Campaign to help Wiesel takes flight
In the aftermath of the Bernard Madoff scandal, unsolicited private donors are trying to help Nobel Prize–winning author Elie Wiesel, who lost several million dollars of his personal fortune when his foundation took a $15.2 million hit in the Ponzi scheme.
In recent months, small and large donations totaling $400,000 have flowed into the Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, the Conde Nast Portfolio Web site disclosed this week. Some of the money was given directly to Wiesel and his wife, Marion, but the couple turned everything over to the foundation. “At any moment it would have been an amazing outpouring of generosity,” Marion Wiesel told the business magazine’s Web site, “but specifically in these times it’s so amazing, and it continues.”
The Wiesel Foundation (www.eliewieselfoundation.org) supports after-school centers in Israel, international conferences and various humanitarian awards and prizes. The contributions have ranged from $5 to $100. — jta
New indictment in slaughterhouse case
Former Iowa kosher slaughterhouse manager Sholom Rubashkin has been named in a new 79-count indictment that consolidates many previously filed charges and dismisses two other counts. The indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, March 31 replaces a previously filed 99-count indictment. Rubashkin, 49, is named in 78 of the 79 counts included in the indictment.
The U.S. attorney’s office said the charges are the result of an investigation that began in October 2007 and has continued since the May 12 immigration raid at the Postville, Iowa, plant that resulted in the arrest of 389 people.
Rubashkin’s attorney Guy Cook says Rubashkin will plead not guilty to the new charges. He also filed a notice April 30 asking a judge to plan upcoming court proceedings so they don’t conflict with Jewish holidays. The notice included a list of some 30 days for religious observance or preparation. — ap
Prosecution urged to reconsider AIPAC case
The American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League are urging the Justice Department to reconsider its prosecution of former AIPAC staffers Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, who have been charged with illegally passing on classified information under the 1917 Espionage Act.
“The prosecution creates a chilling effect on legitimate speech,” AJC Executive Director David Harris said in a statement. “Based upon the facts that the government has divulged thus far, we hope the Department of Justice will take a close look at this case and reconsider whether it should be pursued further.”
After the AJC statement was issued, the ADL released a letter it had sent privately last September to the deputy attorney general. The letter said that the “prosecution of this case endangers core First Amendment protections not just for AIPAC, but for the media and anyone who, in the course of their work, discusses with government officials something that a prosecutor later decides was protected national defense information.” — jta
U.S. to join U.N. rights council
The United States is joining the U.N. Human Rights Council, causing the Anti-Defamation League, World Jewish Congress and other Jewish groups to express concern about the decision.
The Obama administration announced it would participate in May elections for a seat on the 47-member council, “with the goal of working to make it a more effective body to promote and protect human rights.” The Bush administration had withheld U.S. membership from the Geneva-based council for its failure to confront human rights abusers and for singling out Israel for condemnation.
Since its 2006 creation to replace the widely discredited U.N. Commission on Human Rights, the council has passed 32 resolutions; 26 have been critical of Israel, according to UN Watch, a pro-Israel monitoring group. — jta
Farrakhan slams ‘Israel lobby’
In excerpts of Louis Farrakhan’s annual Saviours’ Day speech March 1 in Chicago released by the Anti-Defamation League, the Nation of Islam leader said the “Israeli lobby controls the government of the United States of America.”
He also said Congress was “terrorized” by the lobby and doesn’t “act for the American people that sent you to Congress, but acts for “the money and interests that have bought your soul.” In the excerpts, Farrakhan said Israelis are “liars, thieves, murderers” who have “taken the position of God” and are out to “kill everybody.”
He took issue with the accuracy of Holocaust records, saying, “You can’t even engage in constructive argument over the veracity of the figures of the Holocaust.
“We know something happened, sure, but you can’t talk about” it, Farrakhan said. “In certain cities in Europe they arrest you and put you in prison for denying such.”
ADL national director Abraham Foxman said the speech was proof Farrakahn had not changed. “After his near silence on Jews over the last several years, we thought Minister Farrakhan had put his long history of anti-Semitism and racism behind him, or at least had held his views in check,” Foxman said. “Apparently that was wishful thinking.” — jta
Jewish duo wins Bronfman prize
Jewish educators Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin have won the annual $100,000 Charles Bronfman Prize for their work in helping low-income students prepare for college.
The award goes to young individuals whose vision has been driven by their Jewish values. Feinberg, 40, and Levin, 39, co-founded the Knowledge is Power Program, a network of tuition-free, open enrollment college prep courses that are run in 19 states.
There are seven KIPP schools in the Bay Area. — jta