Holocaust denier in town for fundraising talk

The world’s most notorious Holocaust denier kicks off his U.S. tour in the Kansas City area tonight.

On his Web site, British writer David Irving has announced a month-long, 17-city tour of the West and Midwest, during which he will speak on the topic “Hitler, Himmler and Enigma, Rewriting WW2 History using Nazi Messages Decoded by the British Secret Service.”

The first stop is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday, July 3, at “an (sic) hotel by the airport” in Kansas City, Mo., according to an e-mail from Irving, who promised to inform those who paid the $15 reservation fee the exact location of the meeting shortly before it occurred.

Despite his having authored many books, Irving’s reputation as a historian was shattered when he lost his libel suit against “Denying the Holocaust” author Deborah Lipstadt in 2000. Lipstadt had identified Irving in her 1994 book as a denier, and he objected, hoping to use Britain’s stricter libel laws against the American academic.

But Irving lost, big time. The judge ruled he “has for his own ideological reasons persistently and deliberately misrepresented and manipulated historical evidence; … that he is an active Holocaust denier; that he is anti-Semitic and racist, and that he associates with right-wing extremists who promote neo-Nazism.”

Lipstadt’s book about the case, “History on Trial,” (HarperCollins, 2005) was optioned as a major motion picture by the producers of “The Soloist,” Variety reported April 23.

‘Political Prisoner’

Since 2000, Irving has led a peripatetic existence, including a nearly year-long incarceration in an Austrian jail in 2006 for having violated that country’s law against “trivialising, grossly playing down and denying the Holocaust.” He tempted fate by traveling to Austria, knowing he was wanted on charges first leveled in 1989.

At tonight’s event in KC, Irving will no doubt hawk copies of his latest self-published book, a memoir of the Austrian episode: “Banged Up: Survival as a Political Prisoner in 21st Century Europe.”

It’s not known whether he’ll shill for any of Hitler’s bones, as U.K. press reports had him doing back in March. The London Telegraph quoted Irving as saying his online store is “the only way he can make money after being declared bankrupt in 2002.”

“Items up for sale on the site include Hitler’s walking stick … and a goblet and spoon given as a christening present by Heinrich Himmler to Hermann Goering’s daughter … Irving authenticates the goods, which are offered by other sellers, and takes a 15 per cent commission. The 70-year-old says he is currently trying to confirm the authenticity of bones said to be from Hitler and his girlfriend Eva Braun. Strands of the Fuhrer’s hair are also expected to go on sale …”

First visit to KC

Kenneth S. Stern, the American Jewish Committee’s New York-based expert on extremism and anti-Semitism, said Irving does fund-raising tours of the U.S. from time to time.

“This guy was discredited years ago,” Stern said. “Everybody understands he lies about history to promote Holocaust denial.”

Stern, an attorney, was a key member of Lipstadt’s defense team in the British libel case. Irving figures prominently in the chapter about Holocaust denial in Stern’s most recent book, “Anti-Semitism Today: How It Is Different, How It Is the Same, and How to Fight It” (AJCommittee, 2006).

Kansas Citian Leonard Zeskind, author of the new book “Blood and Politics: The History of the White Nationalist Movement from the Margins to the Mainstream” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2009), said Irving has never before visited the Kansas City area. He suspects members of the local National Socialist Movement chapter have invited Irving.

“I hear that attendance at some of his events lately has been very small — 20 or 30 people,” Zeskind said. “But he’s the highest-status guy who has come into Kansas City from the white-nationalist, anti-Semitic world in some time — since Bo Gritz came here in the middle of the militia madness.”

In the 1980s, Irving established formal connections with the American fountainhead of Holocaust denial, the Institute for Historical Review — a pseudo-scholarly body based in California. The IHR was controlled by the late Willis Carto, who is a major figure in Zeskind’s book.

Jean Zeldin, executive director of the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education, issued the following written statement:

“David Irving may present himself as a general historian of the WW II era, but courts in the United Kingdom have ruled on this matter and found him to be simply another Holocaust denier. Speaking for the community of Holocaust survivors and MCHE’s educational program, we know that the truth is the truth and cannot be trifled with, no matter what the propagandists have to say.”

Cohn child’s death touches hearts in Kansas City

The week seemed set to be a happy one for Todd and Naomi Cohn, the start of a new beginning. Todd, the former director of the Kansas City chapter of the National Council of Synagogue Youth, had accepted a position in Boca Raton, Fla., as NCSY’s associate regional director for south Florida and southern NCSY. The Cohns were in Chicago for a wedding, planning to return to Kansas, finish packing and move to Florida.

