[PEN-L:8267] The Internet Anti-Fascist: Fri, 18 June 99 -- 3:47 (#283)

[Paul Kneisel <tallpaul@xxxxxxxx>]

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            The Internet Anti-Fascist: Friday, 18 June 99
                       Vol. 3, Numbers 47 (#283)
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                  3 SYNAGOGUES ON FIRE IN CALIFORNIA
                     Associated Press (18 Jun 99)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Fires broke out at three synagogues in the
Sacramento area today, and arson was suspected.

One person was in custody, and at least three others were being sought,
authorities said. Officers said that because of the timing and spacing
of the  synagogues, one person could not have set all three fires.

The first blaze was reported at 3:25 a.m.

All the fires were quickly brought under control, and arson
investigators  were being called in, said Matt Shank at the city's
Emergency Regional  Communications Center. There was no immediate word
on the extent of damage.

The synagogues were identified as Congregation Beth Shalom-Reform in
Carmichael, a Sacramento suburb; Congregation B'Nai Israel in
Sacramento; and  Temple Abad, also in Sacramento, according to KXTV.

"You're dealing with a sick mind," an obviously distraught Rabbi Joseph
Melamed of Beth Shalom told the television station. "There's no
question  about it."

Sacramento County sheriff's deputies were dispatched to all synagogues
in the  area. Officers said it appeared at least one of the temples was
entered after  a window was broken.

                               - - - - -

                ARSON CAUSED CALIFORNIA SYNAGOGUE FIRES
                    Doug Willis (Associated Press)
                               18 Jun 99

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Three synagogues were hit by coordinated arson
attacks today, and hate literature blaming the "Jewish media" for the
war  in Kosovo was found at one of the buildings.

The fires caused moderate damage to two synagogues and gutted a third
temple's library, destroying a collection of videos on Jewish history.

Federal officials were at the scenes, investigating the fires as hate
crimes.

Investigators took one youth into custody and were seeking several
others who  were seen near Congregation B'nai Israel, where the library
was broken into  and set on fire.

Because of the timing and spacing of the synagogues, one person could
not  have set all three fires, authorities said

A flier from an organization calling itself the North Atlantic
Terrorist  Organization was found at the Knesset Israel Torah Center by
KOVR-TV.

"The ugly American and NATO aggressors are the ultimate hypocrites. The
fake  Albanian refugee crisis was manufactured by the Jewish media to
justify the  terrorizing, the bestial bombing of our Yugoslavia back
into the dark ages,"  the flier reads.

The first blaze was reported at 3:24 a.m. at B'nai Israel in downtown
Sacramento. The second was called in at 3:48 a.m. at Congregation Beth
Shalom  in suburban Carmichael, and the third 10 minutes later at
Knesset Israel  Torah Center, in northeastern Sacramento County,
Sheriff's Lt. Jim Cooper  said.

In the area of B'nai Israel, police saw four youths who ran when they
saw the  patrol car. One of the youths was caught and was being
questioned. "Nobody's  under arrest," said police Officer Eric Walker.

The worst damage was at B'nai Israel, where a library used by a
nonreligious  private school was destroyed and offices were damaged.
The library housed  what was described as a "Jewish heritage video
collection," including  Holocaust videos, children's videos and other
films relating to Jewish  culture.

At Beth Shalom, the sanctuary was damaged but the sprinkler system
halted the  fire on the first floor.

"It's disturbing to be a target of this kind of activity," said Beth
Shalom  member Debby Nelson. "But I feel fortunate. They attempted to
do real  damage. We have a good security and fire alarm system. It
stopped them in  their tracks."

"This is my temple," said Estelle Opper, a member of B'nai Israel. "I
am  heart-stricken."

"You're dealing with a sick mind," a distraught Rabbi Joseph Melamed of
Beth Shalom told television station KXTV. "There's no question about
it."

A national church arson task force documented 670 attacks on houses of
worship between January 1995 and September 1998. Of those, 33 were in
California and one in Sacramento, a Baptist church.

