Roundup

Soldiers Deliver Baby
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israeli soldiers
delivered a Palestinian woman's baby boy
inside a military ambulance.
The woman, a resident of the Jordan
Valley, called for help early Monday,
according to the Israel Defense Forces. She
lives in an area unreachable by ambulance,
so the soldiers gave the family a stretcher
to bring her to the waiting ambulance.
During the ride to the hospital, the
woman gave birth, assisted by army para-
medic Sgt. Gilad Nesher. There was no
equipment in the ambulance for delivering
babies. At birth, the baby was not able to
breathe on its own; Nesher administered
CPR for an hour before the boy began
breathing.
Mother and son are reported to be
in good condition at Hadassah Medical
Center-Ein Kerem.

Birthright's Zionism Push
NEW YORK (JTA) -- Birthright Israel has
launched an effort to reclaim the word
Zionism from Israel's detractors.
The effort, launched last week in
New York with speeches by Israeli U.S.
Ambassador Michael Oren and Birthright
funder Michael Steinhardt, drew several
hundred alumni of Birthright Israel, the
philanthropic effort that has brought hun-
dreds of thousands of young diaspora Jews
on free trips to the Jewish state.
"The idea for the event came from a
consistent experience we hear from young
people once they get back from their trip
to Israel',' said Rebecca Sugar, executive
director of the Birthright Israel Alumni
Community "They feel lied to — all this
time, they were told on campus and in
much of the media that Zionism is racism
and apartheid. But when they see Israel
with their own eyes, there is no apartheid
and it is not a country characterized by
racism!'
The project aims to reclaim Zionism
from negative associations with conflict
and to broaden popular understanding by
emphasizing Israel's humanitarian contri-
butions around the world.

Harman Quitting Congress
WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Rep. Jane Harman,
a pro-Israel stalwart with close ties to the
U.S. intelligence community, is quitting
Congress.
Harman, D-Calif., reportedly is leaving
to run the Washington-based Woodrow
Wilson Center, a preeminent foreign policy
think tank. She is replacing Lee Hamilton,
also a prominent former Democratic con-
gressman.
Harman, known for her ties with the
American Israel Public Affairs Committee,
in 2009 was embroiled in the controversy

8 February 10 • 2011

over espionage-related charges against
two former AIPAC staffers. Intelligence
officials leaked to Congressional Quarterly
a wiretapped conversation from 2006 that
conveyed the impression that Harman told
an Israeli agent that she would intervene on
behalf of the accused staffers.
Harman fiercely denied the charges and
demanded the release of the full conversa-
tion. Justice Department officials noted that
she was not under any investigation.
Harman at the time was the rank-
ing Democrat on the U.S. House of
Representatives Intelligence Committee.
In the last election, Harman trounced a
primary challenge from Marcy Winograd,
a Jewish candidate who backs a binational
Israel-Palestinian state.
Harman's husband, Sidney, recently pur-
chased Newsweek.

Streisand Cousin's Aliyah?
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israel reportedly has
refused to allow the cousin of singer Barbra
Streisand to make aliyah.
The Interior Ministry, via the Jewish
Agency, rejected Dale Streisand's request
because it saw on his Facebook page that he
had been previously involved in Christian
missionary activity Haaretz reported on
Feb. 3.
Streisand, 57, has lived in the Philippines
for the last year, since he moved there to get
married. His wife is pregnant and he told
Haaretz that he wants the baby to be born
in Israel.
Streisand said he was told originally that
there was a problem because he was mar-
rying a Philippines citizen, and then was
told he was rejected because there was a
link on his Facebook page to a Christian
Missionary website. He has since created a
new Facebook page that features an Israeli
flag as his profile picture; and he is friends
with Chabad of the Philippines.
Streisand told Haaretz that he is newly
religious and is studying Jewish texts.
The interior minister can prevent a
Jewish person from making aliyah under
the Law of Return if they "work against the
Jewish people" or have been proven to have
converted.

