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Newsletter : 0fax0203.txt
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>JN Feb. 3, 2000, Vol. 8, No. 21
F-16 Pilot Abandons Jet over Negev
By IsraelWire
An Israel Air Force F-16a pilot Wednesday ejected from the aircraft after it stalled during a routine training flight over the Negev, in southern Israel. The pilot tried to restart the plane and executed the proper sequence of emergency procedures according to the report but was unable to regain control of the craft, prompting him to eject. The pilot, a second lieutenant, parachuted to safely and was unharmed. He was taken for a routine medical exam.
Knesset Discusses Israeli Nukes
By Meredith Buel (VOA-Jerusalem)
The Israeli Parliament, for the first time in the nation's history, has debated the country's nuclear weapons program. The Knesset, in an unprecedented debate, discussed Israel's nuclear weapons capabilities during a stormy session that escalated into a shouting match between Jewish and Arab legislators.
Arab lawmaker Issam Mahoul, who appealed to the Supreme Court to force the debate, said Israel has hundreds of nuclear warheads. Cabinet Minister Haim Ramon said he could not respond to the allegations because, in his words, "to do so would aid the enemy."
The public discussion of one of Israel's most carefully guarded secrets sparked a walkout from parliament by some members of the governing coalition as well as opposition lawmakers.
Israel has never publicly acknowledged it maintains a nuclear arsenal but foreign analysts say it has used its reactor at Dimona in the Negev desert to produce nuclear warheads.
Israel Threatens to Recall Its Austrian Ambassador
By Meredith Buel (VOA-Jerusalem)
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak says Israel will recall its ambassador to Vienna if the far-right Freedom Party joins Austria's ruling coalition. In a statement, Barak says Israel's ambassador to Vienna will be recalled for an indefinite period if Joerg Haider's Freedom Party joins the Austrian government.
Barak says he views the political developments in Austria "with great severity" and is calling on the international community "not to accept this worrying development."
The Israeli prime minister says, "the inclusion of an extreme right-wing party in the government of a European country such as Austria should outrage every citizen of the free world."
Barak says "the Jewish nation overall, and the state of Israel, will not allow the world to go on its way in the face of the developments in Austria." Israel "must not let a single day pass without remembering the lessons of the Holocaust and learning from the terrible events of the 1930s and 1940s."
Haider has caused an international outcry with past remarks praising some policies of former Nazi leader Adolph Hitler. He has since apologized for those remarks and says he is not anti-Semitic.
In a rare display of Israeli political unity, the main opposition Likud party quickly welcomed the government's position. A delegation of members from the Israeli parliament visited the Austrian embassy in Tel Aviv Wednesday to deliver a letter urging the government in Vienna to keep the Freedom Party out of power. Israel is home to the world's largest population of Holocaust survivors and this is not the first time relations with Austria have been deeply strained.
Israel did not send an ambassador to Vienna during the controversy surrounding the wartime past of former Austrian President Kurt Waldheim when he was elected in the mid-1980s.
Israel's ambassador to Austria between 1995 and 1998 - Youl Shour - says recalling the ambassador is more than just a symbolic act. "It is more than symbolical. I think it is very serious. It expresses our absolute refusal to deal with people who are basically racist."
Breakthrough in Slave Labor Talks
By Kyle King (VOA-State Department)
The U.S. envoy to talks on compensation for Nazi-era victims of forced and slave labor says several breakthroughs have been made and he expects an agreement in about eight weeks.
Deputy Treasury Secretary Stuart Eizenstat says the breakthroughs came in the wording of a draft law that is expected to be passed by the German Parliament. The envoy says there is now full agreement on the establishment of a proposed $5 billion compensation fund for Nazi slave and forced labor victims. A previous draft of the law would have counted some of the money that has already paid to the victims by German companies and the government.
Eizenstat says the new draft law -- which would establish a foundation to make payments -- also satisfies the demands of German corporations that fear future lawsuits. German firms have insisted that any deal on compensation for the victims should include a ban on future lawsuits.
More than 2 million people, most of them non-Jews from Eastern Europe, are expected to seek compensation from the foundation, which will be funded by the German government and German industry.
Eizenstat says there are still very complicated issues to be resolved but he expects a final agreement to be reached in about eight weeks. The next round of talks will be held in Berlin Feb. 17.
Since the end of World War 2, Germany has paid about $60 billion to survivors of the Holocaust but many people forced into slave labor have never been paid. Threats of legal action by the aging victims and their relatives have increased pressure to find a solution to the issue.
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