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Henry Monsky Lodge to host annual meeting Omaha's Henry Monsky Lodge will host the 120th annual meeting of B'nai B'rith District 6 Saturday through Monday. The event will be held at the Marriott Hotel. Mike Abramson, a trustee of Henry Monsky Lodge and a vice-president of B'nai B'rith District 6, is chairman. The official program starts Saturday evening at 7 p.m. A journalist and specialist on terrorism will speak. Also, there will be a video presentation of the award-winning film "Jihad in America." Other weekend programming includes presentations by Dr. Richard Freund, the B'nai B'rith Youth Organization, and a visit>to Boys Town to view the Henry Monsky exhibit. Sunday evening, Alvin Abramson will be honored at a tribute dinner for his many years of service and devotion to B'nai B'rith. Mr. Abramson has served in leadership positions at the local, district and international levels of B'nai B'rith. On the local level, he is a trustee of Henry Monsky Lodge; internationally, he serves as a member of the Community and Volunteer Commission. In 1993, he was chosen as one of the 150 outstanding volunteers world-wide in celebration of B'nai B'rith's ISOth anniversary. Mr. Abramson has also served on the board of directors for Metro Area Transit-City of Omaha, Dr. Phillip Sher Home for the agiiig, and the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home. He is a past board member and past chairman of the Jewish Federation annual fund drive. Currently, he is director of the Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles. Tommy Baer, International president of B'nai B'rith, will speak. For information, call Lois Epstein at the B'nai B'rith office, 334-6443.
Federation leaders elected
Federation leaders elected at the annual meeting June 14 include, from left, Sherman Neff, director, Howard Kooper, vice president; Bobbie Epstein, secretary; Ann Goldstein, director; Marie Sanford, director; Tom Fellman, president; Steve Nogg, director; Darlynn Fellman; Forrest Knitter, vice president; Margo Riekes, director, Carol Katzman, vice president.
Omaha militia organizing:
ADL survey shows national rise of militias
By Morris Midine A new national survey by the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith shows that the militia movement has continued to grow since the Oklahoma City bombing. In announcing the survey results at a press conference Tuesday morning at the Jewish Community Center, I Robert Wolfson, ADL regional director, said that an Omaha-based militia has been organizing since January. He said the group has used several names including the Constitutional Reinstatement Group and the Nebraska Militia. HP pointed out that the militia meets bi-weekly The Jewish National Fund will bestow its high- and that anti-Semitic literature has been offered est honor, the Tree of Life Award, to Milton R. for sale. The group, however, does not appear to Abrahams and Dr. Del D. Weber on June 27 at a engage in paramilitary training, he added. luncheon at the Highland Country Club. The pattern of militia growth, the survey pointed The award will be given to Mr. Abrahams, an out, is not uniform, but militia gains appear to out• attorney noted for his work on behalf of the weigh losses - contrary to the widespread expectaOmaha Public Library, the United Way, and count- tion that public shock and revulsion at the bombing less other organizations, and to Dr. Weber, might have prompted the miUtias to disband. Chancellor of the University of Nebraska, in recogThe ADL survey also found that many nition of their humanitarian commitment and ser- hard-core militiamen believe that the United vice to the community. States Government itself conducted the The 93 year-old Jewish National Fund is the bombing to create an excuse for further organization responsible for afforestation and land depriving citiiens of their constitutional reclamation in Israel, turning a once-barren land rights." into a nation of thriving forests, farm communities, In October, 1994, the ADL issued a fact-finding parks, and industrial areas. report titled, "Armed & Dangerous: Militias Mr. Abrahams, an alumnus of Creighton Take Aim at the Federal Government," detailUniversity, has served as president of the board of ing militia activity in 13 states. "The report sought trustees of the Omaha Public Library, president of to alert the American public and the law enforcethe United Way, the Omaha Bar Association, and ment to the danger posed by these extremists, the Jewish Federation of Omaha. many of whom were engaging in paramilitary Also, he was a member of the Omaha Board of training while spreading an incendiary anti-federal Ekiucation, chairman of the board of trustees of government message laced with conspiracy theoJoalyn Art Museum, and a director of the Omaha ries and, in some places, anti-Semitism.' Chamber of Commerce. In this new survey, conducted through ADL's Currently, he MTVM OD the boards of Nebraaka regional offices and completed six weeks after the Methodist Hospital, Nebraska Methodist Hospital Oklahoma City bombing, miUtias have been found Foundation, Msthodist College of Nursing and to be operating in at least 40 states, with memberAllied Health, Methodist Richard Young Hospital, ship reaching an estimated 16,000. Joslyn Art Museum, and the Omaha Public The most ominous aspect of the militias' proLibrary Foundation. Mr. Abrahams' legal afBlia- gram, the report said, ik the convicUon, openly tions include the Omaha, Nebraska State, and expressed by many of them, that an impendidg American Bar Associations., and the American Bar armed conflict with the federal government necesFoundation of which he is currently a Fellow. sitates paramilitary training and the stockpiUng of (ContinuMl OB pH* ') weapons in preparatioa for that day of reckoning.
JNF to honor Abrahams and Weber
According to the militias' conspiracy view, the' federal authorities are enacting gun control legisla^ tion in order to make it impossible for the people to resist the imposition of a tyrannical regime or a 'one-world" dictatorship. Many militia supporters, it was said, believe that the conspiracy involves not only federal authorities, but also the United Nations, foreign troops and other 'sinister forces." Sometimes mentioned among these *^iniBter forces" are Jews. ADL's first report on militias noted that a number of militia figures have histories of bigotry. The current survey confirms that some miUtia propaganda continues to exhibit an anti-Semitic strain that could well become more pervasive as a result of the movement's 'obsessive conspiracy-monger-; ing." The militia movement's continued growth is due, in part, to an effective communications network, the report stated, adding that militia organizers have promoted their ideology not only at militia meetings, but also at gun shows, 'patriot* rallies and gatherings of various groups with anti-government 'grievances." Some militias reach their audience through mailorder videotapes and through computer bulletin ' boards and the Internet. Exploiting yet another medium, the pro-militia American Patriot Fax Network disseminates material from well-known hate group figures and conspiracy theorists, including some who proclaim that the government orchestrated the Oklahoma City bombing, the report stated. Mr. Wolfson pointed out that the ADL urges the 'vigorous" enforcement by the states of existing statutes ouUawing specific types of paramilitary training. Many of these measures, aurenUy on the books of 24 states, were patterned after a model bill formulated by ADL. In a separate law report titled, "Hlse ADL AmAParamUltaDT Training Statato: A InniMHe te Domestie Terroriam," the ADL lists the indiTidual state statutes. The Nebraska Revised SUtutes of 1M3 relata t» dvil disorders involving ezplosiveo or fireama and state that any person violating section 28-14B1 shall be guilty of* Class IV fetooy. For information, call ADL at 994HH,7Q.