But instead, the Cohn family was plunged into crisis and tragedy. Todd and Naomi’s 14-month-old son, Menashe Koppel Cohn, had to be rushed to a hospital the morning of Monday, June 15, the day they had planned to come back to Kansas. Koppel was gravely ill.
A Facebook page was created especially for Koppel, giving updates on his condition and asking for prayers.

According to a June 21 Facebook posting by Naomi, doctors diagnosed Koppel with a rare virus that had spread to his blood and spinal fluid.
“It’s very, very rare and was not preventable,” Naomi wrote. “Unfortunately, though, it is not treatable at this point and took a big toll on his body and brain. …

“All the doctors agree that only a very big neis (miracle) can save Koppel’s life. His brain and body were too affected by the virus to ever recover back to the little guy that we remember. …”

Earlier in the week, a Facebook update on Koppel stated he had viral encephalitis.

Koppel died Wednesday evening, June 24.

In his eulogy to Koppel, Todd said, “Even on the first day that we arrived at the hospital, when we didn’t want to consider that Koppel might not recover, we were so thankful that we were there, not as a result of an unfortunate accident where one might place blame on another, or sit in regret forever, reliving every moment of ‘what ifs’ and ‘I should haves.’

“And even now as we realize that the outcome is so final and so shocking and so harsh, we’re even more thankful that we are God-fearing Jews with the guidelines and inspiration to cope with this astounding tragedy.”

An outpouring of support
The Cohns have postponed their move to Boca Raton. Rabbi Daniel Rockoff of Congregation BIAV said their belongings have been put in storage, and the Cohns and their other three children will likely spend the summer in Chicago with Naomi’s family before moving to Florida.

During Koppel’s illness, two friends from Chicago flew to Kansas City to coordinate last-minute packing and the move. There were so many volunteers who offered to help that some had to be turned away.

“From what I understand, it’s unbelievable how many people were affected and wanted to help them some way,” Kehilath Israel’s Rabbi Meir Wexler said. Rabbi Wexler is Todd and Naomi’s brother-in-law; his wife, Becca, is Todd’s sister.

The number of people who had joined Koppel’s Facebook page reached over 2,000 this week and was still growing, with nearly 400 wall postings. People all over the United States, Canada and Israel have sent their love and sympathy to the Cohns.

“The family felt a lot of support from their friends in Kansas and Chicago and around the country, knowing that everyone had their little boy in mind and had them in mind,” Rabbi Rockoff said. “They were very appreciative of the outpouring.”

Rabbi Wexler said he had never seen a reaction of similar magnitude.

“They’ve had people from all over the country and internationally. It’s been incredible, people coming together to pray, to learn Judaism, to do whatever they feel they can to connect,” he said. “It’s something that I feel has connected the Jewish people in a very strong way.

“It’s a tragic event, and, at the same time, it’s inspiring people and bringing people to further their growth in Judaism and in relationships with their family.”

In her Facebook posting, prior to Koppel’s death, Naomi said, “The tehillim (Psalms) being said all over the world is amazing! The facebook groups, challah making, machsom l’fi (not speaking badly about others), undertaking mitzvos (good deeds), giving tzedakah (charity), emails, phone calls, text messages — the list goes on…We are touched and honored that our little boy has brought so many tefillos (prayers) and mitzvos into this world. … We’ve been davening for a refuah (recovery) for our son, and now for a (miracle) and that might make all the people who’ve been doing all this davening wonder where all their tefillos are going. Well, they are going somewhere. It’s important to remember to ask Hashem to do things for our good and in the right time. If we ask for something specific, we might just get it, and it could turn out to be wrong for us. …”

Rabbi Wexler said he is certain that Todd and Naomi’s faith that has helped them and continues to help them through this tragedy.

“Their faith never once wavered. Their relationship with family and with God has been stronger than ever and has been a very powerful thing to watch,” he said.

Asking why?
People often ask “why.” Why do such terrible tragedies happen to such good people?

“We don’t always have all the answers and we just accept the good along with the bad and try to focus on what we can do in response to the crisis,” Rabbi Rockoff said. “How we can be helpful; do what’s upon us to do — prayer, charity or supporting the family — that’s what we focus on; not so much in trying to answer the question, because that’s not necessarily for us to answer.

