LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Holocaust Reparations: Prominent Jews
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Back in October, Joel Siegel's feature in New York told the story of Burt Neuborne, an NYU law professor who took on the monumental task of extracting Holocaust reparations from Swiss banks. In the eyes of some survivors, Neuborne went from hero to villain the moment he submitted his bill: $4,760,000 for 8,178 hours spent working on the case over eight years, or roughly $582 an hour. Prominent Jews registered their disgust with Neuborne, calling his request for payment "a moral disgrace." A federal judge suggested on Thursday that Neuborne receive $3 million, an amount that will have to be approved by a federal district judge. Neuborne said he had "no quarrel" with the proposed fee, and Magistrate Judge James Orenstein asked the litigants to agree on an amount: "I … appeal to each individual participant in this litigation to find a way to continue to help redress the evil the Nazis began so long ago rather than let it continue to spread rancor among its victims."
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In assessing the potential for slavery reparations, the impact of international moral outrage on the success of Holocaust reparations should not be overlooked. For that reason, the likelihood of reparations for African states may be expected to be directly proportional to its similarity with the Holocaust situation. On its face, it appears that the Africans have suffered to a similar degree under slavery and colonization as did the Jews under the Nazis. Certainly, the dual horrors of slavery and colonization oppressed and subjugated a comparable number of persons as the Nazi Holocaust. The duration of that suffering was ... far greater that the six years of World War II. Therefore, the carnage of slavery and colonization can be fairly characterized as an African Holocaust.
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Contrary to Jewish Holocaust-era claims ... all these reparations demands are not driven by US leadership or backing. They remain confined mostly to UN talk shops. No US Senator champions them, no American constituency mobilizes its vote-banks for them, no US states threaten boycotts and sanctions over them. Consequently, neither the US nor the mainstream Western media treats them with any urgency on their daily agenda. And the archives stay closed. "Why do you think the Swiss came forward", D'Amato asked the Time magazine reporter in Ferbruary 1997, "because of the generosity of their heart and spirit, or because they realize there could be damaging consequences if they continue their intransigence?".
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Naturally, one wonders, why is a Jew attacking other Jews for looking for Reparations for the crimes committed during the Holocaust? The author tells us why in his introduction to the original edition-and later amplifies this in the second edition: His parents were survivors of the Nazi ghettos and concentration camps-and he regards the "profiteering and exploitation" of the Holocaust by groups such as The World Jewish Congress and authors such as Elie Weisel as a shameful debasement and dilution of the actual horrors his parents endured. This profiteering and self-aggrandizement, as far as Finkelstein is concerned. It is an insult to the memory of his parents (and all the survivors of the Holocaust) that some "professional Jews" won't let the Holocaust alone-won't stop using it for their own self-aggrandizement: "My concern" says the author, "is restoring the integrity of the historical record [of the holocaust] and the sanctity of the Jewish People's martyrdom."
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[JURIST] US District Judge Shirley Wohl Kram has dismissed several lawsuits that sought to block reparations for Austrian Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Last month, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit [official website] ruled [PDF decision] that the claims should be dismissed [NY Law Journal report] under the political question doctrine, because the compensation agreement had been specifically negotiated by the US government. The appeals court said that the negotiated arrangement is superior to litigation and advances important US foreign policy interests. Under the agreement [backgrounder], brokered during the last days of the Clinton administration, the Austrian government will pay $210 million to up to 19,000 victims or their heirs. Judge Kram dismissed the lawsuits Wednesday and initial payments could begin early next year. AP has more.
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Besides the Holocaust reparations law, the federation last year helped to secure passage by the Legislature of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. And, on April 4, the Scottsdale City Council approved two special-use permits to allow construction of the Jewish Community Campus at Scottsdale Road and Sweetwater Avenue.
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