Roundup

Bibi Seeks
Pollard Release
WASHINGTON (JTA)
-- Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu
wrote President Obama
urging clemency for
Jonathan Pollard.
Jonathan
"At the time of his
Pollard
arrest, Jonathan Pollard
was acting as an agent
of the Israeli govern-
ment,' Netanyahu wrote
in his Jan. 4 letter. "Even
though Israel was in no
way directing its intel-
ligence efforts against the
United States, its actions
Benjamin
were wrong and wholly
Netanyahu
unacceptable. Both Mr.
Pollard and the Government of Israel have
repeatedly expressed remorse for these
actions, and Israel will continue to abide by
its commitment that such wrongful actions
will never be repeated:'
Netanyahu read his letter to a Knesset
plenum discussion. His letter, Israel's first
formal request for Pollard's release, came a
day after similar urgings from more than
500 clergy in a letter to Obama.
"After more than two and a half decades
in prison, Mr. Pollard's health is declin-
ing," reads the Jan. 3 letter sent from
rabbis representing all streams as well
as a number of leading Protestant and
Roman Catholic clergy. "He has repeatedly
expressed remorse for his actions, and, by
all accounts, has served as a model inmate.
Commuting his sentence to time served
would be a wholly appropriate exercise of
your power of clemency — as well as a
matter of basic fairness and American jus-
tice. It would also represent a clear sense of
compassion and reconciliation — a sign of
hope much needed in today's world of ten-
sion and turmoir
The letters are the latest in a surge of
pleas to free Pollard, a U.S. Navy analyst
who spied for Israel and who has been in
prison since 1985.
A raft of Democratic Congress mem-
bers urged Obama to release Pollard late
last year; a number of officials who were
involved in investigating the matter also
have signed on to the effort.
Among the signatories of the clergy let-
ter was Rabbi Donald Levy of Temple Beit
Torah in Colorado Springs, Colo., a former
Navy cryptologist who participated in the
damage assessment after Pollard's arrest.
"There was nothing that we came across
to indicate that Pollard gave information
to any country but Israel," said Levy said in
a separate statement. "Further, the infor-
mation he probably disclosed consisted
primarily of daily operational intelligence

summaries, information that is extremely
perishable. It did not appear to me at the
time that the information he gave Israel
should have resulted in a life sentence
Also signing the letter were leaders of lay
Jewish groups, including the Conference
of Presidents of Major American Jewish
Organizations, B'nai B'rith International
and the Zionist Organization of America.
Netanyahu in his letter, first obtained by
Haaretz, cited reports of Pollard's ill health.
"Jonathan has suffered greatly for his
actions and his health has deteriorated con-
siderably,' he said. "I know that the United
States is a country based on fairness, justice
and mercy. For all these reasons, I respect-
fully ask that you favorably consider this
request for clemency. The people of Israel
will be eternally grateful."

Rubashkin:
New Trial?
ST. LOUIS (JTA) --
Lawyers for convicted
former Agriprocessors
executive Sholom
Rubashkin have
appealed a judge's deci-
Sholom
sion
denying their bid
Rubashkin
for a new trial.
In a brief filed Jan. 3
with the U.S. Court of Appeals in St. Louis,
Mo., lawyers for Rubashkin made four
arguments on his behalf, chief among
them that the presiding judge in his case,
Linda Reade, should have recused her-
self. Reade had rejected that argument in
October.
Rubashkin was convicted in 2009 on 86
counts of fraud related to his management
of the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant
in Postville, Iowa, and later was sentenced
to 27 years in federal prison.
According to the brief, government
documents that surfaced after Rubashkin's
conviction and not made available to the
defense showed that Reade was involved
in the planning for a major federal
immigration raid of the Postville plant
in May 2008. Reade's "excessive cozi-
ness" with prosecutors planning the raid
raised doubts about her impartiality in
the case, the brief claims, and, as a result,
Rubashkin is entitled to a new trial or, at a
minimum, an evidentiary hearing.
The 2008 raid at the time was the larg-
est immigration enforcement action in
American history and led to a string of
accusations against Rubashkin, among
them charges of identity theft and child
labor violations. The bulk of those charges
subsequently were dismissed.
Still, the trial was widely criticized, par-
ticularly in the Orthodox community, for
the alleged zealousness with which federal
prosecutors pursued the case.