“The main thing to tell the people of Kansas is that we just need to be there for (the Cohns), to support them any way we can...”Quoting again from Naomi’s Facebook post, she said, “It’s okay to ask ‘why’ or feel angry and sad. These are all appropriate reactions and help with the coping process. Accepting that we can’t possibly grasp G-d’s plan is the only way to answer ourselves.

At Koppel’s funeral service, Todd, too, spoke of “why.”

“There’s no possible explanation for the loss of a child. Death in general is very hard to understand and handle, but (for) a small child who never even walked to be taken away suddenly and seemingly without cause, it’s incomprehensible. We yearn for an answer, while understanding wholeheartedly that there is none that we can comprehend that will satisfy our need to know ‘why.’ There is a master plan; there must be a master plan, but we have to admit that it isn’t our plan — it is that of Hashem.”

To visit Koppel’s Facebook page, first log on to your own Facebook page and then search “Menashe + Cohn.” That  brings up a link to a page called “L’iluy Nishmas (in memory of) Menashe Koppel “Koppie” Cohn,” where, among other things, a recording of Todd Cohn’s eulogy can be found.

Agreeing to disagree: KU prof’s new book on Talmud

Sergey Dolgopolski has studied Talmud in his native Russia, Israel and the United States, and in his new book, he’s come to a conclusion: the disagreements in the text’s commentary are a lost art.

“What this is trying to accomplish is to show that Talmud is an intellectual discipline, like rhetoric or logic — an art of thinking,” Dolgopolski said.

In “What is Talmud? The Art of Disagreement,” Dolgopolski, an assistant professor of religious studies and Jewish studies at the University of Kansas, says that contemporary, mainstream culture encourages agreement as an ultimate goal.

However, Dolgopolski argues that the 15th century Talmud shows instances where it’s fine to disagree when someone cannot prove his point is right and another person’s is wrong.

“The book places the ways in which the Talmud has been studied into the much larger context, not only what was going on in the 15th century … but how the ways of studying the Talmud fit into the larger view of the history of western civilization and thought,” Dolgopolski said. “I’m not doing the work of a historian, but rather the work of an intellectual who looks at those methodologies from a theoretical perspective that has been developed in the 20th century.”

He says that today, “we all subscribe to the idea that people need to agree on something in order to make progress — agreement is the goal. We also think that if we disagree we need to overcome it.”

A true disagreement, by Dolgopolski’s definition, is when people on both sides are rational and intelligent and understand each other’s point of view. The assumption is that neither side has made a factual error in coming to his or her conclusion. A real disagreement is rare, he said, because there is usually a factual error somewhere.

“What we can learn from the art of disagreement of the 15th century is that instead of trying to find a common denominator … the Talmudic method of the 15th century invites us to explore a different alternative. There is a point where there is no way to come to an agreement,” he said.

True disagreement
That’s not to say people should disagree on everything. Dolgopolski pointed out that only certain situations meet the conditions of a true disagreement.

One example from recent history is that of the Nazis’ attempts at Jewish genocide, he said.

“It would be very simple to say Nazis were just regular criminals … it’s much more complex. Nazis considered themselves ethical people … they just thought Jews were not humans … the horror of what Nazis did is that they based the ethics on excluding Jews and homosexuals and others from the realm of what’s ethical,” Dolgopolski said. “One simplistic way of responding to that situation is to say, ‘Well, we disagree. You think we are not humans, and we think we are humans.’ This is the real point of disagreement —who is human (and) who isn’t is not something that can be rationally decided … (it) is a point of disagreement that cannot be resolved by any kind of practical agreement.”

Dolgopolski says this has practical application for current world issues.

“If we really want ‘never again,’ then we have to realize there is an issue here that hasn’t been resolved — that we are in a situation of disagreement about who is human and who isn’t,” he said. “The goal should be to really understand disagreements rather than deluding ourselves into the possibility of agreement where it is not possible ... if you don’t understand the nature of what happens, there is no way for you to address it.”

Introduction to Talmud
Dolgopolski said he hopes many different audiences will appreciate the book. In addition to his work at the university, where he will teach an introductory Talmud class next spring, Dolgopolski likes to teach in the larger Jewish community.

He has taught classes under the auspices of Congregation Beth Israel Abraham and Voliner, where he is a member, and at the Lawrence Jewish Community Center. Dolgopolski was also a lecturer in an educational series presented by the Department of Adult Jewish Learning at the Jewish Community Center in cooperation with KU’s Jewish studies program.

And he has just learned that he will be part of the annual “Day of Discovery” Jewish-learning smorgasbord coming up Aug. 30.