"It is pretty rare generally speaking for three synagogues to be hit
all in  a row like this," said Jonathan Bernstein of the Anti-
Defamation League's  San Francisco office. "It's obviously a sign that
there was planning  involved. It wasn't just a spontaneous act."

                               - - - - -

              ARSON HITS 3 SYNAGOGUES IN SACRAMENTO AREA
         Mark Gladstone and Virginia Ellis (Los Angeles Times)
                               19 Jun 99

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Arsonists attacked three synagogues early Friday,
gutting a  library and leaving leaflets at two of the houses of worship
blaming Jews for  the war in Kosovo.

The worst of the damage was at 150-year-old Congregation B'nai Israel,
which calls itself the oldest synagogue in the West. The Reform
synagogue's  library housing tapes and other materials on Jewish
history was blackened,  its contents destroyed.

The early morning fires caused nearly $1 million in damage. A team of
local and federal law enforcement agents said there were no immediate
suspects.

"This is clearly the worst such attack in years," said Abraham H.
Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League,

B'nai Israel, located in a leafy residential neighborhood a few miles
south of California's Capitol, was hit first, at 3:24 a.m.

About 20 minutes later, arsonists broke into Congregation Beth Shalom,
another Reform temple 10 miles away in suburban Carmichael, and set a
small  fire. Ten minutes later, another fire broke out at Knesset
Israel Torah  Center, an Orthodox synagogue two miles away and just
outside the Sacramento  city limits.

Cantor Martin London of Knesset Israel said fliers left at the
synagogue  purported to link Jews with the war in Kosovo through
Secretary of State  Madeleine Albright, a Catholic who converted to
Episcopalianism. She only  recently discovered her Jewish ancestry.

"We're just a nice, easy target . . . and that's been going on for
2,000  years," London said.

At Beth Shalom, teary-eyed congregants gathered Friday morning outside
the temple, just below an inscription that read: "The Light of the Lord
Is  the Soul of Man."

They said the synagogue was spared serious fire damage by a sprinkler
system that doused the flames but left the sanctuary waterlogged.

Over the last decade, Sacramento has been the site of several racially
motivated incidents, including a firebombing outside B'nai Israel six
years  ago. Three years ago a predominantly black church was burned to
the ground by  arsonists.

"Our congregation . . . is devastated, shocked, numb, feeling anger.
All  those feelings," said Rabbi Brad Bloom of B'nai Israel. "At the
same time we  feel that . . . we're going to rebuild, we're going to
renew."

Reports of the synagogue fires also stunned the pastor at Sacramento's
only Serbian church.

"Our church and our people have nothing to do with this act of terror,
this act of hate," said the Rev. Dobrivoje Milunovic of the Serbian
Orthodox  Church of the Assumption. "Our prayers and thoughts are with
the members of  the Jewish congregations whose temples have been
burned."

U.S. Atty. Paul Seave, a member of Congregation B'nai Israel, was among
a group of elected officials and law enforcement authorities who
gathered at  a news conference Friday afternoon. Seave described the
three fires as  "crimes against all Americans" and announced the
revival of a hate crime task  force in the Sacramento area. Gov. Gray
Davis offered the services of all  state law enforcement agencies.

                 Federal Agencies Join Investigation

Within hours of the attacks, the FBI and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms were mobilized to join local police in the
investigation. The ATF sent its National Response Team, a mobile
investigative unit that is called for major incidents such as the
bombings in  Oklahoma City and at the World Trade Center in New York.

James Maddock, special agent in charge of the FBI's Sacramento office,
said four people were questioned early Friday and released after
investigators decided they were not involved in the fires. Maddock said
it  was too soon to say how many people were involved or what the
motive was.

"What we do know is that the fires were set deliberately by individuals
breaking in," said Sacramento County Sheriff's Lt. Jim Cooper.

As they combed through the crime scenes, investigators found  anti-
Semitic leaflets at Beth Shalom and Knesset Israel.

The front door of Knesset Israel, a modest building in a quiet,
residential neighborhood, was charred in the attack. Investigators
estimated  damage there at $30,000.

Cantor London said the synagogue had recently held a fund-raiser that
finally got the small congregation out of debt. "Now we're behind the
eight  ball again," he said.

