points of view >> - Send letters to: letters@thejewishnews.com Contributing Editor Editorial Gaza Student Flap Is A Reality Check A Tenenbaum's travails taint the American way. A merica is supposed to be a land of freedom from mangled government ethics — and mostly it is. That isn't the case, however, for U.S. Army civilian engineer Dr. David Tenenbaum, still seeking reparation and a government apology 16 years after falsely being accused of spying for Israel. His tale of duress, driven by anti-Semitic Army colleagues and high-level White House officials, is a sad indictment of our federal government gone amok. As hollow as the original 1997 spying allegations were, it's disillusioning that neither the Department of the Army nor the Department of Defense has had the integrity to fess up and apologize for drag- ging Tenenbaum, an Orthodox Jew from Southfield, through the political mud for so many years. He was never proven guilty and the facts underscore his innocence. In 2006, the Army's Office of the Inspector General, spurred by U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., investigated the claim of espionage; two years later, it found dis- crimination against Tenenbaum based on religion and ethnicity. In effect, the Army had isolated him because he was Jewish and had ties to Israel. In 21st-century America, that isn't supposed to happen. In 1984, the U.S. Army's Tank- Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) in Warren hired Tenenbaum, now 55, as a liaison to work on joint projects with the Israeli military because he had gone to Israel and could speak Hebrew. Ironically, those two factors, plus Tenenbaum not fitting in with the anti-Semitic members of his work crew, later influ- enced the accusation that he was a spy for Israel. What's happened to him is a travesty given what America stands for. Tragic Consequences As the Jewish News outlined in its Oct. 11 coverage updating Tenenbaum's fight for justice, the U.S. gov- ernment changed forever the lives of Tenenbaum, his wife, Madeline, and their four children in 1997. That's when it rigged a lie-detector exam while presumably evaluating his fitness for higher security clearance and raided their home on a Shabbat afternoon while osten- sibly searching for evidence of espionage. Worse, the "Jew-hunt," as Tenenbaum termed it, cost the lives of American soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. When the Army targeted him for investigation, it also 58 October 25 2012 What's happened to him is a travesty given what America stands for. discontinued a joint program he was working on with the U.S., Israeli and German armies to armor Humvees, the modern version of the fabled military jeep. The program was later reinstituted under new direction. A smart guy and a hard worker, Tenenbaum had developed the idea of better protecting the Humvees after U.S. fighting in Somalia a few years earlier had exposed their vulnerability. Horror stories abounded of American soldiers dying or being maimed when unarmored vehicles confronted terrorist-planted, shrapnel-laden IEDs (improvised explosive devices) along war-torn Middle East roads. TACOM continues to sequester Tenenbaum, keeping significant work projects from him despite his top security clearance and entrepreneurial spirit. His reputation is ruined to an extent in the government contract field, so he can't just leave TACOM for another job. He exudes the patience of Job, but is weary of this lingering debacle. Seeking Justice Meanwhile, Tenenbaum and his attorneys press on for redress despite a U.S. District Court judge in Detroit tossing their 2009 suit against the departments of the Army and Defense. That suit sought up to $200 million in damages and cited the Inspector General's report as evidence. The suit was dismissed on the grounds that Inspector General investigators didn't review Department of Justice sealed documents asserting protected state secrets. That meant the state secrets doctrine first raised by the government, including then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, in relation to a 1998 federal civil rights case brought by Tenenbaum still stood. The briar patch of injustice David Tenenbaum and his family have been forced to endure has no place in America. Our government is mandated to protect law- abiding citizens. It's not supposed to sully them, then try to cover that up out of fear Washington would be roundly embarrassed by revelations of the truth. CI t Israel's urging, the U.S. has halted a scholarship program for students in the Gaza Strip and West Bank to study in local Palestinian universities. The 2-year- old program was one of the few successful ties between America and Hamas, the U.S.- branded terrorist organization that rules the Gaza Strip. The Hamas Charter calls for Israel's destruction as a Jewish state. In 2010, during a Middle East visit, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton unveiled the scholar- ship program, which awards up to 30 scholarships to Palestinian high school seniors with academic creden- tials and financial need. The U.S. revoked the program after Israel effec- tively stymied it. In a change of policy, Israel this year refused to grant permits to Gaza students to travel to the West Bank. Citing security as a reason, Israeli policy long has barred most Gaza citizens from visit- ing Israel or the West Bank. The only exception is for a humanitarian cause, which education isn't considered to be. Israel fears Hamas is using the program to extend its timbers of anti-Zionism to the West Bank by giving its indoctrinated students a toehold there. Hamas' bit- ter rival for overall Palestinian control, the Palestinian Authority (P.A.), governs the West Bank. How sad that Gaza students, representing the beleaguered strip's future in the daunting struggle to change a culture of hate toward Jews, have become pawns in a political standoff among Israel, America and the splintered Palestinians. With the right educa- tion, these students could well transform the terror- infused strip. Israel's concern about what kind of edu- cation they would receive in the West Bank, however, is real. Moderate as it claims to be, the P.A. itself is ridden with terrorist cells and indifferent leaders. Not to be outdone, Hamas last year banned seven high school students from studying in America, cit- ing anxiety about how well they would be supervised under the U.S. program from an Islamic perspective. While Washington could have confronted Israel over the West Bank travel ban, the truth is that on security matters, Israel does know best. This tiny nation of 7.9 million people hasn't survived 64 years of Arab- inspired terrorism by not sometimes invoking seem- ingly overly strict security measures, a lesson learned through grave experiences. Perhaps soon the clear and present danger wrought by Gaza City (remember all those Hamas-praised rockets launched into Israel's Negev?) will fade and the worthwhile U.S. scholarship program for Gaza stu- dents will be reinstated. That would be welcome amid tense diplomatic times between Israel and its closest Middle East ally. E