Jeff Goldenberg, JCC’s director of adult Jewish learning, said he is trying to arrange a course focusing of a few different aspects of Dolgopolski’s new book sometime in the upcoming academic year. Anyone who is interested in such a class may contact Goldenberg at (913) 327-4647.

Dolgopolski’s book, published by Fordham University Press, is available for $60 at www.fordhampress.com and www.amazon.com.

Jewish woman becomes Kansas Poet Laureate

Ever since she was a child, Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg wanted to be a poet. Now, the state of Kansas has honored her work by naming her poet laureate, starting July 1.

A committee organized by the Kansas Arts Commission chose Mirriam-Goldberg based on her artistic excellence, professional accomplishments and her ideas on advancing poetry in Kansas.

“The Kansas Arts Commission is proud to honor Dr. Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg as the state’s new poet laureate,” said Kansas Arts Commission Chair Anita Wolgast in a written statement. “She is a talented literary artist who brings a wealth of experience and inspiration to Kansans.”

It wasn’t always a clear path to poetry for Mirriam-Goldberg, because “I had to figure out how to make a living,” she said.
A Brooklyn native, she attended the University of Missouri-Columbia and nearly got a degree in journalism. Three credits short of that degree, she switched her major to labor history, with a minor in poetry.

After that, she was a political organizer, working with labor unions on energy conservation and environmental reform. She moved to Lawrence, Kan., in 1983 and married Ken Lassman two years later. They now have three teenage children together.

Living so close to the University of Kansas gave her the opportunity to earn a master’s in creative writing and a Ph.D. in literature. Mirriam-Goldberg, 49, taught everything from basic composition to children’s literature as an adjunct professor at KU for 10 years. She’s also taught at Lawrence’s Haskell Indian Nations University and currently teaches classes at Goddard College in Vermont.

At Haskell, “students would ask me what tribe I was from, and I would say, ‘A very old one,’ ” Mirriam-Goldberg said, referring to her Jewish heritage.

Activist, writer
She’s very proud of her Jewish roots. For a while, she used her Hebrew name, “Miriam” as her last name, but added an “r” to it. When she went back to “Goldberg,” she didn’t give up the “Mirriam,” choosing to hyphenate her name instead.

Mirriam-Goldberg considers her first published collection of poetry, entitled “Lot’s Wife,” (The Woodley Press, 2000) to be “very much a midrash (that is a) retelling of the story from the women’s point of view.”

These days, she does a lot of work with people who are living with serious illnesses at Turning Point, a non-profit organization that supports such individuals. Mirriam-Goldberg is a breast-cancer survivor and draws on her personal experiences for this work.

“We all find populations that we feel like we’re gifted to work with,” she said. “When people live with a serious illness, the veneer is off, and they’re ready to create something of great meaning.”

She has conducted many writing workshops, including several for low-income women of color through the Douglas County Housing Authority. This work ties in to her new position, she said.

“The poet-laureate position is really an activist, writing position; doing programs that help people enrich their lives through the written word,” she said.

Part of her job will be to travel throughout Kansas, conducting poetry workshops and teaching locals in different communities how to sustain writing circles in their locales, to encourage people all over the state to develop their writing skills.

New opportunities
With her experience teaching and working with different groups, Mirriam-Goldberg says she’s ready for the responsibility of her new position and excited for the new opportunities she’ll get to both work with new people and do more readings of her own poetry.

As poet laureate, she’ll also conduct a writing-related radio show on High Plains Public Radio, a regional network of National Public Radio affiliates whose flagship is KANZ-FM 91.1 in Garden City, as “a special way to reach people in the western part of the state who don’t have the resources we have in the Kansas City area,” she said.

Mirriam-Goldberg has three books coming out this year: “My Tree Called Life: Writing And Living Through Serious Illness” and “Landed,” a poetry collection, both from Mammoth Publications; and “The Sky Begins At Your Feet: A Memoir on Cancer, Community and Coming Home to the Body,” published by Ice Cube Press. For more details on the books, visit Mirriam-Goldberg’s Web site:
www.carynmirriamgoldberg.com.

She’s also currently working on a book about the war experiences of local Holocaust survivor Lou Frydman and one-time Polish resistance fighter Jarek Piekalkiewicz.

Center summer Saturday-night show breaks precedent

With a new policy in place at the Jewish Community Center, summer Saturday nights will be fair game for theater. Starting next weekend, with the Center’s production of “Peter Pan,” shows at the Lewis and Shirley White Theatre can now take place before sundown on Saturday nights.

