News Index
Settlers torch Palestinian fields to disrupt Yitzhar outpost removal
Originally published 19 June 2003
By Amos Harel, Nadav Shragai and Moshe Reinfeld
Violent clashes erupted Thursday between settlers and security forces as evacuation began of the illegal outpost of Mitzpeh Yitzhar, adjacent to the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar, south of Nablus.

Settlers ignited Palestinian-owned wheat fields and olive groves in the area in an attempt to disrupt the operation, which was the first to remove an inhabited outpost. Ten uninhabited outposts were removed last week.

The hundreds of paratroopers and police who managed to make their way to the hilltop were armed only with the knives they carried to remove the settlers' tents.

Hundreds of settlers turned back soldiers attempting to take down the main tent located in the center of the outpost, and hundreds more settlers were reported to be making their way to the site to join the resistence. Security forces resumed their efforts at around 3 P.M. to remove the outpost after halting it for a few hours in the afternoon



Mt. of Olives Jewish Neighborhood Thriving
Originally published 21 May 2003
By Arutz Sheva Israel Broadcasting Network
About a month ago, after four years of building, the Jerusalem neighborhood of Maaleh Zeitim was reborn. Located just east of the Old City in Ras al-Amud, Maaleh Zeitim has been populated once again by Jews - this time in permanent homes.



California Bingo Hall Plays on World Stage
Originally published 25 November 2002
By Charlie LeDuff
“This is a rundown town in the rundown eastern corner of Los Angeles County. Besides the palm trees, little here suggests Hawaii,” begins the report, which focuses on the massive, purportedly charitable Hawaiian Gardens bingo operated by "the reclusive and wealthy doctor, Irving I. Moskowitz," and the poor, predominantly Latino city, where Moskowitz also has a for-profit casino.



Bingo Tycoon Subsidizes Extremism in Israel
Originally published 18 October 2002
By Margot Patterson
Irving Moskowitz has disrupted the peace process in Israel by purchasing land from Palestinians and supporting Jewish settlement in Palestinian neighborhoods.



Hebron: a West Bank Magnet for Trouble, Pt 2
Originally published 18 October 2002
By Margot Patterson
Patterson reports on how extremist Jewish settlers are affecting life in the predominantly West Bank city of Hebron. She quotes Lewis Roth of Americans for Peace Now, saying that "Hebron has attracted some of the most reactionary elements of the settlement movement." and that "the settlers not only harass the Palestinians around them but they harass the police and the soldiers who are sent to protect them." She also quotes a settler spokesman saying: "We shouldn’t give up one inch of Israel, whether this will bring war or not. We’re in the middle of a war because the Arabs are trying to take over bit by bit the whole of Israel."



Will fundamentalist Christians and Jews ignite apocalypse? Pt 1
Originally published 11 October 2002
By Margo Patterson
Margo Patterson notes the closeness between "...the intransigence of certain Christian fundamentalists mirrors that of many right-wing Israelis, notably the ultra-nationalist religious settlers on the West Bank who view the conquest of the West Bank as part of a plan for divine redemption and who oppose a peace settlement that would involve Israel ceding any inch of territory it controls. For many of these settlers, rebuilding the Temple, an activity that would almost inevitably involve the destruction of the Dome of the Rock, Islam’s third-holiest site, which is believed to lie on the ruins of the old Temple, has become a rallying cry."



Cleaning Up Bingo: Editorial
Originally published 03 June 2002
By San Francisco Chronicle
The bingo industry needs to be reformed to curb controversial operations, like Moskowitz's, argues this editorial. However, "Attempts in Sacramento to pass reform legislation have been blocked by big bingo operators, who spread campaign cash freely around the Legislature. Most notorious is the state's largest bingo king, Irving Moskowitz, who runs the Hawaiian Gardens Bingo Club in Hawaiian Gardens, a tiny suburb of Los Angeles."



