Shorts: Bay Area

Former E.B. rabbi arrested again in West Bank

Rabbi Arik Ascherman was arrested along with three others and used as human shields by the Israeli army to prevent jeeps from being stoned. The executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights in Israel, Ascherman is the former spiritual leader of Temple Beth Hillel in Richmond.

Ascherman still awaits trial for trying to prevent the demolition of two Palestinian houses. At a March hearing, he was told that his trial is scheduled for September.

Speaking from Israel, Ascherman said he had no plans to get arrested this time. He went to the West Bank village of Bido on Thursday, April 15, to take part in demonstrations against the security barrier Israeli is building.

When the Israeli border police apprehended a 12-year-old Palestinian boy, his frantic mother approached the activists, including Ascherman. He tried to invervene, which got him arrested along with another Palestinian man and a Swedish national.

Ascherman said that all four of them were used as human shields when angry Palestinians began to throw stones at the military vehicles. He also said he was seized by the throat and was head-butted by one of the police.

They were released later that evening, and Ascherman filed a formal complaint. He is debating whether to file a civil suit against the Israeli border police.

"On the one hand, I want this taken care of and exposed to prevent further occurrences of these kind of things," he said. "On the other hand, we have to keep our focus on the real issue of why we were there."




Jewish bicyclists to launch LGBT ride in S.F.

A Jewish lesbian couple from Florida are launching their second annual "Rainbow Ride" in San Francisco, to bring awareness to LGBT rights.

Carrie and Elisia Ross-Stone have three children and a grandson. On Saturday, May 1, they will meet at Baker Beach to begin their cross-country bicycle ride, which will end up in Rehoboth Beach in Delaware. A send-off celebration is scheduled for Friday, April 30.

Information about the Rainbow Ride is at rainbowlaw.com.




Oakland win sends Israeli American kayaker to Olympics

Rami Zur grew up on an Israeli kibbutz but will be paddling a kayak for the USA in the August 2004 Olympics.

Zur, 27, won a place on the U.S. Olympic squad on Thursday, April 15, when he blew through the competition in the 500-meter event during the U.S. Olympic Canoe and Kayak Trials on Oakland's Lake Merritt.

On the trials' final day Sunday, April 18, Zur won two more races — the 1,000-meter two-man kayak and 1,000-meter four-man kayak. Zur's two- and four-man boats won a trip to the Continental Olympic Qualifier in Brazil later this month, where victories will ensure Olympic berths.

Zur, who lives at the U.S. training facility near San Diego, competed in the 2000 Olympics for Israel.




Sacramento hosts cancel conference of Holocaust deniers

A Sacramento German cultural club claims it was fooled into hosting a conference of Holocaust deniers, and it pulled the rug out from under the deniers just days before the conference was scheduled to start.

Sacramento Turn Verein (German for "Gymnastics Club") sent out a press release on Monday, April 19, claiming that it was not until a recent Sacramento Bee article that it realized it was set to play host to the International Revisionist Conference April 23-25. The club claims that a man representing the "European American Culture Council" had "misrepresented" the nature of the conference.

"The Turn Verein regrets that there are those who would seek to take advantage of our good will and our good name in this community," reads the press release. "We are relieved that we were able to act in time to thwart this unseemly attempt to use our space as a platform for hate."

The conference would have featured a who's who of the denier movement, including Walter Mueller ("Child pornography has turned into a billion-dollar business throughout Europe. ... My opinion is this is a direct result of Jews gaining more and more power throughout the world.") and Bradley Smith, best known for his ads and opinion pieces in college newspapers denying or minimizing the Holocaust.

In his own release, Mueller promised a lawsuit against Turn Verein.




Israel Culture Day slated in San Jose

Israeli Culture Day will be taking place in San Jose on Tuesday, May 4.

A flag-raising will kick off the festivities at noon, followed by Israeli speakers, song, dance, technology, food, music and language. The program will begin at 12:30 p.m. in the Isaac Newton Senter Auditorium of the County Government Center, 70 West Hedding St., San Jose.

Information: (650) 961-1922 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address); or (408) 358-3033 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).




Caterpillar's Israel sales challenged by local group

A resolution challenging the Caterpillar Corp.'s sale of its bulldozers to Israel got a 4 percent vote at a shareholders meeting Wednesday, April 14, in Chicago.

The resolution, which calls upon the corporation to cease selling equipment to the Jewish state on the grounds that it is being used to bulldoze homes of innocent Palestinian civilians, was co-sponsored by the local activist group A Jewish Voice for Peace, together with the Sisters of Loretto, an order of nuns.

Also appearing with them was Cheryl Broderson, the aunt of Rachel Corrie, who was crushed by a Caterpillar bulldozer in Gaza last year.

With a 4 percent vote, the resolution can be reintroduced next year.

"The outcome is more than we expected," said Liat Weingart, a JVP co-director who introduced the resolution to the shareholders. "It also ran in every major newswire in the country."

Thousands of activists, including Corrie's parents, Craig and Cindy Corrie, were expected to march against Caterpillar on Friday, April 23, to the company's headquarters in Peoria, Ill. There, Corrie's parents were to request a meeting with Caterpillar's CEO, James Owens.




Koret sponsors free admission at Bay Area museums, zoos

Museums and zoos throughout the Bay Area that receive support from the Koret Foundation are celebrating its 25th year by offering free admission and a range of special events and tours on Mother's Day, Sunday, May 9.

Participating in "Koret Day Around the Bay" are the Asian Art Museum, the Contemporary Jewish Museum, the Exploratorium, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the S.F. Museum of Modern Art, the S.F. Zoo and Zeum, all in San Francisco; Chabot Space and Science Center, the Lindsay Wildlife Museum, the Judah L. Magnes Museum and the Oakland Zoo, all in the East Bay; the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito; and the Hackworth Imax Theater at the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose.

Since it began in 1979, Koret has awarded nearly $277 million in grants addressing a broad range of issues, from education reform to strengthening cultural institutions.




Deported Russian emigre is pregnant

In addition to depression and anxiety, Yana Slobodova is now dealing with morning sickness.

Slobodova is the 30-year-old Russian Jewish piano teacher who was deported from San Francisco at the end of February for having false papers when she entered the country.

During her eight years in the United States, she met and married Alexander Makarchuk, 33, a naturalized U.S. citizen, and they have a son, Nikita, who is almost 2. Nikita is now with his mother in St. Petersburg.

Slobodova's parents, who are eligible for citizenship in a few months, had moved to San Mateo last year to be near their daughter and grandson. Now they are returning to New Jersey, where they had previously lived.

Makarchuk, unable to work in his profession as a plumber because of a back injury, needs surgery. He is considering moving temporarily to Florida, to live with his mother, but not before returning to Russia a second time to visit his wife.

"It's complicated for me because it's spinal surgery, and I'm really afraid to do that," he said. "Especially because of the second baby, and who knows what will happen."

Meanwhile, Linda Levy, a Berkeley lawyer, has been compiling a report to be submitted to the Department of Homeland Security to try and obtain humanitarian parole for Slobodova. If granted, this would allow her back into the country while her appeal is being considered.