Sudan becoming Jewish issue
Reprinted from the 7/16/04 issue of The Jewish Voice & Herald
By Peter Ephross

NEW YORK (JTA) - It seems the phrase "never again" isn't just for the Holocaust anymore.

In recent weeks, Jewish groups have stepped up their efforts to stop the government-sponsored killing of tens of thousands of black Muslims in Sudan. The efforts have come as world attention begins to focus on the crisis in Sudan, where hundreds of thousands of black Africans have fled their homes to escape violence.

Late last month, President Bush made available up to $34 million for special refugee needs in Sudan and neighboring Chad, as well as the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and the U.N.'s secretary-general, Kofi Annan, visited the Sudan refugee camps last week. After the visits, Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir promised he would reign in government-backed Arab militias and allow human rights observers into the disputed region of Darfur.

But most observers are skeptical that the government will make good on its promises, and pressure on the Khartoum government is mounting.

Most Jewish fund raising focuses on internal Jewish issues, such as support for Israel, Israeli victims of terrorism, local social services and the needs of Jewish communities around the world.

But Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, who for several years has been trying to place the Sudan violence on the public agenda, said there's no reason Jews shouldn't focus on other people's problems too.  "I do it as a Jew because I think Jews should be sensitive to other peoples as well," Wiesel said. "I cannot just live isolated."

These positions on Sudan increasingly are becoming public. This week, the Washington-area Jewish Community Council is hosting an interfaith vigil to protest the killings in Sudan. That comes on the heels of a protest last week at the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, co- sponsored by the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.

"When genocidal activity is going on, Jews need to be at the forefront," Rabbi David Saperstein, the center's director, told JTA at the rally. "We've been the quintessential victims."