Sharon's
Continuing Coma
JERUSALEM (JTA)
-- Former Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon
remains in a coma five
years after suffering a
massive stroke.
Ariel Sharon
There were no official
events on Jan. 4 to mark
the five-year anniversary of the stroke,
which ended Sharon's political career. But
he was briefly remembered at a Likud
Party briefing and in a column written by
former colleague Tzachi Hanegbi in the

Jerusalem Post.
Sharon remains hospitalized at the
Sheba Medical Center of Tel Hashomer
Hospital in Tel Aviv. He has returned home
for weekend visits, according to reports.

Mickey Mouse In Israel
HAIFA (JTA) -- Haifa is poised to be the
next home to a Disney amusement park.
A 20-acre, $168-million entertainment
complex, including a 25-screen multiplex
and a Disney amusement park, is set to be
built near the Carmel Tunnel.
The Walt Disney Company's investment
arm Shamrock Holdings and the Israeli
New Lineo cinema chain announced the
plans on Jan. 4.
The new complex is estimated to open
in 2013.

Carmel Fire
Memorial
JERUSALEM (JTA)
-- Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu
was heckled and an
Israeli government
minister was forced to
Shimon Peres
leave a state memorial
ceremony for the 44 people killed in the
Carmel fire.
The relatives and friends at the Jan. 5
memorial at Kibbutz Beit Oren, which sus-
tained damage in the fire, allowed President
Shimon Peres to speak, but began heckling
Netanyahu when he began his turn.
Bodyguards had to protect Netanyahu
as some of the hecklers advanced toward
the stage. The hecklers blamed Netanyahu
for the fire and their relatives' deaths.
The partner of Haifa Police Chief Ahuva
Tomer, a fire victim, stood up and said
that he would not let Netanyahu speak
until Interior Minister Eli Yishai of the
Shas Party, who also has been blamed for
the lack of firefighting preparedness, left
the room, calling his presence "a slap in
our face." Yishai did leave the ceremony.
"The fire that did not rest for a moment
turned dozens of our families into
bereaved, grieving, pained families:' Peres

said before the incident. "No tribute and
no memorial ceremony will ever return to
their loved ones.
"In those moments, when the firefight-
ers stood in front of that wall of fire and
today, as we mark 30 days since the disas-
ter, we stand here as a shocked nation,
unprepared for the disaster. This is the
truth, painful though it may be: We weren't
prepared for the fire; we couldn't imagine
that this would happen. Thus the flames
scorched the hearts of the families and the
confidence of a nation — a nation that
followed the efforts to enlist foreign aid
and which cherished those efforts. Now we
must learn our lessons."

German Jewish
Identity
BERLIN (JTA) -- Jews
in Germany must stop
emphasizing their role
as victims and develop
their positive Jewish
identity, said Dieter
Dieter
Graumann, the new
Graumann
head of the Central
Council of Jews in Germany.
Graumann, 60, told the Financial Times
Deutschland in an end-of-the-year inter-
view that while it is important to remem-
ber the Holocaust, Jews should not merely
be seen as reminders of Germany's duty to
never forget.
Graumann, the first non-survivor to
head the umbrella organization repre-
senting Jewry in Germany, was elected
in November. He succeeds Charlotte
Knobloch, who declined to run again.
Some critics had said Knobloch, who
survived the war in hiding, focused too
much on negativity in her four years in
office.
In several interviews since his election,
Graumann has stressed the importance
of building Jewish identity, interfaith
relations with Christians and Muslims,
support for Israel and for democracy in
Germany. He has said that criticism of
Israel is normal, but must go hand in
hand with support for Israel's right to exist
peacefully next to its neighbors.
Graumann also supports a renewed
attempt to ban the far-right National
Democratic Party of Germany, which he
said promotes xenophobia and anti-Semi-
tism, and intimidates elected officials.
He emphasized the need for stronger
ties between the established postwar com-
munity and Jewish immigrants from the
former Soviet Union.
Of the 210,000 Jews in Germany today,
about 85 percent came from the former
Soviet Union since 1990. Approximately
half of Germany's Jews are members of
congregations.

Roundup on page 10

8 January 13 2011

