INSIDE RECF!V"n «• •- • i MEESE BARS TWO WITH WALDHEIM 2 REPUBLICANS AT RALLY 3 AFTER THE RALLY: LINKAGE 6 NATIONAL JEWISH COALITION JANUARY 1988 U.S. and Israel to Cooperate OnSDI Under an agreement signed by Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci and Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin, the United States and Israel will cooperate in the research and development of the Israeli Arrow anti-tactical ballistic missile (ATBM). Senators Orrin Hatch (R- Utah), Malcolm Wallop (R-Wyo), and Dan Quayle (R-Ind) were actively in- volved in securing Carlucci's support for the cooperation. Carlucci and Rabin sign memorandum of understanding on ATBM. The Israeli ATBM is designed to shoot down missiles of less than a 300-mile range with an anti-missile missile. The INF treaty signed by President Reagan and General Secretary Gorbachev in Washington calls for the elimination of medium-range missiles, those with a range Republicans Address of 300 to 3300 miles. Short-range missiles are still permitted. The Israeli ATBM would protect West Germany and South Freedom Sunday Rally Korea against a potential threat from Soviet short-range missiles such as the SS- The Freedom Sunday rally for Soviet called on Mr. Gorbachev to extend glas- 21 and SS-23. Israel is currently threatened Jewry on December 6, 1987 was the nost to Soviet Jews and allow them the by Soviet SS-21s Syria has deployed near largest Washington demonstration ever free emigration guaranteed by the interna- the Golan Heights. held by the American Jewish community. tional human rights accords to which the Under the agreement, the U.S. will pay A record quarter of a million people from Soviet Union is a signatory. eighty percent of the costs of developing all over the country marched in President Reagan sent a note praising Washington, D.C. and gathered on the the ATBM, with Israel paying the rest. the demonstrators and expressing his The economic burden on Israel is further Mall to express their solidarity with the undivided support for the struggle for free refuseniks. relieved by a provision giving Israel the emigration for those Soviet Jews who wish option of paying half of its share out of Four Republican presidential candi- to leave the Soviet Union and the right to foreign military sales (FMS) credits. This dates, Vice President George Bush, practice their religion freely for those who means that Israel could allocate money for Senator Robert Dole, Congressman Jack choose to stay there. The first topic the the ATBM from funds received from the Kemp, and General Alexander Haig, and President raised with General Secretary U.S. and earmarked for the purchase of Democratic presidential candidate Senator Gorbachev was human rights, and free U.S. defense equipment. Under former Al Gore, joined Elie Wiesel and prominent emigration for Soviet Jews was the first Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, refuseniks such as Natan Shcharansky and human rights issue they discussed. Ida Nudel on the speakers' platform. They continued, page 2 MBulletin2\ CAPITAL Wire military aid granted before 1987 by Attorney General Meese had put two men ISRAEL GETS AID; allowing private banks to refinance high- connected with Waldheim's wartime ser- DEBTS RESTRUCTURED interest foreign aid loans at lower interest vice on the watch list. The two are Herbert rates. Israel has the highest outstanding Warnstoff, who was Waldheim's superior Before adjourning for the holidays, debt in high-interest loans, approximately at his post in the Balkans, and Helmut House and Senate conference committee $5.45 billion. The plan will save Israel Poliza, who was Waldheim's deputy there. negotiators agreed to a foreign aid bill over $2 billion in the next 20 years. No details were released about the two giving Israel $3 billion in aid for fiscal men, the allegations against them, or any years 1988 and 1989. As in 1987, $1.8 evidence which might have been found, billion will be provided as military aid MEESE BARS TWO which led the Justice Department to bar and $1.2 billion will be economic — WITH WALDHEIM them from the country. all in the form of grants. Before 1984, the Waldheim was barred from visiting the economic foreign aid Israel received from According to information released in U.S. as a private citizen after considerable the U.S. was made up of grants, but early December 1987, Attorney General evidence was found indicating that he may military aid was in the form of loans, some Edwin Meese III has barred two men have been involved in war crimes during at quite high rates of interest. connected with Austrian President Kurt his service in the German army in the In addition to the foreign aid bill Waldheim's World War II service in the Balkans during World War II. Waldheim provisions, the House conferees accepted Balkans from entering the United States. could enter the U.S. on official business, a foreign debt plan passed by the Senate A letter sent by Neal Sher of the Justice as he would be protected by diplomatic on December 11, which was sponsored by Department's Office for Special Investiga- immunity, but because of the seriousness Senators Daniel Inouye of Hawaii and tions to Brigadier General James Laughton of the allegations against him, and his Robert Kasten of Wisconsin. This plan will Collins, who serves on an international refusal or inability to respond adequately ease the strain of the high-interest loans commission currently studying the issue to them, the Reagan Administration has Israel currently owes the U.S. from of World War II war crimes, indicated that declined to invite Waldheim for an official visit.

