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M AY T H E E A RT H H E A R T H E WO R D S O F M Y M O U TH
August 21st, 2009 | 1 Elul 5769
Synagogue Attack Foiled, Would Be Terrorist Jailed
Vol. 10, Iss. 30
Pg 40
www.JewishVoiceNY.com
PRESIDENT OBAMA SEEKS EGYPT’S HELP IN MIDEAST DEADLOCK
BY TZVI BEN GEDALYAHU
A United States federal judge in southern California handed down a 70-month prison term to Hammad Riaz Samana, the fourth Muslim member of an antiJewish terrorist cell to be sentenced. Other members of the cell are serving up to 20 years in jail. amana and his co-conspirators planned to attack synagogues, the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles, El Al Airlines and military bases. They planned to attack on the dates of Jewish holidays in order to maximize casualties. The Jami'yyat Ul-Islam Is-Shaheeh terrorist cell was headed by Kevin James and included Samana, Levar Haley Washington and Gregory Patterson. They carried out 11 armed robberies on gas stations and used the cash to buy weapons before being arrested four years ago. Investigators in Washington’s apartment found bulletproof vests, knives, Jihad literature and lists of potential targets. Washington is serving 22 years in jail, while James was sentenced to 16 years and Patterson was sentenced to 12.5 years. Judge Cormac Carney acknowledged that the 70-month jail sentence was lighter than the terms handed to other members of the cell and explained that he took into account the terrorist’s mental condition. Samana, a native of Pakistan and a U.S. national, had conducted computer research to hit targets and was the getaway driver in at least one of the robberies. He was recruited at a mosque in Los Angeles.
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INHOUSE SCANDAL HITS HADASSAH BY MAXINE DOVERE
President Obama and his administration has shown new deference to the Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, by consulting with him before launching any major new initiative in the Middle East. BY SHAUN TANDON
US President Barack Obama, bidding to breathe new life into his Middle East peace push, is looking to Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak to help break a deadlock between Israel and Arab states. heir meeting marked the longtime US ally's first White House summit in five years, turning a page on a tense relationship with former president George W. Bush who pushed Mubarak to release political prisoners and hold free elections. Obama has been pushing Israel's rightleaning government hard to freeze Jewish settlements but has also called on Arab nations
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From childhood, Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Inc – and specif ically, Yehudah HaTzair, the youth movement it sponsored – was my Jewish organizational mentor. It was the 60’s. Who could argue with the clear pro-Israel mission of this apolitical, pro-Zionist, international visible organization of Jewish women worldwide.
to take symbolic gestures to encourage the Jewish state to move forward. But Obama has had little to show, with Israel going ahead with evictions of Palestinian families from a sensitive area of east Jerusalem and Arab states, including Egypt, saying Israel must take action before they do. Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, said that Obama will "take some time" with Mubarak to reach out. "I think obviously each country in the region on either side of this issue has certain responsibilities to uphold as we make progress toward a lasting peace in the Middle East," Gibbs told reporters Monday. "And without a recognition of those
adassah cites its mission as the improvement of the quality of life for all people in Israel and the strengthening of Jewish life in the U.S. With local, regional, national and international branches worldwide, boards and multi-level oversight, it would seem to be the last group to be involved in international scandal. How, then, did Hadassah fall victim to Bernie Madoff ’s Ponzi scheme? Hadassah’s f irst contact with
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