They are also pointing out that even though Republicans have explained their vote as an objection to a provision in the legislation restoring some funding for contraception aid to overseas groups that provide abortions, 161 Republicans, at the urging of House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), also voted for an amendment that would have cut foreign aid by 1 percent across the board.

"This is a very disappointing turn of events," said Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), who was joined on a conference call organized by the National Jewish Democratic Council on Monday by Reps. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) and Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.). "They need to explain their votes."

Berman noted that he and his fellow Democrats on the call may have opposed certain provisions of previous foreign aid bills in Republican-controlled Congresses, but that didn't stop them from voting for the overall bill sending aid to the Jewish state.

"We prioritized," he said, and aid to Israel "trumps other problems."

The trio, as well as NJDC executive director Ira Forman, also argued that they weren't politicizing the issue of Israel, as they accused Republicans of doing in the last election, because they weren't accusing the GOP of being bad for the Jewish state. Instead, they were hoping that Jewish activists would express their concerns to Republicans and help to educate them about why voting for the foreign aid bill is the proper thing to do, so that they would reverse course in future votes.

"We're asking them to come back to the days of bipartisan support for Israel," Berman said.

Jewish GOPers: More complaints about Carter

Jewish Republicans are continuing to take every possible opportunity to bash former President Jimmy Carter. Last week, six former U.S. ambassadors, including D.C. residents Stuart Bernstein, a former ambassador to Denmark, and Joseph Gildenhorn, a former ambassador to Switzerland, urged the Democratic Party to strip Carter of his position as honorary chair of Democrats Abroad.

The letter, sent under the auspices of the Republican Jewish Coalition, refers to a June 19 speech by Carter in Ireland in which the ex-president "castigated our government and the governments of Israel and the European Union for withholding direct aid to Hamas leaders in the Palestinian Authority," according to the letter. Carter told the audience that the isolation of the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority was "criminal."

In response to the ambassadors' letter, the Democratic National Committee pointed to a statement by its chair, Howard Dean, distancing himself from Carter. Amaya Smith, Dean's spokesperson, said, "The Democratic Party, led by our strong congressional leadership, has demonstrated unwavering support for Israel and its security needs during this time of great uncertainty. Meanwhile, Republicans can't change the fact that their leadership encouraged its members ‹164 who did ‹ to vote against aid to Israel."

Troy rounds out minyan

A top Bush administration official was the 10th man for a minyan at a Polish synagogue. Tevi Troy, a top domestic adviser to President George W. Bush nominated last month to be deputy secretary of health and human services, was in Poland on Wednesday of last week to attend the groundbreaking of a new Jewish museum and attended morning services at the Nozyk Synagogue in Warsaw. As the 10th man, he allowed services to continue with a prayer quorum at the historic synagogue.

Obama nods to Diament, Saperstein

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) cited a Reform rabbi and an Orthodox leader as examples of a "religious awakening" in America. "Religious leaders like my friends Rev. Jim Wallis and Rabbi David Saperstein and Nathan Diament are working for justice and fighting for change," the candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency said last week in outlining how he came to a "politics of conscience," in which his Christian faith informs his activism.

Wallis is an evangelical Christian activist; Saperstein directs the Reform movement's Religious Action Center in Washington; Diament directs the Washington office of the Orthodox Union.

Holocaust group to Congress: Time running low

The Generations of the Shoah International is urging lawmakers to co-sponsor legislation that would require insurance companies to disclose Holocaust-era policy information and permit survivors and heirs access to the federal courts to recover funds on unpaid policies.

In letters to members of the House of Representatives, the group said that members of Congress should urge their leaders to expedite consideration of the Holocaust Insurance Accountability Act of 2007 because "time is not on the side of those who should receive this relief in their lifetimes."

Meanwhile, 42 members of the House and Senate are urging Italy to end its holdout position denying access to massive Holocaust archives. The Italian and French parliaments are the only legislative bodies among 11 nations governing the fate of the archives in Bad Arolsen, Germany, not to ratify a decision last year to open the archives, believed to be the largest of their kind. France has set a timeline for ratification, but there has been no action in the Italian legislature.

"Holocaust survivors and their families around the world are waiting on action from your country," said the letter, initiated by Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) and Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), the co-chairs of the U.S. Helsinki commission monitoring human rights, and Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.).

Changing a longtime rule?

Senate appropriators have proposed removing a longstanding provision barring official U.S. dealings with Palestinians in Jerusalem. The version of the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill approved this week by the Senate Appropriations Committee removes language from the version passed last week by the House that provided that meetings between U.S. and Palestinian Authority officials "for the purpose of conducting official United States Government business with such authority should continue to take place in locations other than Jerusalem."

The language, and longstanding custom, allows for "social" and "incidental" meetings with Palestinians. The custom heeds Israeli concerns that Palestinians will use official meetings to stake a claim to Jerusalem as their capital.

Aides to Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chair of the foreign appropriations subcommittee, said the removal of the language was a gesture to P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas. Additionally, the provision was seen as unnecessarily restrictive. The full Senate will consider the bill this month.

‹ by Eric Fingerhut, with Ron Kampeas of JTA News and Features