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Records pertain to the Middle East Peace Process.
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CO074 Case Number 275273CU Scanned
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285342017
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CO074 Case Number 275273CU Scanned
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Records pertain to the Middle East Peace Process.
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Records of the White House Office of Records Management (George H.W. Bush Administration)
Subject Files on Israel
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ID # 275213 CU
WHITE HOUSE
C0074
CORRESPONDENCE TRACKING WORKSHEET
O OUTGOING
H INTERNAL
I - INCOMING
Date Correspondence
Received (YY/MM/DD)
/
/
Name of Correspondent:
Brian R. Jenkins
MI Mail Report
User Codes: (A)
(B)
(C)
Subject: u.s. hean Guarantees to Israel
ROUTE TO:
ACTION
DISPOSITION
Tracking
Type
Action
Date
of
Completions
Date
Office/Agency
(Staff Name)
Code
YY/MM/DD
Response
Code
YY/MM/DE
Cuofe
ORIGINATOR 91,100
C91,11,04 CS
Cuat 14
Referral Note:
ADM
10,02
DJ 091,19,04
Referral Note:
See comments
/
/
/
/
Referral Note:
/
/
/
/
-
Referral Note:
/
/
/
/
Referral Note:
ACTION CODES:
DISPOSITION CODES:
A Appropriate Action
I Info Copy Only/No Action Necessary
A Answered
C Completed
C Comment/Recommendation
R Direct Reply w/Copy
B - Non-Special Referral
S Suspended
D Draft Response
S For Signature
F Furnish Fact Sheet
X Interim Reply
to be used as Enclosure
FOR OUTGOING CORRESPONDENCE:
Type of Response = Initials of Signer
Code = "A"
Completion Date = Date of Outgoing
Comments:
CINDY- PLEASE REFER TO NSC
CS
Keep this worksheet attached to the original incoming letter.
Send all routing updates to Central Reference (Room 75, OEOB).
Richard Hanss should handle.
Transfer ToNSC for reply -
Always Refer questions return completed about the correspondence correspondence record tracking to Central system Files. to Central Reference, ext. 2590. SR 11/4/91
5/81
RECORDS MANAGEMENT ONLY
CLASSIFICATION SECTION
No. of Additional
Correspondents:
Media:
Individual Codes:
Prime
Secondary
Subject Code:
Subject Codes:
-
-
-
-
-
-
PRESIDENTIAL REPLY
Code
Date
Comment
Form
C
Time:
P-
DSP
Time:
Media:
SIGNATURE CODES:
MEDIA CODES:
CPn - Presidential Correspondence
B Box/package
n 0 Unknown
C Copy
n - 1 George Herbert Walker Bush
D Official document
n-2 George Bush
G Message
H Handcarried
n 3 George
L Letter
M Mailgram
CLn First Lady's Correspondence
O Memo
n 1 Barbara Bush
P Photo
n-2 Barbara
R Report
S Sealed
n - 3 Bar
T Telegram
n - 4 - Mrs. Barbara Bush
V Telephone
X Miscellaneous
CBn - Presidential & First Lady's Correspondence
Y Study
n - 1 - Barbara & George Bush
n-2 - Barbara & George
16
0378K
prof
C.bayden
2200 Main Street, #650
Wailuku, HI. 96793
September 19, 1991
The President
THE WHITE HOUSE
Washington, D.C. 20500
Re: U.S. Loan Guarantees to Israel
Dear Mr. President:
I am writing this letter on behalf of my client,
William R. Burt, to urge the government of the United States of
America to refuse to guarantee loans to Israel that will favor
the settlement of Soviet Jews in the occupied Arab
territories. The reason why the United States should refuse to
guarantee the loans is that such governmental action would
violate the "Establishment Clause" of the First Amendment to
the Constitution.
On September 8, 1991, Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir
stated at a meeting of activists from his conservative Likud
block that "[a]ll the territories of Eretz Israel must be
settled by Jews, more and more
"
Eretz Israel refers to
the biblical land of Israel which includes the occupied Gaza
Strip and the West Bank of the Jordan River. As such, the
sought-after loan guarantees are to further a particular
religious goal of the conservative party of Israel.
The issue is not whether the religious objective of
recreating Eretz Israel is a worthy goal; the issue is whether
the government of the United States of America is able to take
official action which will further any religious goal including
the one sought by Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir.
Israel is occupied by persons of many different
religions besides members of the Jewish faith, including
Moslems and Christians of many different sects. For the United
States to guarantee loans that would further the religious
goals of one of these religions, would be preferential
treatment of one religion over another.
The President
September 19, 1991
Page 2
The phrase in the 1802 letter from President Thomas
Jefferson to a group of Baptists in Dansbury, Connecticut
wherein President Jefferson stated that the purpose of the
First Amendment was to build "a wall of separation between
Church and State," was referred to by Chief Justice Waite of
the United States Supreme Court in Reynolds V. United States,
98 U.S. 145, (1879) as "almost an authoritative declaration of
the scope and effect of the [First] amendment." Id. at 164.
See, L. JAYSON, J. KILLIAN, S. BECKEY, T. DURBIN, THE
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (Cong. Research
Service 1973)
The United States Supreme Court has established three
tests to analyze government actions with regard to the
Establishment Clause, the first two standards are part of the
same formulation:
"The test may be stated as follows: what are the
purpose and the primary effect of the enactment? If
either is the advancement or inhibition of religion
then the enactment exceeds the scope of legislative
power as circumscribed by the Constitution. That is
to say that to withstand the strictures of the
Establishment Clause there must be a secular
legislative purpose and a primary effect that neither
advances nor inhibits religion.
Abington School District V. Schempp, 377 U.S. 203, 222
(1963) (emphasis added)
The third test is whether the governmental
program results in "an excessive government entanglement
with religion. The test is inescapably one of
degree [T]he questions are whether the involvement is
excessive, and whether it is a continuing one calling for
official and continuing surveillance leading to an
impermissible degree of entanglement." Waltz V. Tax Comm.
of City of New York, 397 U.S. 664, 674-75 (1975).
In this case, the proposed loan guarantees fail
all of the tests. The purpose for which Israel needs the
loan guarantees is to further the religious goal of
establishing Eretz Israel. This is in sharp contrast to
providing U.S. assistance to further the secular goals of
the Country of Israel.
The President
September 19, 1991
Page 3
Furthermore, the United States would be called
upon to supervise the loan guarantees over a long period
of time.
There is a large body of U.S. Supreme Court case
law that has applied the tests to various factual
situations. For example, it was deemed permissible for
the government to provide a grant towards the construction
of a hospital owned and operated by a Roman Catholic order
as there was a secular purpose. Bradfield V. Roberts, 175
U.S. 291 (1899). Likewise a state program can loan
textbooks to a parochial school. Cochran V. Board of
Education, 281 U.S. 370 (1931). However, funds may not be
given to an institution which would help defray the cost
of building or maintaining chapels or classrooms in which
religion is taught. Com. for Public Education & Religious
Liberty V. Nyquist, 413 U.S. 756, 774-780 (1973).
These cases, I believe emphasize that the
involvement of the United States in guaranteeing loans to
Israel which will further the religious purpose of
establishing Eretz Israel would be in clear violation of
the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. In
closing, I again urge you to do all in your power to keep
the United States of America from involvement in the
religious goals of the conservative party in Israel.
Thank you for your attention.
Sincerely,
Biron R.J.
BRIAN R. JENKINS
Attorney for William R. Burt
BRJ:kla
CC: William R. Burt