In Memoriam: Bernard H. Barnett SDI, continued from page 1 It is with deep regret that we note the U.S. had proposed a fifty-fifty split of One program is to develop the technology the passing of Bernard H. Barnett the costs; Secretary Carlucci decided upon needed to make the ATBM workable in on December 10, 1987. Mr. Barnett, an eighty-twenty division. The U.S. share poor weather conditions. Another would who was 71, was a founder of the of the project will be $100 million. This develop high velocity gun technologies, National Jewish Coalition and a is the first time the American government which could double or triple the speed of member of the NJC Executive Com- has made a commitment of such mag- a projectile through the atmosphere. The mittee . The senior partner in the law nitude to a cooperative effort in defense third research program would develop firm of Barnett and Alagia, Mr. research and development with Israel. computer software for theatre battle man- Barnett was a leading figure in Other research programs connected to agement. national Republican politics. He the ATBM project will also begin soon. The ATBM research, in addition to its served on the Republican Senatorial immediate defensive value, would also be Trust and on the finance committees a test for the technologies which will be for many Republican congressmen used in the SDI program. Successful and senators. Most recently, he was development of the Israeli ATBM would national finance co-chairman of lend credibility to the SDI program. Israel Senator Dole's presidential cam- would further benefit because most of the paign. An active leader in the Jewish work on the ATBM would be done by community, Mr. Barnett was the Israel Aircraft Industries, whose high- honorary vice chairman of the technology research and development United Jewish Appeal and served as workers were laid off after the cancellation national UJA campaign chairman in of the Lavi project. Some senior Israeli 1964. military analysts believe the ATBM would Mr. Barnett was buried near his better meet Israel's defense needs, and home in Palm Beach, Florida. welcomed the cancellation of the Lavi as Senator Rudy Boschwitz delivered an opportunity to devote Israel's limited the eulogy. Mr. Barnett was a com- economic resources to a more effective mitted and enthusiastic supporter of defense system. the Coalition and a dear friend. We will miss him. NJCfi;///(•////3

rights, who will? Who in God's name will?" As Elie Wiesel once said, "In extreme situations, when human lives and dignity are at stake, neutrality is a sin." I look around me on this stage, and I see Natan Shcharansky, a free man, and I cannot help but recall the first time I met his wife, Avital, in Jerusalem eight years 00 ago. She told me of receiving her exit visa one day after her wedding, of leaving her husband behind in Moscow, of the five years that had passed since they had parted. How moved I was by her story. Yet seven more years would go by before Natan Shcharansky would be freed, seven more years in which the President, Secretary Shultz, and I pressed his case at every opportunity, seven more years before the Soviets finally opened up the gates and freed this champion of human Vice President Bush addresses the rally dignity — his indomitable spirit still intact despite his years in the gulag. He is one of the heroes we honor today., There are many others here — Vladimir Slepak, Ida Nudel, Yuli Edelshtein — and there are countless more who have been left behind — many whose names we do Bush: Don't Repeal not even know. Now Mr. Gorbachev has embarked on a policy of glasnost, or openness. But Jackson-Vanik openness begins at the borders. Let's see not five or six or 10 or 20 refuseniks released at a time, but thousands, tens of What an impressive and moving dem- It would be easier, safer, more diploma- thousands — all those who want to go. onstration this is — of the commitment tic to remain silent — to negotiate our And those who want to stay — let them that has drawn you by the tens of treaties and never raise the question of practice their religion in freedom. Let thousands, Christians and Jews, from human rights. But that would be untrue them study Hebrew; let them pray in their every corner of our country, to show to ourselves, and it would break our own synagogues; let them hear the Voice support for our brothers and sisters still promise to the past. of Israel; let them lead Jewish lives. yearning to breathe free, half the world For I have been to Yad Vashem. And I The human rights issue is now a perma- away. What a difference between this have been to Auschwitz. I have seen the nent part of the U.S.