intelligence agencies.
Settlement Building Rises
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- The construction of at
least 13,000 housing units in the West Bank
and eastern Jerusalem has been approved
since the end of the 10-month building
freeze in the settlements.
Some 2,000 units are under construction,
the New York Times reported on Dec. 23, cit-
ing figures from the Peace Now organization.
"We can say firmly that this is the most
active period in many years' Hagit Ofran,
who monitors settlement growth for Peace
Now, told the Times.
Settler leaders confirmed the Peace Now
numbers for the newspaper.
"The only difference is that they see it as
negative, and we see it as positive': David
Halvri, spokesman for the Samaria Regional
Council in the northern West Bank, told the
Times.
The building is occurring only in existing
settlements, and no new land is being used
for the projects, according to the newspaper.
More than 300,000 Jewish settlers live in
8
December 30 • 2010
the West Bank. Approximately 200,000 Israeli
Jews live in eastern Jerusalem and are con-
sidered settlers by much of the world, which
does not recognize Israel's annexation of the
area.
The Palestinians have said they will not
return to peace talks, which were halted
shortly after their relaunch in September,
until Israel stops construction in the West
Bank and eastern Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority has
drafted a resolution to be presented to the
United Nations Security Council condemn-
ing Israel's West Bank settlement activity.
The Security Council will likely vote on
the resolution, which was drafted with the
assistance of 15 countries, in February, after
the United States ends its presidency of the
council, Reuters reported.
More U.S. Jews
NEW YORK (JTA) -- The American Jewish
population is larger than suspected, accord-
ing to new estimates compiled by Brandeis
University.
The suburban Boston university's
Steinhardt Social Research Institute is esti-
mating that there are some 6.5 million peo-
ple in the United States who are either Jewish
by religion or who self-identify as Jewish.
The figure represents a 20 percent increase
in the number of Jews since 1990.
The numbers were drawn from a synthe-
sis of data from more than 150 nationwide
surveys conducted by the U.S. government
and other agencies, as well as from national
polling organizations.
They refute information gathered in the
last National Jewish Population Survey, a
census-like study that had been conducted
every decade by the Jewish federation system
before being discontinued this year. The final
survey showed that between 1990 and 2000-
01, the population dropped from 5.5 million
to 5.2 million.
A parallel polling by Brandeis of 1,400
Jews revealed that more than 80 percent of
respondents who indicated that they are
Jewish identify as such by religion, while the
rest identify as Jewish by some other criteria.
According to the study, 1.27 million Jews
who identify by religion are younger than 18.
`Don't Ask' Repeal Invocation
WASHINGTON (JTA) -- A rabbi delivered
the invocation at the enactment of a law
allowing gays to serve openly in the U.S.
military.
"Today we recall that unity, not uniformity,
is our goal;' the Washington Jewish Week
quoted Rabbi Arnold Resnicoff as saying on
Dec. 22 at the White House signing of the
bill repealing "don't ask, don't tell" rules that
forced gay service personnel to keep secret
their sexual identities.
"That we need not fear differences among
Appeals Court Turns Down
Wrongly Accused Spy's Suit
CINCINNATI (JTA) -- A Jewish civil-
ian employee of the U.S. Army wrongly
accused of spying for Israel was turned
down in his second attempt to sue the
federal government.
A three-judge panel
of the U.S. Court of
Appeals in Cincinnati
on Dec. 21 declined
to overturn a lower
court decision that
dismissed David
Tenenbaum's lawsuit.
The judges agreed
David
that Tenenbaum, of
Tenenbaum
Southfield, was subject
to a high level of scrutiny and intrusion
in his family's life due to the investiga-
tion, and that Tenenbaum's Orthodox
lifestyle in part brought about the inves-
those united to defend our nation's freedoms
and its dreams' continued Resnicoff, a
retired U.S. Navy chaplain.
Major Jewish groups backed the repeal.
Human Rights Watch
WASHINGTON (JTA) -- The U.S. State
Department was noncommittal on a Human
Rights Watch report that said Israelis and
Palestinians live "separate and unequal" lives.
A State Department statement issued Dec.
22 in response to a reporter's question noted
that many of the issues covered in the report
were covered "in great detail" in the depart-
ment's annual Human Rights Report.
"The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv and
Consulate General in Jerusalem closely
monitor human rights conditions and issues
throughout their consular districts': the
statement said. "The United States expects
Israel and the Palestinian Authority to
uphold their human rights obligations."
Pro-settler groups have criticized the tone
of the report, as suggesting that Israel is
moving toward apartheid status in the differ-
ing standard for Jews and Palestinians in the
West Bank.
Israel's government has yet to respond to
the report.
OU Sues Fish Importer
SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) -- The Orthodox
Union is suing a fish importer for false use of
its kosher mark.
In a suit filed this month in Manhattan
federal court against Western Edge Inc., the
OU accused the Pennsylvania-based sea-
food importer of trademark infringement
and deceptive trade practice, the Wall Street
Journal reported. The OU alleged that the
company falsely declared in a letter that its
tigation, according to the Detroit Free
Press. However, the judges said the issues
already had been litigated.
A 2008 Department of Defense investi-
gation concluded that David Tenenbaum,
now 52, had his security clearance privi-
leges revoked inappropriately more than
a decade ago because of his Jewish faith
and the perception of a dual loyalty to
the United States and Israel.
During a 1997 polygraph test admin-
istered by the Army, Tenenbaum said
anti-Jewish epithets were shouted at
him. He said the next day his computer
was gone and his name erased from the
e-mail system at the Tank Automotive and
Armaments Command, the military facil-
ity in Warren, Mich., where he worked.
After a yearlong FBI investigation, the
U.S. Justice Department in 2008 deter-
mined that there was no basis to pros-
ecute Tenenbaum.
tilapia had OU kosher certification.
Kosher certification agencies are particu-
larly vigilant about controlling use of their
kosher marks in the fish industry, where
"species substitution" — selling an inex-
pensive fish as a higher-priced fish — is
a recognized problem. Tilapia is a kosher
fish, but can become non-kosher during
processing.
According to the Journal, in 2007 Western
Edge applied for OU certification for its
tilapia imported from China, but withdrew
the request soon afterward.
A company spokesperson told reporters
that the letter claiming OU certification
came from its plant in China, and that the
company is working to resolve the issue
with the OU.
Ethical Kosher Mark
SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) -- A new "kosher
ethics" label will be tested on the first
companies in January.
The Magen Tzedek, or "seal of justice,'
was developed by the Conservative move-
ment's Hekhsher Tzedek Commission to
reward kosher food producers that meet
certain ethical standards.
Two companies, and a possible third,
have agreed to test the new standards in
January, according to the Forward.
Auditors will vet the companies in
the areas of labor issues, animal welfare,
environmental impact and business
practices.The results of the audits will be
announced in March.
The new mark will be given only to
foods already bearing kosher certification,
or non-processed foods such as fruit and
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