News Briefs

ZOA Seeks Probe of Irvine Students
NEW YORK (JTA) -- The Zionist Organization of America is urging the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate University of California, Irvine students for allegedly raising funds for Hamas.

According to ZOA, members of the Muslim Union of Students solicited money for a charity called "Viva Palestina" at a rally held May 21 dubbed "Israel: The Politics of Genocide."

The charity, founded by British leftist politician George Galloway, who headed the rally on the Irvine campus, has been accused of directly aiding Hamas.

Morton Klein and Susan Tuchman -- ZOA president, and director of its Center for Law and Justice, respectively -- said that a university official responded to ZOA concerns by saying that the educational institution would launch an internal probe into the incident.

ADL Weighs Crisis in Honduras
WASHINGTON (JTA) -- The political crisis in Honduras has given rise to anti-Semitic expression and anti-Israel conspiracy theories, said the Anti-Defamation League.

The ADL released a compilation of comments from Honduran public officials and media commentators from the past three months, as well as statements by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Venezuelan media pundits.

Among the statements cited is Honduran President Manuel Zelaya's false accusation that "Israel mercenaries" were torturing him with radiation.

Also in September, a commentator for Radio Globo called Jews and Israelis "people that do damage in this country" and said, "After what I have learned, I ask myself why, why didn't we let Hitler carry out his historic mission?"

"From President Zelaya himself down to media pundits and political activists, there has been a troubling undercurrent of anti-Semitism in the situation in Honduras," said Abraham Foxman, national director of ADL. "We know from history that at times of turmoil and unrest, Jews are a convenient scapegoat, and that is happening now in Honduras, a country that has only a small Jewish minority."

The ADL says that fewer than 100 Jewish families are living in Honduras.

Menem and Six Others Indicted
BUENOS AIRES (JTA) -- Former Argentine President Carlos Menem and six others who served under him were indicted for obstructing the investigation of the 1994 bombing of the AMIA center.

Federal Judge Ariel Lijo accused Menem, who was president from 1989 to 1999; his brother Munir Menem; former judge Juan Jose Galeano; former intelligence agency head Hugo Anzorreguy; former police chief Jorge "Fino" Palacios; and two others of being "abettors of concealment, ideological falseness, disruption of proof and authority abuse" in the aftermath of the 1994 bombing of the Buenos Aires Jewish center that killed 85 people and wounded hundreds.

Lijo imposed a bond on Menem and the others, but did not order their confinement.

Palacios, who returned to the police chief post earlier this year, was forced out in August because of his suspected involvement in the bombing.

Argentine authorities believe that Hezbollah, backed by Iran, was behind the attack.

It has long been suspected that senior Argentine officials quashed the inquiry in the investigation's aftermath under pressure from Iran.

The new indictments bring to 10 those awaiting trial for obstructing the investigation.

Argentina is also seeking the extradition of seven Iranians for their alleged roles in the attack.