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Newsletter : 0fax0511.txt
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>JN May 11, 2000, Vol. 8, No. 86
Ben-Gurion's Duty-Free Shops Not Kosher
By IsraelWire
According to Arutz-7, the duty free shops in Ben-Gurion International Airport did not sell their chometz, forbidden foods on Passover, and therefore, the items not sold are now deemed not kosher in accordance with Jewish law. Non kosher for Passover foods and alcoholic beverages which were not sold to a non-Jew prior to the holiday, thereby remaining in Jewish hands during the Passover holiday, may never be consumed by Jews.
Arafat Requests U.S. to Drop Warrant for Klinghoffer's Killer
By IsraelWire
The U.S. decision to stop pursuing Abu Abas, the mastermind of the Achilles Lauro hijacking, was made at the request of Yasir Arafat, according to a new report.
The weekly Yerushalayim newspaper reports (May 5) that "a source in the American Embassy in Israel has confirmed that the arrest warrant against Abu Abas was canceled at the request of Arafat."
Abas, who is being sheltered in Arafat's PLO Authority territory, has admitted that he masterminded the 1985 hijacking in which his agents murdered Leon Klinghoffer, an elderly, wheelchair-bound American tourist aboard the Achilles Lauro. Shortly after the hijacking, the U.S. issued a warrant for Abas's arrest for piracy and kidnapping, and offered a $250,000 reward for information leading to his capture. But the warrant and the reward were later quietly dropped.
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said: "If it is true that it was at Arafat's request that the United States government gave up pursuing justice for a murdered American citizen, it represents appeasement of the worst sort. You don't fight terrorists by ignoring them."
The ZOA points out that to this day, the US has never given a plausible explanation as to why it stopped trying to bring Abas to justice. State Department spokesman James Rubin said on May 11, 1998, regarding the Abas case: "Well, let me say that the United States strongly believes that Abu Abas should be punished for the crimes committed aboard the Achilles Lauro in 1985. Abas was tried in absentia in Italy in 1986, found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. There are no charges pending against Abu Abas in the United States. The statute of limitations has long since run out."
But a 1996 study by the Congressional Research Service found that, in fact, the statute of limitations has not expired, because the statute is suspended when the suspect is a fugitive from justice. The CRS, which is the official and authoritative research division of Congress, examined the Abas issue and compiled a detailed 14-page report Sept. 9, 1996. On the question of the statute of limitations, the report concluded: "It would appear that section 3290 [of the US Criminal Code] would operate to toll [suspend the expiration of] the statute of limitations in Abas' case."
In an interview with the Boston Globe on June 26, 1998, Abas was asked why his men murdered Klinghoffer. He replied: "He created troubles. He was handicapped but he was inciting and provoking the other passengers. So the decision was made to kill him."
In an interview with the Jerusalem Arab newspaper Al Quds on May 13, 1998, Abas said: On Jews: "The U.S. administration is governed by a line of Jews, at the top of which stand Madeleine Albright and National Security Adviser William Cohen." [Cohen is actually Secretary of Defense.]
On America: "In the negotiations, the United States usually resorts to ways and means of blackmailing the Palestinian leadership." On violence against Israel: "We need to affirm that the struggle between us and Israel does not stop at any limits...The freedom Palestinians dream of for themselves and their homeland requires further struggle and fighting...The homeland needs more efforts and further sacrifices."
On Iraq: "Iraq continues to affirm, through President Saddam Hussein, our legitimate rights as Arabs to freedom, independence, and use of our own resources."
6.3 Million Israeli Citizens -- 4.9 Million Jews
By IsraelWire
Upon Israel's 52nd Independence Day, the population of Israel is, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics, 6.3 million.
In 1948 Israel numbered 806,000 residents; the population is now close to eight times what it was at the establishment of the state. Much of the increase in population is due to immigration, some three million immigrants since '48. One million immigrants have arrived in the past 10 years.
The Jewish population of Israel is 4.9 million, 82% of the total population. The Arab population is 1.1 million, of which 81% are Moslems, 10% Christians, and 9% Druze. Among the Jewish population, 63% were born in Israel, and 43% are the second generation born here.
According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, the past year saw a rise in population, due to increased immigration, which averaged 6,000 immigrants per month, compared to 5,000 last year. The former Soviet Union continues to be the main source of immigrants to Israel.
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