“It’s actually consistent with all the other things we’ve done at the Center in recent history,” said JCC Board President Bob Grant. “We’re trying to be more fiscally responsible, and having the stage open on Saturday is in line with other things (such as) the pool and the fitness center.”

Heretofore, in deference to Orthodox sensibilities, Center cultural-arts events had to wait until Shabbat was over. Dramatic shows have been produced on Saturday nights before, but always been during the winter, after an earlier sunset.

Grant said the Center board voted to allow the change after consulting with several members of the Jewish community, including some religiously-observant people. The change won’t cause anyone to miss out on the show, he said.

“It’s in line with our policy that we will never have a program any time during Shabbat that is not available at another time during the week; many of our constituents welcome the change,” he said.

Looking forward
Grant said the idea for the change came from the Center’s cultural arts committee. He hopes the change will bring more ticket-sales revenue.
So far, he hasn’t heard much reaction from the Jewish community. Of the people he spoke with prior to the board vote, “nobody thought it was a big deal. The snack bar at the pool is open (on Saturday) and has been for years.”

He also pointed out that the Center’s athletic facilities have been open on Saturday mornings for several years.

Director of Theatre Mark Swezey says he’s looking forward to “Peter Pan.” The show’s cast features a number of children, just as last season’s summer production of “Oliver” did.

“We have a real mixed cast of little children through some senior adults,” Swezey said. “Peter Pan’s a unique show. We are bringing in the Flying by Foy company like (we did with) ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ ”

This show has more flying scenes than “Oz,” Swezey said. The cast will start practicing with the flying equipment next week.

'Peter Pan' ready to fly

Performances of “Peter Pan” will be at 7:30 p.m. July 11-16; 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 18; and 2 p.m. Sundays, July 12 and 19. Tickets are $10 for students, $15 for Center members and $20 for non-JCC members. To buy tickets, call the box office, (913) 327-8054.

‘God’s Garden’ sprouts in synagogue parking lot

Students at Congregation Kol Ami’s Religious School have transformed a corner of the Reform synagogue’s parking lot into an organic vegetable garden.

At the start of the 2007-08 school year, Kol Ami Religious School teacher Steve Sackin proposed that his sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students create a garden. He gave them the choice of beginning it in a grassy area or the crumbling parking lot.

“They chose the much more challenging site in the parking lot,” Sackin said.

The challenges included breaking up asphalt, cutting logs and completing masonry work. The students also started compost piles and received a soil donation.

“The next thing you know, we had a garden,” Kol Ami member and gardener Dorothy Solomon said.

Solomon has been involved with the project since the beginning, helping students in the garden and giving advice about planting. She said that while she loves gardening, interacting with the students has been an even greater pleasure.

“I love the fact that (they) don’t treat me like an old lady,” Solomon said. “This is a neat bunch of kids.”

For the current harvest season, Solomon ordered seeds for popcorn and peanuts. She is proud of how the garden has evolved and how students have become involved with the project.

“Boys would do physical labor in the cold and rain,” Solomon said. “And girls are doing just as much work as the boys.”

The garden began as a 600-square-foot space, yielding peas, spinach, lettuce and other vegetables. Now, the garden measures 2,000 square feet, with a goal of expanding to 4,000 square feet. Other goals include creating a bioswale (Ed.  note: a landscape element designed to remove silt and pollution from surface runoff water) and an outdoor-classroom space.

“Stuff is growing like crazy,” Solomon said. “We have snow peas, sugar snap peas, potatoes, corn coming up ... the best strawberries, a bountiful crop of lettuce.”

‘They accomplished this’
The garden offers a connection to what students learn in class. During the first year, the class focused on ethics, creating what they describe as “Gan Elohim” or “God’s Garden” to help repair the world (“tikkun olam”). The second year involved the study of the development of Israel.

“(We) used the students’ experience restoring the land in the parking lot to explore the Israeli pioneers’ experience and their philosophy in their attempt to restore a country,” Sackin said.

The community has become involved in the students’ efforts by working with the students on Sunday mornings as they prepare the soil, weed and harvest. The students and congregation members have continued to work on Sundays during the summer.

Solomon said the city of Prairie Village has expressed interest in the garden, sending representatives to work at Kol Ami on Sundays in order to potentially use the garden as a model for other community gardens.

“Through (the students’) own hard work over the course of the school year, they accomplished this,” Sackin said. “I hope they got a sense of what they are capable of accomplishing.”

Renata Williams is an intern with Sun Publications, The Chronicle’s parent company.