At Beth Shalom, the fire caused $100,000 in damage.

"There's broken glass everywhere, and water and footprints and mud and
dirt everywhere," said Jeff Levy, Beth Shalom's immediate past
president.  "The carpeting for the entire sanctuary is soaked . . . the
American flag is  knocked over and burned."

At B'nai Israel, the burned library had housed videotapes on Jewish
history and culture as well as "Sesame Street" tapes in Hebrew.
Authorities  estimated the damage at more than $800,000, including
vandalism in the  sanctuary and some offices.

As word of the attack spread through the neighborhood, residents
gathered behind yellow police tape.

"They tried to get rid of us 50 years ago. They've tried over time.
They're not going to do it," said Elaine Hussey, a member of B'nai
Israel.

Jonathan Bernstein, director of the central Pacific region of the
Anti-Defamation League, who toured the blackened library just after
dawn,  said the latest attack seemed to be one more example of an
alarming trend.

While hate crimes in recent years have decreased, he said, the severity
of the attacks has increased significantly. "Fewer people are
committing  these acts, but the ones left committing the acts are doing
much more serious  things," he said.

In Los Angeles, Jewish leaders reacted swiftly to the news of the fires
in Sacramento. Foxman, the Anti-Defamation League's national director,
said  the Sacramento attacks are particularly troubling. "Not only
because it was  committed against houses of worship, but because it
appears to have been a  coordinated effort." He said the hate
literature found at the scene was  similar to material his organization
has been tracking on the Internet for a  number of months.

Michael Hirschfield, executive director of the Jewish Community
Relations Committee of the Los Angeles Jewish Federation, said the
attacks  demonstrated the need for educating schoolchildren about
diversity and  tolerance.

In April, the FBI investigated a Serb-language letter faxed to
Sacramento's Serbian Orthodox church and several other U.S. churches
urging  terrorist strikes on American military installations. Milunovic
said he found  Friday's events difficult to understand because Serbs
and Jews have related  well to each other for centuries. Many Jews
found refuge in Serbia during the  Holocaust, he said.

Leaders of Sacramento's Jewish community said the fires would not stop
them from convening their regular Sabbath services Friday night and
today,  although they would be held with local police on watch.

"A rabbi once said the entire world is a narrow bridge and the essence
is: Do not be afraid," said Rabbi Bloom. "That's our feeling. That's
our  message to the community."

                               * * * * *

                      Times fires were reported

1. B'nal Israel: 3:24 a.m.
2. Beth Shalom: 3;48 a.m.
3. Knesset Israel: 3:58 a.m.

                               * * * * *

Times staff writers Carl Ingram and Eric Bailey contributed to this
story.

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                ARYAN NATIONS ADVERTISING MARCH JULY 3
                    Bill Morlin (Spokesman-Review)
                               15 Jun 99

The Aryan Nations is proceeding with plans for a "white pride" event of
some kind in Coeur d'Alene on July 3, a week before the date of a city-
issued parade permit.

Newly published Aryan Nations literature suggests the white supremacy
group may ignore a city parade permit issued for July 10, or there may
be events both weekends.

The uncertainty has law enforcement officials in a planning quandary.

"Last year we knew when and where they were going to march, and we
planned accordingly. This year we don't have a clue," one ranking law
enforcement official said Tuesday.

"There could be some ugliness brewing here," the official said, asking
not to be publicly identified.

Without a permit to march downtown on July 3, the Aryans could legally
parade down the sidewalks, as a small number of them did in 1996.

They would face possible arrest if they marched down city streets July
3, the original date Aryan Nations founder Richard Butler wanted for
his parade. That date coincides with Butler's planned annual Aryan
World Congress.

The Aryans also could hold a rally in Coeur d'Alene City Park. They
wouldn't need a permit for a park rally unless a bullhorn is used.
Acting Coeur d'Alene Police Chief Carl Bergh said his department is
still assuming the parade will occur on July 10.

"It would be unprofessional for me to comment on rumor and innuendo,"
he said. Bergh said he had not seen the Aryan Nations literature that
talks about having a parade on July 3.