-Soviet agenda. It will demonstration and the one so brutally mounds of human hair, the eyeglasses and be high on the agenda for the summit. I broken up in Moscow in the last few hours. the toothbrushes and the tiny children's will personally raise it with Mr. Gor- We are gathered here today to bear shoes — all that remains of the millions bachev. I will not be satisfied until the witness to the truth — the truth about the of victims who died there. I have seen the promise of Helsinki is a reality. Soviet Union, and the truth about who we empty canisters of poison gas. Let's not hear any more claims about are, as a people and as a nation. These are the places that remind us that protecting state security or about the We are a nation that was founded for we cannot be silent — like the Holocaust United States organizing a brain drain. liberty and human rights — for the Memorial Museum that will be built near Mr. Gorbachev: Let these people go! freedom to speak and assemble and wor- where we stand today. The lesson of these ship, each in our own way. This is our places is that never again can we remain heritage — one that we must never silent about the abuse of human rights — abandon for the expediency of the mo- never again! ment. I came away from Auschwitz deter- These are the values for which we have mined not just to remember the Holocaust, stood for 200 years. These are the values but determined to renew our commitment embodied in the Helsinki accords. And to human rights around the world. I found unless the Soviets fully comply with them, myself thinking, "If we in the United we should not repeal the Jackson-Vanik States are not strong enough, not coura- amendment. geous enough to stand up for human NJC Bulletin 4

Dole: Glasnost Is Not Freedom I am deeply honored today to stand here among such men and women, Natan Shcharansky, Ida Nudel, the Slepaks and many, many others. Their courage renews our own commitment to freedom. And freedom is what this nation — this United States — is all about. Tomorrow Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev arrives to begin a third summit meeting with President Reagan. The agenda is crowded — signing an INF agreement, discussing the next round of arms control issues, regional conflicts, and on and on. But there is really only one fundamental issue on the agenda — freedom. Senator Dole at the Freedom Sunday rally "Glasnost" may be all the rage in the media. But freedom is still the real issue. Whatever "glasnost" is, it is not freedom. During my 27 years as a member of Congress and the Senate, I've had literally scores of people ask me to help get their parents, their children, their wives, into the United States. I've never had one ask me to help them leave America. But last Monday night Mr. Gorbachev told the American people via television that there would be no freedom of move- Glasnost may be ment — no free emigration in his country because he had to protect Soviet society all the rage, from a "brain drain" plotted by the U.S. And he would not answer questions about tearing down the Berlin Wall because it was but freedom is none of America's business. Well, the freedom of enslaved people is America's the real issue. business. The refuseniks do not take freedom and the most basic human rights — the right to live and work and pray where they want, when they want — they do not take those I agree. rights for granted. And neither will Ronald Reagan, or any of us who represents So I say, let them go, Mr. Gorbachev. NJC Bulletin is published monthly by the National Jewish Coalition America. Live up to the promises you made to the world, in the U.N. Charter and the Hel- MAX FISHER RICHARD J. Fox Honorary Chairman sinki accord. National Chairman Squeezing Every Drop GEORGE KLEIN GORDON ZACKS Let them go, Mr. Gorbachev. Let every Co-Chairman Co-chairman Someone recently told me about a last man and woman who wants to sleep CHRIS GERSTEN conversation they had with Ida Nudel, under the same roof with their children, Executive Director which I think sums up what this summit or say a prayer in a synagogue, whether SHARI HlLLMAN ought to be all about. Ida was asked what it be in Washington or Jerusalem, or who Editor she thought about "glasnost"; was it real? wants only the chance for medical treat- Please send comments and address changes to: NJC Bulletin And her response was, "I don't know, but ment let them go, Mr. Gorbachev. 