Local groups to host Brit who justifies terror

He’s toadied up to dictators from Iraq’s Saddam Hussein to Syria’s Bashar Assad to Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In March, he was banned from Canada as a terror-supporting national-security risk. The Anti-Defamation League calls his fundraising tour “Supporting Hamas Under the Guise of Humanitarianism,” and last week it once again asked Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate whether the tour breaks American laws.

But a coalition of local Muslim and pro-Arab groups is proud to bring British Member of Parliament George Galloway to Overland Park July 2 for a fundraiser.

“It’s meant to provide needed medical and relief supplies to break the siege of Gaza; it’s really not meant to fund Hamas,” said Matt Quinn, a spokesman for Citizens for Justice in the Middle East.

One of the other sponsors of Galloway’s visit is the local chapter of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation. MAS was spawned by the international Islamist organization the Muslim Brotherhood. CJME and MAS organized local protests against Israel’s military campaign against Hamas in Gaza earlier this year.

The July 2 event will be one of the last before Galloway’s Viva Palestina group attempts for the second time this year to deliver money and other forms of aid to the Gaza Strip, controlled since a June 2007 coup by the terrorist group Hamas, which is also a creation of the Muslim Brotherhood. At vivapalestina-us.org, the group says it intends to fly from New York to Cairo July 4 and enter Gaza on or around July 13.

Galloway spoke at Viva Palestina fundraisers across the United States during March, April and May.

And even though in March Galloway met with and gave cash and cars to senior Hamas leader and Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, CJME’s Quinn said Galloway “is not an advocate for Hamas.”

Quinn also disregards Galloway’s myriad statements supporting and justifying suicide bombing and other forms of terrorism in Iraq and Israel, under the rubric of “resistance.”

‘Mouthpiece for tyrants’
Ethan Felson, vice president of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the national public-affairs arm of the organized Jewish community, said he finds such blithe acceptance by Americans shocking.

“You’ve been in the business a long time, and you think you’re unshockable,” Felson said. “But to see a guy like Galloway flirting with folks in the mainstream of society is shocking; it’s distasteful … It’s not a perspective that’s constructive. … It’s reflective of a knee-jerk radicalism.”

Felson said Galloway “cannot claim legitimate interest in human rights and concurrently be a supporter of Ahmadinejad, among others, like (Venezuela’s) Hugo Chavez.”

Galloway has hosted two regular programs thus far on PressTV, the new, Iranian-government-funded satellite-television news network. He has repeatedly backed the crackdown leader (and Holocaust denier, etc.) Ahmadinejad in the wake of the recent, hotly disputed Iranian presidential election.

CJME’s Quinn declined to make Galloway available to The Chronicle for an interview, and indicated he would seek other media outlets for Galloway’s agitprop.

“For ostensible human-rights advocacy groups to hitch their wagon to this most detrimental societal force is something about which people of good will should be deeply concerned,” Felson said. “People who purport to have concerns about oppression are lining up behind somebody who is willing to be a mouthpiece for tyrants.”

Galloway has denied that he is an anti-Semite. However, in a 2006 joint interview on Abu Dhabi television, he repeatedly taunted American Jewish neocon and Iraq War advocate Richard Perle with the phrase “Show us the shekels, Richard.”

“I don’t need to know what’s in his heart,” said Felson. “His brand of activism is clearly anti-Israel and his rhetoric has contained anti-Jewish elements, like references to Zionist control of the media. He has embraced groups like Hamas and Hezbollah that mean to do great harm not only to Israel but to the Jewish people.”

Karen Aroesty, director of the regional ADL office in St. Louis, said, “It’s a shame that all these organizations that have peace and justice in their title tend to be betrayed by rhetoric that expresses anything but peace and justice.”

Galloway has expressed support for jihadi terror groups in Iraq, calling their activities legitimate resistance against occupation. He praised Saddam Hussein for making payments to the families of Palestinian Arab suicide bombers during the second Intifada. (See below for more examples of Galloway’s rhetoric, or visit www.adl.org and check under the “Israel/U.S Anti-Israel Activity” tab for its “Viva Palestina” report.)

Quinn brushed aside all questions about Galloway’s words and deeds, just as he did questions about Hamas terrorism and the fact that it has held the kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit incommunicado for three years now, contrary to every international law, standard and practice.

“The question is, when is Israel going to recognize international law, human rights and allow safe passage of food and medical supplies for the Palestinians to be conducted in a normal fashion?” Quinn asked.