Mayor Steve Judy was surprised to hear the Aryans are still promoting a
public event on July 3.

"I can't officially comment on any of that until I have some kind of
verification on what they're planning from our law enforcement
officials," Judy said.

The city issued the July 10 permit earlier this month and told the
Aryans they couldn't march through downtown Coeur d'Alene as they did
last summer.

Instead, the group was given permission to march along Ramsey Road,
which traverses the old city dump. The Aryans didn't appeal that
decision before a 48-hour deadline.

"Mr. Butler has not indicated he's not going to use the permit for July
10," Bergh said.

Butler couldn't be reached for comment on Tuesday.

The Aryans were denied their request to march in downtown Coeur d'Alene
on July 3, when the annual Kiddie Parade is scheduled. The annual
Fourth of July parade is scheduled the following day.

Butler has been planning his 400-flag march to coincide with the Aryan
World Congress since late last year. He wants to use attendance at that
event to bolster the number of marchers.

The World Congress, scheduled for July 2-4, attracts white
supremacists, Ku Klux Klan members, neo-Nazis and skinheads from
throughout the United States and Canada.

"Our march of white Christian Aryans will be held July 3rd," Butler
says on the Aryan Nations Web site.

"It will be the last big event of the century and millennium, so don't
miss it if at all possible," he says.

A recent newsletter from the Aryan Nations also details plans for a
parade on July 3 in Coeur d'Alene. The newsletter was mailed about two
weeks after Coeur d'Alene city officials issued the July 10 parade
permit.

"July 3 will be our 400 flag parade of the White Christian Nations,"
the mailing says. "This parade will be held in downtown Coeur d'Alene."

----------------------------------------------------------------------

            EICHMAN TRIAL TRANSCRIPTS NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE
                 via Nizkor (<http://www.nizkor.org/>)

"The Judgment from the Eichmann trial is now on the web .... The raw
text files are also available in raw ASCII. The Session files are being
cleaned up now - the first 32 in the ftp area are ready for prime time,
and the HTML markup was begun today, so you should see the daily
transcripts on the web within 2-3 weeks. Once those are out of the way,
we'll do the associated files - i.e. the Appeal, depositions, etc."

[The files are available at Nizkor's web site listed above in:
<hweb/people/e/eichmann-adolf/transcripts/Judgment>]

----------------------------------------------------------------------

                         WHAT'S WORTH CHECKING
  stories via <ftp://ftp.nyct.net/pub/users/tallpaul/publish/story4/>


Amnesty International (press briefing), "Kosovo refugee crisis:
Humanitarian solution or failure to protect?," 17 May 99, "In the
current response to the forced mass displacement from Kosovo, a number
of key policy issues have been raised by the response of the Macedonian
authorities and the international community to this crisis. This
response has proved unique in a number of ways...." <story981.txt>

Amnesty International, "Kosovo: Double tragedy in Koria," 17 May 99,
"Kukës -- The killing of civilians in Koria on the night of 13-14 May
is the second tragedy in this small village in recent weeks Amnesty
International said today." <story982.txt>

Stan Grossfeld (Boston Globe), "Harvard Square street people
increasingly are those just starting out," 17 May 99, "Clean-scrubbed
with a well-manicured goatee, Jerry Niland, 22, looked more Harvard
than homeless. But he shivered uncontrollably one evening last winter
in 'the Pit,' the mecca for young people outside the Harvard Square
MBTA station. Niland tried to catch some warm air wafting up from the
subway without drawing the attention of the T police, who don't like
loiterers." <story983.txt>

Leslie Cagan (Z-Net Commentary), "Can We Keep A Movement Alive?," 20
May 99, "If you read my commentary last month you know I recently was
in the center of the organizing for a major march and rally against
police brutality here in New York City. The event went well, with
somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 people marching across the Brooklyn
Bridge into downtown Manhattan. The protest was on a Thursday afternoon
and it felt great to completely block traffic and the normal flow of
commerce all around the City Hall area. It was also great to be part of
an effort that so completely crossed racial lines. In the more than 2
months of public activities in the aftermath of the police murder of
African immigrant Amadou Diallo, New Yorkers from many constituencies
found themselves shoulder to shoulder. Our confidence in the
correctness of our collective criticisms of the New York Police
Department, the energy and commitment expressed in a host of protests,
combined with an all-too-rare missing experience of cross-constituency,
united action and fed the perception of many long time activists were
on the edge of a mass movement." <story984.txt>

