Obama wants to talk with Mideast leaders
President Barack Obama plans to invite the Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian leaders to the White House in the coming weeks for separate talks on moving forward with the Middle East peace process.
In remarks to reporters after a meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan on April 21, Obama said he remained committed to pushing for a two-state solution: separate Israeli and Palestinian states existing side-by-side in peace.
Obama said that his administration and special Mideast envoy George Mitchell had not finished listening to both sides and wanted to give the new Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu more time to formulate policy. But he said all sides in the conflict must overcome the grip of cynicism.
“I agree that we can’t talk forever, that at some point steps have to be taken so that people can see progress on the ground. And that will be something that we will expect to take place in the coming months,” Obama said. “Unfortunately, right now what we’ve seen not just in Israel, but within the Palestinian territories, among the Arab states, worldwide, is a profound cynicism about the possibility of any progress being made whatsoever.” — ap
Feds to drop case against ex-AIPAC staffers?
The Justice Department is considering dropping its case against two former pro-Israel lobbyists accused of illegally disclosing national defense secrets, government officials said this week.
Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, the two former AIPAC employees, were charged in 2005 with conspiring to obtain classified documents and sharing them with reporters and former diplomats.
Two government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said April 21 the Justice Department has been weighing whether to go forward with the much-delayed case. Some involved in the case are urging officials to let it continue to trial, the officials said.
A critical issue in pretrial hearings has been how much of the government’s case must be aired in open court; the trial has been postponed at least nine times as the defense and prosecutors wrangled over the handling of classified information and other issues. The defendants won an appeals court victory on that front in February when a three-judge panel ruled that some classified evidence could be presented at trial.
The charges against Rosen and Weissman fall under the 1917 Esp-ionage Act, a rarely used World War I–era law that never before has been applied to lobbyists. The maximum penalty is 10 years per count; Rosen is charged with two counts and Weissman with one. — ap
Rabbinical school may close 2 campuses
The Reform movement’s rabbinical school is considering closing two of its three U.S. campuses.
The board of governors of Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion will meet in May to discuss various ways of dealing with the school’s financial problems, including whether to keep open just one of its three campuses in Los Angeles, New York and Cinncinati, according to the Los Angeles Times. Other alternatives include merging some academic programs while keeping more than one campus open.
In a letter earlier this month to members of the college community, President Rabbi David Ellenson said HUC-IJR faced a deficit this year of $3 million and was “in the most challenging financial position it has faced in its history” because of declines in its endowment and in dues paid by Reform congregations around the country, among other funding problems.
Ellenson said his salary and the salaries of other top administrators had already been cut by 10 percent and that tuition is going to be raised as well. — jta
J Street launches campus outreach effort
J Street is joining with the Union of Progressive Zionists to establish a campus outreach program. The left-wing, pro-Israel lobby group announced the project April 15, its one-year anniversary.
“For too long, college campuses have been the scenes of shouting matches rather than constructive and healthy dialogue about what best serves Israel’s and America’s interests,” J Street Executive Director Jeremy Ben-Ami said. “J Street’s campus program will provide space for students who support Israel but still want to debate openly and freely the hard questions surrounding the conflict.”
The plan was to increase UPZ’s current 15-campus representation “dramatically” over the next year, the announcement said. — jta
Baltimore rabbi convicted of sexual offense
A longtime Baltimore-area rabbi was convicted of sexual offense. Rabbi Jacob Aaron Max was found guilty April 13 of sex offense in the fourth degree and second degree assault for molesting a female employee of a funeral home in December of last year, the Baltimore Jewish Times reported.
Max, 85, is the rabbi emeritus of the Moses Montefiore Anshe Emunah Hebrew Congregation, which is better known as Pikesville’s Liberty Jewish Center. Max will appeal the verdict. — jta