415 Second Street. N.E. Suite 100 let's squeeze every drop of advantage we I will not rest; you will not rest; America Washington. D.C. 20002 can Qut of it, right now". will not rest — until they are all free. WCBulletin 51

THE WHITE HOUSE Kemp: We Are Not WASHINGTON

December 4, 1987 Deceived

My friends, during the past several The new emigration law allows only weeks we've heard speculation about what those with a relative abroad of the first part of the United States Mikhail Gor- degree — parents, children, or siblings — bachev should see. Well, this rally is the to apply for visas. We are here today to America I want Mr. Gorbachev to see. tell Mr. Gorbachev, to tell the Kremlin, This is the America which is not de- and to tell the world that we are their I am pleased to acknowledge and ceived by slick TV performances, by relatives of the first degree, because we applaud the efforts of the "Campaign to skilled propaganda, or by silken words. are their brothers and sisters. the Summit" on behalf of Soviet Jewry. Bitter experience has taught us that when Our concern keeps them alive. We must Peacefully yetjercefully, in true demo- a tyrant comes bearing an olive branch — be firm on the issue of linkage of new cratic spirit, you are making your cause check what's in the other hand. agreements to Soviet performance on known not only to the Soviet leadership Mr. Gorbachev, your glasnost and your human rights issues. I have also taken but to the world at large. Your cause has perestroika and your Tom Brokaw inter- other action by introducing a bill, The always had our undivided support — the views cannot drown out the cries of International Financial Security Act of struggle of Soviet Jews for freedom of 400,000 refuseniks. We hear the anguish 1987, H.R. 3905, which gives the Presi- emigration and the right to practice their of each individual, Jew or Christian, who dent discretionary authority to restrict religion without fear of persecution. Their asks only for the right to worship God and loans to the Soviets if their record on valiant quest for freedom exemplifies the live as a full human being. human rights violations does not improve. cause of liberty for all mankind. We are not deceived by a few token If this Congress does not make its The Soviet leadership has taken some gestures. We are glad but we are not position on the issue of untied cash lending limited, but positive, steps on the issue of deceived when a few prominent dissidents clear, this will mean that the U.S. will not human rights. We welcome these actions, are set free. While Shcharansky and only be selling the Soviets the rope with but they are far from enough. There are Feltsman and Slepak and Nudel have been which to hang Soviet Jews, but that we more recent signs of stagnation, but I have released in the full glow of Western TV will be financing it on the most favorable high hopes for new, forward steps by the cameras, the new Soviet emigration law terms of credit with the bank deposits of Soviets. I shall press for them in my talks makes it harder, not easier for 95 percent the American people. with General Secretary Gorbachev in the of those left behind. coming days — for the release of all refuseniks, for full freedom of emigration, and for complete freedom of religion and cultural expression. We shall not be satisfied with less. We — you and I — cannot relax our vigil. Let me say to all of you and to those who wait in the Soviet Union — if freedom is won through faith, dedication, and perseverance, I have no doubt that your efforts will ultimately prevail. God bless you all.