Who is George Galloway?
Galloway, a native of Scotland and an MP since 1987, was booted from the Labor Party in 2003 for his harsh critiques of British policy in Iraq. He later became the sole representative of the RESPECT (Respect, Equality, Socialism, Peace, Environment, Community and Trade Unionism) Party, representing a heavily Muslim district. RESPECT’s largest component group is the Trotskyite Socialist Workers Party.

Galloway’s public career has been one of nearly constant controversy. In 1987, he resigned from his job as executive of the charitable group War on Want after repaying questionable expenses. At various times, the thrice-married Galloway he has either admitted or been accused in divorce proceedings of marital infidelity. He was the subject of British and American government investigations over allegations — never proven — that he received illegal payments as part of Saddam Hussein’s subversion of the U.N.’s interwar Oil-for-Food program. In 2007, he was suspended from the House of Commons for a breach of ethics. And in April, Britain’s Charity Commission froze more than £100,000 held by Viva Palestina after beginning an inquiry into the use of charitable funds by the group, also known as Lifeline for Gaza. In February, the regulatory body said Interpal, another charity backed by Galloway, did not do enough to ensure that partner organizations in the West Bank and Gaza were not promoting terrorism.

Galloway on the record
– “We are giving you now 100 vehicles and all of the contents, and we make no apology for what I am about to say: We are giving them to the elected government of Palestine. Just in case the British government or the European Union want to face me in any court, let me tell them live on television: I personally am about to break the sanctions on the elected government of Palestine. … But I, now, here, on behalf of myself, my sister Yvonne Ridley, and the two Respect councillors — Muhammad Ishtiaq and Naim Khan — are giving three cars and 25,000 pounds in cash to Prime Minister Ismail Haniya. Here is the money. This is not charity. This is politics. The government of Palestine is the best people where this money is needed. We are giving this money now to the government of Palestine. If I could, I would give them 10 times, 100 times more. We are against this siege. We are opposing this siege. We are breaking this siege. ... Revolution until victory!” — Gallloway, March 8, standing next to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza

– In 2003, as acting vice president of the Stop the War Coalition, he told an interviewer on Abu Dhabi TV that the Labor government had become “Tony Blair’s lie machine” and that “the best thing British troops (in Iraq) can do is to refuse to obey illegal orders.”

– “Yes, I did support the Soviet Union, and I think the disappearance of the Soviet Union is the biggest catastrophe of my life.’’ — Galloway, to a Guardian newspaper interviewer in 2002
– “Just as Stalin industrialized the Soviet Union, so on a different scale Saddam plotted Iraqis own Great Leap Forward. He managed to keep his country together until 1991.” — Galloway in his 2005 autobiography, “I’m Not the Only One.”

– “Virtually alone of all the Arab dictators, Saddam’s endless protestations of fidelity to the Palestinian cause were sincere and, as the families of the martyred and wounded know, he put Iraq’s money where his mouth was.” — Galloway in his 2005 autobiography, “I’m Not the Only One.”

– “These poor Iraqis — ragged people, with their sandals, with their Kalashnikovs, with the lightest and most basic of weapons — are writing the names of their cities and towns in the stars, with 145 military operations every day, which has made the country ungovernable by the people who occupy it.” — Galloway, speaking of the jihadists then operating in Iraq, in a 2005 speech at al-Assad Library in Damascus

– A GQ magazine interviewer in 2006 asked Galloway: “Would the assassination of, say, Tony Blair by a suicide bomber — if there were no other casualties — be justified as revenge for the war on Iraq?” Galloway replied: “Yes, it would be morally justified. I am not calling for it. But if it happened it would be of a wholly different moral order to the events of 7/7. It would be entirely logical and explicable. And morally equivalent to ordering the deaths of thousands of innocent people in Iraq — as Blair did.”

– “Two of your beautiful daughters are in the hands of foreigners — Jerusalem and Baghdad. The foreigners are doing to your daughters as they will. The daughters are crying for help, and the Arab world is silent. And some of them are collaborating with the rape of these two beautiful Arab daughters. Why? Because they are too weak and too corrupt to do anything about it.” — Galloway on Syrian TV July 31, 2005

– “People with American, British accents, who already had houses of their own in Britain and the United States, came here and are living in your houses, enjoying themselves in your gardens, while you live here in this misery. And they have the cheek to complain that you don’t accept it. Well, the message to the world must be: The Palestinians will never accept it. Never accept it! Never accept it! — Galloway on Al-Aqsa television, March 9, 2009

Galloway here July 2
MAS Freedom Foundation-KC, CJME, American Muslims for Palestine, American Friends Service Committee-Kansas City and Citizens for Peace and Justice in the Holy Land (the latter based in Lee’s Summit, Mo.) are the sponsors of the Thursday, July 2, “Viva Palestina” fundraiser at the Overland Park Marriott Hotel. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. Thursday and will feature remarks by Galloway, MAS Freedom Foundation Executive Director Mahdi Bray and local speakers. Admission is free; donations go the Viva Palestina Convoy.