Chantal Hebert (Toronto Star), "Pie hurler pleads not guilty," 20 May
99, "In what they describe as a case of 'cream and punishment,'
Quebec's cream-pie-throwing brigade, the 'entartistes,' will get their
day in court in the fall courtesy of one of their most prominent
victims, former premier Jacques Parizeau. Bruno Caron, the man who
threw a pie at Parizeau during an election meeting last fall, pleaded
not guilty yesterday to assault. The case will be heard in September.
But the issue will be hotly debated between now and then. On May 30,
the entartistes are staging a rally in Montreal and many Quebec artists
and left-wing activists have agreed to participate." <story985.txt>

Gina Holland (Associated Press), "Mississippi Flag Suit Fuels Debate,"
28 My 99, "The state Supreme Court's decision to reinstate a lawsuit
against Mississippi's use of the Confederate battle flag in the state
banner has refueled fiery rhetoric over the divisive symbol. Tucked in
a corner of Mississippi's state banner, the stars and bars is an anchor
for some proud Southerners, but a painful reminder of a segregationist
history for others." <story986.txt>

David L. Wilson <nicadlw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "The US Left: Split, or Free
at Last?," 29 May 99, "In just two months of bombing Yugoslavia Bill
Clinton has done what Lyndon Johnson needed three years to do with
Vietnam: he has split the majority of US activists from the Democrats
in a way that is unlikely to allow any reconciliation in the near
future.  It's hard to believe that just six months ago many activists
were streaming to the polls to 'hold their noses and vote for the
Democrats.' Now these same activists are forming picket lines outside
the offices of the 'Progressive Caucus' Congress members, who form the
hard core of the war party." <sory987.txt>

Maro Robbins (San Antonio Express-News), "San Antonio Police Dept.
Whistle Blower to Get $500,000," 27 May 99, "In a bruising defeat for
the Police Department, jurors awarded a half-million dollars Wednesday
to an officer who claimed his patrol unit was told to harass surly
looking teen-agers and soiled derelicts lingering around San Antonio's
downtown tourist areas. After some eight hours of deliberations, seven
jurors found Police Department officials retaliated against Officer
Onofre Serna after he protested the heavy-handed tactics that the
Downtown Foot and Bicycle Patrol was encouraged to use in 1995. Serna
was transferred to overnight squad-car duty in 1996 after an internal
inquiry into the downtown unit labeled him 'disruptive'."
<story988.txt>

Guardian (no author), "Woman judge says feminist wrong to bar men from
class," 26 May 99, "Perhaps it is an expression of the death of
feminism; or maybe it's simply the letter of the law. Either way, 30
years after her employers first indicated they would rather she took
her ideas elsewhere, a radical feminist theologian no longer has a job.
A judge has ruled that Boston College was right to close the door to a
professor who refused to have male students in her classes on account
of their 'phallocentric necrophilia'." <story989.txt>

International Solidarity with Workers in Russia - ISWoR, "Russian
Antifascist Prisoner Free Thanks to You, but Not Yet Out Of Danger," 5
Jun 99, "International Solidarity with Workers in Russia  (ISWoR) would
like to thank all of you who responded to our appeals to protest the
detention of the Krasnodar antifascists. Larisa Schiptsova, the
pregnant woman who was being denied medical treatment even though she
was very ill, has now been released from prison. The Moscow-based
solidarity campaigners believe that her release and that of Maria
Randina (who has had her charges lifted) was due to the efforts of all
those who phoned, faxed etc to protest." <story990.txt>

                            * * * * *

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is
distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a
prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research
and educational purposes only.

______________________________________________________________________

                               FASCISM:
  We have no ethical right to forgive, no historical right to forget.
      (No permission required for noncommercial reproduction)

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