Congressman Kemp marches with Natan Shcharansky, Vladimir Slepak, and Elie Wiesel. tUCBulletin

The Next Step For the American Jewish community, organizations, synagogues, schools, and of emigration of Soviet Jews and other the most important event of the historic other groups, enabled the rally organizers ethnic minorities and human rights Reagan-Gorbachev summit took place a to reach thousands of people. That same policies of the Soviet Union ..." The day before the general secretary arrived, structure made it possible to coordinate enactment of legislation tying U.S.-Soviet when nearly 250,000 people marched and finance the transportation for the trade and untied loans to emigration through Washington, D.C. and gathered demonstrators, and to provide the neces- would have a profound effect on U.S.- on the Mall to demand free emigration for sary equipment and services for the rally. Soviet economic relations, and could be Soviet Jews. Jews from across America And the issue, human rights for Soviet the impetus for long-term reform in Soviet and from every background joined to- Jews, is one which the diverse American emigration policy. But it must first become gether in the largest demonstration by Jewish community has made an uncondi- a focus of national debate. It is an issue American Jews in the nation's capital, and tional commitment to support. which pits human rights interests against one of the largest demonstrations ever held This very successful rally demonstrated business interests, those who support in Washington. the ability of the American Jewish com- linkage against those who believe in trade Organizers were stunned by the size of munity to unify on an issue, organize, and for its own sake, regardless of the policies the rally. No one expected such a strong make an effective statement. Now the of the trade partner. and unified turnout; an astounding one community must take the next step and The rally on the Mall should be a lesson quarter of a million people responded to focus its resources on a specific policy to the Jewish community — here is an the community's call. The demonstrators goal to help Soviet Jewry. That goal is effective vehicle for political expression. told Mr. Gorbachev that the American linkage. This rally communicated a general mes- Jewish community will not be mollified The idea of linking U.S.-Soviet trade sage to Gorbachev: "Let my people go". by the release of 600 to 700 refuseniks a with free emigration is not a new one. Now the community must utilize its month when 400,000 still wish to emig- It was the basis for the Jackson- energy, structure, and organization to say: rate. They condemned the new Soviet Vanik amendment of 1972 which states "Let my people go — or else there will regulation which restricts the right to apply that the U.S.S.R. will not be granted most- be no more loans, no more trade." Sym- for visas to those few refuseniks who can favored-nation tariffs as long as it "denies bolic statements are no longer enough. It get invitations from immediate relatives its citizens the right or opportunity to is vital that the Jewish community put its living in Israel. And they rejected the emigrate". Another apporoach is the new will and resources into more rallies and continuing Soviet policy of denying visas Kemp-Roth bill, which would give the an effective lobbying effort in Congress to Soviet Jews, especially those who President the authority to halt untied loans, for linkage legislation. If the community served in the military or worked in the U.S. commercial bank loans to the increases its role in the making of U.S.- sciences, because of "state security". U.S.S.R. which are not designated for a Soviet economic policy, it will be able to While some refuseniks may have had specific purpose, if he feels there has been make a real contribution to the struggle access to secrets in the past, Mr. Gor- insufficient progress in "the advancement for Soviet Jewry. bachev himself said that the usefulness of such secrets would expire after five or, at Chris Gersten most, ten years. Yet after seven, ten or even twenty years these refuseniks, and what is more indefensible, their children, are still being denied exit visas on the grounds of "state secrecy concerns". National Jewish Coalition Non Profit In addition to the quarter of a million Organization demonstrators, the rally included Vice 415 Second Street, N.E., Suite 100 U.S. Postage President George Bush, Senate Republi- Washington, DC 20002 PAID Wash., DC can leader Bob Dole, Congressman Jack Permit No. 1062 Kemp, General Alexander Haig, and Democratic presidential candidate Senator Al Go*e as well as Elie Wiesel and prominent former refuseniks who marched with the community and addressed the David Harris crowd from the podium. American Jewish Com. However those 250,000 people could 165 E 56th St. not have created that demonstration by New York, NY 10022 themselves. The rally was possible only because there is a structure to the Jewish community and because there was an issue to motivate people. The structure of the community, based on large, grass-roots