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Newsletter : 8fax1204.txt
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>PD
>Israel Faxx
>JN Dec. 4, 1998, Vol. 6, No. 219
Holocaust Art Guidelines Adopted
Israel Faxx Staff Report
Paintings confiscated from Jews by Nazi Germany, including Picasso
and Cezanne, could be returned to prewar owners or their heirs or
auctioned to benefit Holocaust survivors under guidelines endorsed
Thursday by 44 countries at an international conference. "The art
world will never be the same in the way it deals with
Nazi-confiscated art," said Stuart Eizenstat, undersecretary of
state and head of the U.S. delegation sponsoring the meeting.
Will Pollard be Pardoned?
By Deborah Tate (VOA-White House)
President Clinton has asked his top advisors to recommend by the
middle of next month whether to release Jonathan Pollard, who is
serving a life sentence for spying for Israel. National security
spokesman David Leavy says Clinton is seeking a recommendation on
clemency for Pollard by Jan. 11.
He says White House lawyer Charles Ruff made the request last month
in letters to Attorney General Janet Reno, Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright, Defense Secretary William Cohen and Central
Intelligence Agency Director George Tenet.
Clinton agreed to review the case in October -- but only after a
last-minute request from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for
Pollard's release nearly scuttled the Middle East peace agreement
reached at Wye River, Md.
Clinton has twice refused to free Pollard, a former Naval
Intelligence officer who pleaded guilty to spying for Israel in
1986. CIA Director Tenet is reported to have told Clinton he is
vehemently opposed to the convicted spy's release, and would
resign if he were freed. Leavy says the president has made no
pledges to release Pollard.
The Grandest Wedding in Town
By IsraelWire
More than 10,000 persons attended the Tuesday evening wedding in Jerusalem of the son of the Gerrer Rebbe to the daughter of the Rebbe of Lublin. The wedding marked the first time a Gerrer Rebbe married off a son in 53 years.
The 19-year-old groom was married to his 17-year-old bride as
thousands of Gerrer Chassidim and friends looked on. The Gerrer
Rebbe, Rabbi Yaakov Alter, is the president of the Agudat Yisrael
Council of Torah Sages.
At the wedding, about 15 persons sustained light injuries when a
podium collapsed under the weight of the large crowd.
Euthanasia Case Causes National Stir
By IsraelWire
Haaretz has created a stir in the nation's medical, political and
religious communities with a report of what was called Israel's
first case of euthanasia, which took place in Jerusalem's Hadassah
Ein Kerem Hospital on Oct. 4. Dr. Avinoam Reches, a neurologist and
senior staff member of the medical center, unhooked a patient from
life support systems.
Itai Arad, a 49-year-old former air force pilot, suffered from the
degenerative muscle disease known as ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease).
Arad had been fighting for the courts to accept what he termed his
"right to die" rather than endure the debilitating disease.
Reches injected massive quantities of an anesthetic into Arad, then
disconnected the respirator. Arad was pronounced dead 24 hours
later.
Arad was victorious in his bid to end his own suffering and in
January of 1996, the Tel-Aviv District Court ordered that a
hospital may comply with the patient's request. The ruling was the
first of its kind in Israel.
To Arad's dismay, the Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba refused to act as
the agent to implement his wish to die with dignity. The medical
team would not disconnect him from his respirator. The family then
approached Reches.
The physician stated that he would agree to comply with the request
if the hospital's medical ethics committee approved the action. The
committee turned back to the district court for a reaffirmation of
the unprecedented verdict and it reaffirmed the ruling that the
patient may be disconnected from his life support systems.
As far as the wishes of the patient, Arad was videotaped when he
was still functioning, and made a living will asking that he not be
permitted to "linger" on advanced life support systems and be
allowed to die with dignity.
Shas Calls for Business in New Israeli Shekels Only
By IsraelWire
Shas Party MK Yitzchak Cohen has introduced legislation that would
prohibit any business dealings in any other currency than the
shekel, which would be linked to the price index.
Cohen pointed out that tens of thousands of families have been
adversely hit with recent currency devaluation and the current
situation may not be permitted to continue. If passed, Cohen said
the law would contribute significantly to stabilizing the economy.
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