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Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1998 12:39:14 -0800 (PST) From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com> To: cryptography@c2.net ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1998 12:38:21 -0800 (PST) From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com> To: politech@vorlon.mit.edu Subject: Strong encryption jeopardizes Israel's security? ****** http://cgi.pathfinder.com/netly/afternoon/0,1012,1861,00.html The Netly News / Afternoon Line March 30, 1998 Legionnaires' Disease Earlier this month American businesses proudly unveiled a encryption lobbying campaign with new allies such as tire manufacturers and the arch-conservative Eagle Forum. Now their fiercest opponent in the House of Representatives has shown that he, too, can get a little help from his friends. Rep. Gerald Solomon (R-N.Y.) last week informed members of Congress that 4 million members of the American Legion support mandatory backdoors in encryption products. Another Solomon letter headlined "The SAFE Act jeopardizes Israel's security!!!" claims relaxing U.S. restrictions on overseas exports of encryption software makes Israel vulnerable to terrorists. It says top Israeli defense advisor David Ivry urges "all of our friends in the United States to oppose" the so-called SAFE crypto bill. Not a good idea, says one tech-savvy rabbi. "I firmly believe that opposing this bill is narrow-minded at least," Rabbi Haim Cassorla of the International Conference Of Rabbis told The Netly News. "Blocking American participation in the global security market would seriously hamper American participation in this burgeoning field." Solomon heads the House Rules Committee, which must choose between sending a pro-industry or pro-law enforcement version of SAFE to the House floor for a vote. --By Declan McCullagh/Washington ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1998 14:11:30 EST From: RabbiLapin <RabbiLapin@aol.com> To: declan@well.com Dear Declan, It seems to me that American interests not Israel's security should be the chief concern of an American congressman. If I am wrong then perhaps Rep Solomon would like to propose the medal of honor for Jonathan Pollard. So even were it true that it would harm Israel's security, why is that relevant? Am I missing something or is nobody willing to say this? Furthermore, who can really tell what threatens Israel's security? Are we ourselves so outstanding at knowing what threatens American security? Administration leaks, genderizing the military, and countless other assaults on our own long term national interest seem to go unchallenged. Why should this one matter so much? Finally, in exactly the same way that an informal bond, a kind of philosophical alliance exists between PM Netanyahu and the Republican leadership, exactly the same exists on the other side of the political divide. There are those in the Israeli government just as in ours, to whom issues of government control and centralized power are more important than abstracts of national security. Their dislike for the free market and the independence from government that it confers, trumps their concern for almost anything else. So what is new? Israeli socialists collaborate with American liberals to further restrict the ability of citizens to trade with whom they choose. I think our response should be something along the lines of "when Israel finally succeeds in persuading American legislators to do to American business what they have taken 50 years to inflict on the native entrepreneurial skills of 3 million Jews, to whom will they turn for foreign aid?" Always remember that 80% of American Jews care more about keeping America secular and liberal than they do about Israeli security. That is why they will never support a strong American leader who is either strongly Christian, strongly conservative (or both) regardless of how much he does for Israel. Good luck; RDL
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