Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 55, No. 51, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 20, 2001 Page: 6 of 24
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TEXAS JEWISH POST, DALLAS, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2001 — IN OUR 55TH YEARI - CHANUKAH ISSUE
By Matthew E. Berger
WASHINGTON, - Mitchel
Libman has spent years soaking
up information about how his
childhood friend died in the
Korean War, and he has come to
two conclusions.
First, what Leonard Kravitz
did in the war deserves the
Congressional Medal of Honor.
Second, the only reason
Kravitz was denied the medal
was because he was Jewish.
“There’s nothing else it could
possibly have been,” said
Libman, 70, a Korean War vet-
eran himself. “I have searched
my mind for years now.”
Only 13 Jews are among the
3,400 men and one woman who
have received the Medal of
Honor, the military’s highest
award for bravery.
More than 500 Jewish men
received the Distinguished
Service Cross, Navy Cross and
Air Force Cross, the second
level award, according to the
National Museum of American
Jewish Military History in
Washington.
But that may change.
Last week. Congress passed a
bill requiring Pentagon officials
to review the cases of Jewish
servicemen who received other
rewards for bravery to see if
they are eligible for the Medal
of Honor.
The bill, tacked onto the
Defense Department's yearly
appropriations legislation,
was originally named the
“Leonard Kravitz Jewish War
Veterans Act.”
Leonard Kravitz, the uncle and
namesake of rock musician
Lenny Kravitz, is one of three
Jewish servicemen expected to
be reviewed by the Pentagon as
soon as the president signs the
appropriations measure into law.
Libman has been searching
for information about Kravitz
ever since he returned from
service and learned his child-
hood friend had died.
But it was not until he began
using the Internet that he got in
touch with the right people and
the information he needed.
According to eyewitness
accounts submitted with
Kravitz's application for the
Medal of Honor, Kravitz saved
the lives of members of his pla-
toon when they were attacked by
Chinese soldiers in March I95l.
After obtaining the unit’s
machine gun, he began firing on
the Chinese as his peers retreat-
ed, protecting them with his
gunfire. He ignored calls to
leave with them, and attacked
Chinese soldiers who attempted
to cut off the retreating
Americans.
When his platoon returned to
the site a day later, he lay there
dead, with dead Chinese sol-
diers surrounding him and only
six bullets remaining in the gun.
His comrades believed his
actions allowed many of them
to escape unharmed.
“He only had about six rounds
of ammo left and he was still
crouched over the gun,”
Richard Remery wrote in his
eyewitness testimony in 1951.
“If Kravitz hadn't stayed to
cover us, we would have been
wiped out, I think.”
Although Kravitz was nomi-
nated for the Medal of Honor,
the award was downgraded to
the Distinguished Service Cross.
Libman said he never thought
that it could have been because
of bias, until a friend of Kravitz
told him, "They don't give the
Medal of Honor to Jews."
“When I went through all the
Medal of Honor winners, I saw
people who had done things
similar to what Lenny had done,
and a lot of people who hadn't
done what Lenny had done,”
Libman said.
Kravitz's case was reviewed
last year, but denied the Medal
of Honor. Pentagon officials
refused to say what aspect of
the requirements Kravitz had
not fulfilled, Libman said.
A Pentagon official was
unavailable for comment.
Pamela Feltus, curator of the
National Museum of American
Jewish Military History, said
that although the percentage of
Jews in military service is usu-
ally slightly higher than the pro-
portion of Jews in the national
population, only 13 servicemen
have received the high honor.
Four awards were given to
Jews in the Civil War, two in
World War II, three in World
War I, two in Vietnam and one
each in the Indian War and the
Haitian Conflict of 1915.
“The stats just don't work,”
said Feltus, whose museum in
Washington has just opened an
exhibit on the 13 recipients. “A
lot of people seem to think it's a
bias.”
She said she expects 1,000
people to be reviewed when the
law goes into effect, and hopes
at least a few will receive the
Medal of Honor. She also wor-
ries about the reaction of other
veterans if too many Jews get
recognized.
“We don't want it to cheapen
it,” she said, referring to the
honor.
Since beginning his cam-
paign, Libman has received
anecdotal information from
hundreds of people about
Jewish servicemen believed to
be deserving of the medal.
Many of them also believe
that their religion could be a
factor in the decision making.
Libman, a financial adviser in
Hollywood, Fla., said he is
spurred on by guilt he feels
from having skipped Kravitz's
going-away party before the
evening he was shipped off to
Korea.
“I never made that party and I
never saw him again,” he said.
“He was like a brother to me.”
Matthew E. Berger is a
TJP/JTA correspondent.
TdJ/'sA/ny you a Jlappy ~Hohcfaij
steve t
wolens
state representative
★
LauraMiller
FOR DALLAS MAYOR
Neo-Nazis Rally Against Israel
By Sharon Samber
WASHINGTON. - An American neo-
Nazi group is trying to foment anti-Semitism
by linking Israel with the September terrorist
attacks in the United States.
But Jewish and civil rights groups say
the strategy of the National Alliance, a
white supremacist group, isn't working.
Some 50 neo-Nazis rallied at the Israeli
Embassy in Washington on Saturday, cit-
ing U.S. support for Israel as the reason for
the terror attacks in New York and
Washington.
An Israeli flag was shredded at the rally,
but signs with slogans such as “Jews
Control the Federal Reserve” showed the
other messages of the hate group.
Anti-globalization and socialist groups
challenged the neo-Nazis at a counter-
demonstration. The counter-demonstration
was not organized by the embassy or
Jewish groups.
Local Jewish and civil rights groups had
asked community members to stay away
from the protest and instead donate to caus-
es that counter the message of hate groups.
Thousands of dollars already have been
raised by the effort so far, said David
Bernstein, the Washington-area director of
the American Jewish Committee.
Bernstein said the National Alliance is
using the Palestinian cause as a pretext to
blame Jews and Israel for terrorism in the
United States.
“If they can create linkage between Israel
and the World Trade Center attacks, they
can foment hostility toward Jews,” he said.
The hate group rallied at the same site in
November and reportedly is planning
future rallies as well.
The tactics of the National Alliance are
not surprising since the group includes
Israel in many of its conspiracy theories,
said David Friedman, the director of the
Washington regional office of the Anti-
Defamation League.
They are seizing on the events of Sept.
11 because they want to manipulate and
co-opt any issue they can, he said.
“Any way they can find to blame Israel,
they'll pursue,” Friedman said.
Friedman said the strategy the group is
employing is not new but just gaining
more media attention. He also dismissed
any notion that the group's strategy merits
any rethinking of Jewish response.
On its Web site, the National Alliance
has issued a list of demands to the Israeli
government, such as stopping the use of
torture, assassination and murder as a mat-
ter of state policy.
The site says, “The freedom-loving peo-
ple of the world are adamant that the
Jewish state immediately cease its barbar-
ic treatment of the people whose lands it
occupies illegally! Israel's continued geno-
cidal actions leave us no alternative but to
call for a total end to all American eco-
nomic and military aid to Israel!”
There are 180 active neo-Nazi hate
groups in the United States, according to
.Y.Y.Y.VV NEO-NAZIS p. 22
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Wisch, J. A. & Wisch, Rene. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 55, No. 51, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 20, 2001, newspaper, December 20, 2001; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth755667/m1/6/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .