Jersey-Based Arab Paper Publishes Protocols

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, Nov. 15 — American Jewish leaders have demanded an apology from an Arab newspaper, The Arab Voice, based in New Jersey, for reprinting sections of the infamous antiSemitic forgery, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a work that purports to be a blueprint for Jewish world domination, according to the wire service.

Written in the 1890s and spread by the Czarist secret police in Russia, The Protocols was widely credited for many years until scholars decisively demonstrated their fictitious origins. The Council on American-Islamic Relations joined in the call for an apology, according to the AP.

Arab Voice editor Walid Rabah denied any wrongdoing and claimed he printed the sections from The Protocols to educate his readers while including a disclaimer alongside it.

“The Arab Voice's republication serves no function but to spread anti-Semitic lies,” replied the Anti-Defamation League's Charles Goldstein. “It echoes what is occurring in Egypt this month.” Egyptian television is currently showing a miniseries based in part on The Protocols, according to the AP.

Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for CAIR, a Washington-based Muslim civil rights group, said the newspaper's action is as offensive as anti-Muslim comments made recently by the Rev. Jerry Falwell, other evangelical Christians and critics of Islam.

Pro-Life Qualms Stop Bankruptcy Bill

DOW JONES, Nov. 15 — Despite strong pressure from Republican donor groups such as banks and credit card companies, House Republicans last week rejected a bill that would have greatly tightened the conditions and terms of bankruptcy.

The key issue, according to Dow Jones news service, was the insistence of House Democrats that the bill include language preventing pro-life demonstrators from declaring bankruptcy in the face of massive legal judgments obtained by abortionists.

The House vote was 172 to 243 against rules that would have cleared debate for the bill's final passage. This issue brought together pro-business and pro-abortion politicians on one side and pro-life legislators with liberal, pro-consumer groups on the other, Dow Jones reported. Pro-life leader Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) voted along with Democrats such as Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.).

Both the Christian Coalition and the U.S. Catholic Conference had lobbied against the bill, which is now considered dead.

Homosexual Activists Arrested at U.S. Capital

PLANETOUT.COM, Nov. 13 — The Web site Planet Out, a site for homosexuals, reported that three demonstrators were arrested last week in a Washington, D.C., hotel lobby after they importuned Catholic bishops for holy Communion.

The three openly homosexual Catholics had been denied Communion the night before at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception because they were wearing rainbow pins, the symbol chosen by homosexual activists, the site reported.

So the three protestors, members of a homosexual group called Soulforce, went to the hotel where the bishops were staying for their national conference and harried bishops as they passed in the lobby.

According to Planet Out, Kara Speltz of Oakland, Calif.; Ken Einhaus of Arlington, Va.; and Mike Perez of Seattle were released from jail Nov. 13 after pleading not guilty to unlawful entry.