Carter Sued Over Book
NEW YORK ( JTA) -- Five readers have
filed a class-action lawsuit against for-
mer President Jimmy Carter for his book

Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.
His publisher, Simon & Schuster, also was
named in the lawsuit over the book, pub-
lished in 2006.
The Feb. 2 lawsuit, Unterberg et al v.
Jimmy Carter et al, was filed in U.S. District
Court for the Southern District of New
York. It alleges that the book contained
numerous false and knowingly mislead-

((

Henry Baskin

Baskin Back
On TV
Due Process, Detroit's
long-running public
affairs television show,
is returning to Detroit
Public Television
(Channel 56) at 5:30
p.m. Fridays.
Hosted by Henry

ing statements intended
to promote the author's
agenda of anti-Israel
propaganda and to
deceive the reading pub-
lic instead of presenting
accurate information as
advertised:' according to
Jimmy Carter
Carter
the Washington Post.
The five plaintiffs are asking for at least
$5 million in compensatory as well as
punitive and exemplary damages for the
$27 book, according to the Post. Their suit
charges Carter and Simon & Schuster with
breach of contract, unjust enrichment
and deceit. The named plaintiff, Stephen
Unterberg, is one of two dual U.S.-Israeli
citizens living in New York and Israel press-
ing the suit. The others are from New Jersey,
Minnesota and California.
Adam Rothberg, a spokesman for Simon
& Schuster, called the lawsuit "frivolous" in
a Feb. 2 statement.
"It is a chilling attack on free speech that
we intend to defend vigorously': he said.

Sinai Guild Seeks Grantees
DETROIT -- The Sinai Guild is accepting
proposals for grants. The guild has a long
tradition of awarding grants to help DMC
hospitals, aid organizations that serve
the Jewish community, conduct medical
research and purchase medical equipment.
It has awarded more than $2 million to
hospitals and organizations since 2001.
For a copy of the Grant Proposal Form,
visit the guild's website at www.thesin-
aiguild.org . For information, call (248)
538-6501.

Lieberman Writing Book
WASHINGTON (JTA) -- U.S. Sen. Joe
Lieberman is writing a book on the benefits
of the Sabbath.
Lieberman, I-Conn., who recently
announced he will not run again, is co-
writing the book with David Klinghoffer,
according to Howard Books, a Christian
imprint of Simon & Schuster.
The book will appear in August. In
2007, Howard published An Amazing
Adventure by Joe and Hadassah Lieberman,
an account of the 2000 election, when

Baskin of the Baskin Law Firm in
Birmingham, Due Process features dis-
cussion of legal topics of local interest.
Episodes include Feb. 11: "Michigan
Medical Marijuana Act — A Hazy New
Law"; Feb. 18: "Foreclosures — Saving
Your House"; Feb. 25: "Social Media —
A Brave New World of Law"; March 4:
"One on One with U.S. Attorney Barbara
McQuade."

Lieberman was the first Jewish candidate
on a major presidential ticket.
Lieberman left the Democratic Party in
2006 when he lost its primary. He regained
his Senate seat running as an independent.

Redskins' Owner Suing Paper
NEW YORK (JTA) -- Washington Redskins'
owner Daniel Snyder has filed a defamation
lawsuit against an alternative D.C. newspa-
per, claiming in part that the paper's depic-
tion of him was anti-Semitic.
Snyder, who has owned the National
Football League's Redskins since 1999 and
also owns the Six Flags amusement park
chain, filed a $2 million lawsuit on Feb. 2
against Atalaya Capital Management, which
owns the Washington City Paper. The suit
claims that the paper defamed Snyder in
a November cover story that featured an
encyclopedic account of how he has alleg-
edly mishandled both his football team and
his business.
Among Snyder's complaints in the suit
are that the paper has run some 50 col-
umns attacking him since he bought the
Redskins, and that the latest, written by
Dave McKenna, included an anti-Semitic
depiction of him in a photograph. The
picture, which obviously was doctored,
showed a headshot of Snyder with a devil's
horns and goatee scrawled over his image.
"Simply put, no reasonable person
would accept the publication of these
types of false, malicious, and/or defama-
tory statements about them or their
spouses," the lawsuit says, according to
NBCWashington.com . "Nor would any
reasonable person tolerate an anti-Semitic
caricature of himself or herself promi-
nently displayed on the front pages of a
newspaper containing false and malicious
allegations."
The City Paper has denied that the
image was anti-Semitic.
"The story didn't mention Snyder's
religion at all," it wrote on its City Desk
blog Feb. 2. "And the illustration is meant
to resemble the type of scribbling that
teenagers everywhere have been using
to deface photos for years. The image of
Snyder doesn't look like an 'anti-Semitic
caricature' — it looks like a devil!'