Flu shuts down Camp Sabra for a week

Just days after arriving at Camp Sabra in Lake of the Ozarks, Mo., some campers and staff began coming down with flulike symptoms. And by Monday, when the Missouri Department of Health confirmed two cases of so-called swine flu, officials had already made the decision to suspend camp for a week and send everyone home.

Margaret Schatz, director of marketing and communications for Camp Sabra, which is operated by the St. Louis Jewish Community Center, said it was a “difficult decision” to make, and the first time she can remember that Sabra has had to close early. It had 350 campers and staffers this summer.

“The kids are disappointed, but Camp Sabra takes the safety, health and wellness of its campers as its first priority,” Schatz said.
The camp session was to have lasted from June 14 to July 9. Instead, children began returning home Tuesday on busses. None was sent home with a fever.

While on the busses, those who had been ill were kept separate from those who had had no symptoms. Schatz said by Wednesday afternoon, everyone was expected to be home.

Because other summer camps had already dealt with symptoms of the H1N1 virus, Sabra officials had contacted the state and the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta for guidelines and followed the appropriate testing procedures. They isolated and quarantined those children who were ill, housing as many as they could in the infirmary and others in the recreation center.

The good news is that all the flu sufferers had mild symptoms, Schatz said, lasting 24 to 36 hours. No one had to be hospitalized.
The camp will be closed for one week, then reopen on June 30 for those who want to return. Schatz said the CDC tells her the H1N1 virus can live on surfaces for about 48 hours.

“So at this time we’re going to suspend operations for about five days, giving more than the 48-hour window, at which time we will come back and do a thorough cleaning and scrubbing of the camp with what I imagine will be chlorine and bleach chemicals,” Schatz said.

‘Kids were dropping like flies.’
Parents said that nurses, Director Terri Grossman and other Camp Sabra officials kept them well informed throughout the ordeal.
Dawn Minkoff’s 12-year-old daughter, Megan, became ill on Wednesday, June 17. Dawn Minkoff said Megan was the fourth girl in her cabin to fall ill.

“She threw up, had a really high fever and her throat was really sore,” Dawn Minkoff said. “They didn’t send her to the hospital because they didn’t realize the first two girls who were tested had false-negative readings for the flu. … But we definitely felt (Megan) was getting the care she needed.” Megan was put on antibiotics.

Lori Gilgus’s daughter, Hannah, 13, e-mailed her mother the day after arriving at camp, saying that one of her cabin mates had thrown up. Lori Gilgus just thought the girl was homesick.

“But it was like a progression; information kept leaking down to us,” Lori Gilgus said. “We got an e-mail from Hannah that said ‘six out of the nine of us are sick.’ Then Thursday, I got a call that she had a temperature and they were isolating kids with temperatures.”

Hannah’s fever broke on Friday, June 19, and 24 hours later she returned to her cabin. But by that time, some campers had already been sent home.

“Kids were just dropping like flies; it really spread like wildfire,” said Debbie Bennett, whose daughter, Mikki, 16, was a junior counselor.

Return to Sabra?
At this point, parents are not sure if their children will return to camp.

“Everything is up in the air as far as kids wanting to go back,” Dawn Minkoff said. “I really think it depends on who’s going back. The whole point of camp is being with your friends. Some kids won’t be able to go back because they’re just now getting (the flu). There are a lot of unknowns. We’re leaving it up to Megan. She said until she knows if her friends are going back, she’s going to play it by ear.”

Lori Gilgus said her daughter, Hannah, loves camp, but if Hannah’s friends aren’t going back, Hannah might not, either.

“Never in a million years would I have thought this would happen. Some of the moms I’ve talked to said their kids are really upset and distraught, but Hannah’s a pretty upbeat person,” Lori Gilgus said. “She had been packing for a month and counting it down to the minute, so it is a disappointment.”

Many of the questions parents are asking were addressed in an e-mail sent out Tuesday by the camp director, Grossman. Some want to know if there will be a refund for the suspension period.

“We will send all families our refund policy once campers are home safe and sound,” the e-mail states. “We apologize for this delay but are working first to address the safety of our campers.”