MALDEF Demanda a Club de Bingo
Originally published 20 March 2002
By Patricia A. González-Portillo, Reportera de La Opinión
The suit alleges that, for more than a decade, the Moskowitz bingo made its employees, the majority of them Latino, work as volunteers for tips alone. This story notes that MALDEF included as defendants South Bay Security and Protective Services and its president, Al Lazar, the day-to-day boss of the bingo.



Checkpoints in the territories - and Jerusalem
Originally published 21 February 2002
By Akiva Eldar
The roads of Jerusalem are interrupted by police checkpoints. The streets are filled with people fearing the next suicide attacks. And the struggle between Jews and Palestinians for land is not getting any more peaceful, thanks to Moskowitz's Ras Al-Amud settler development. Eldar reports that a newly disclosed government proposal includes a subsidy for settlers who buy apartments in Moskowitz's anti-peace colony.



Editorial: Big-time bingo
Originally published 20 February 2002
By Sacramento Bee
The Bee opines on a bill that would make it more fair for truly charitable bingo clubs to survive, and not have to compete with questionable “charities” like that of Moskowitz.



Bingo bill unites unlikely coalition
Originally published 15 February 2002
By Gary Delsohn -- Bee Staff Writer
A Coalition-backed bingo reform bill would have eliminated some of the abuses of the bingo industry in California. Moskowitz's bingo club is a perfect example of a monopolistic establishment that prevents other charitable bingo clubs from surviving.



Curbs on Muslim charities seen as double standard: Some say Treasury is allowing Israeli groups to operate
Originally published 27 December 2001
By Chris Di Edoardo
Area activists say the U.S. Treasury is using a double standard when it freezes the assets of Muslim charities while allowing Israeli groups to operate.

The Treasury is "closing a legitimate charitable organization that, as far as anyone knows, is doing legitimate charitable work," said Aziz Eddebbarh, spokesman for the Muslim Public Affairs Council of Southern Nevada. "Meanwhile, we look the other way when people use tax-free money to build illegal settlements in occupied territory."

Eddebbarh is referring to the Irving I. Moskowitz Foundation, which is based in Hawaiian Gardens, Calif., near Los Angeles. With tax-free revenue generated by a bingo club, Moskowitz has bought land in Arab-dominated East Jerusalem and transferred title to Jewish migrants.



Bingo's Fat Cats, Part I
Originally published 11 October 2001
By Ron Russell
“While much attention has been focused on the state’s faltering attempts to get a handle on Indian casino gambling, investigators say charity bingo has become a hotbed for operators who take advantage of weak state laws and even weaker enforcement by the cities and counties that regulate the games.” The government has let illegal “charity” bingo clubs operate, while social establishments have suffered.



Bingo's Fat Cats, Part III
Originally published 11 October 2001
By Ron Russell
Part III of the New Times LA series.
Click here for PT 1 | PT 2 | PT 3



Bingo's Fat Cats, Part II
Originally published 11 October 2001
By Ron Russell
Part II of the New Times series:
"Government has turned a blind eye as giant "charity" bingo operations at Hollywood Park and in Hawaiian Gardens skirt the law while raking in countless millions. Meanwhile, school and church games are drying up."



Bingo in America Feeds Arab-Jewish Conflict in Israel: Hawaiian Gardens, Jerusalem, and The Moskowitz Foundation, Part I of a 3-part series
Originally published 01 July 2001
By Dan Aznoff
The low-income minorities who live in the tenement apartments in this tiny town southeast of Los Angeles share a nightmarish bond with Palestinian residents of the Ras al-Amud neighborhood in Old Jerusalem.

Both groups share vivid memories of a knock on the door that led to the uprooting of their families. In Hawaiian Gardens, poor black and Hispanic families were moved out of their homes through eminent domain to make room for a community redevelopment project that eventually became a gaudy, neon-covered gambling parlor.

The knock on the door was much more ominous for the Palestinians. It was also a notice of condemnation. Not by the Israeli government wanting the property to enhance the community. But from Arabs groups who threatened to kill any Palestinian who sold their land to make room for Jewish settlers.

"Selling to Jews was like signing their own death certificate," said Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak, founder of The Coalition for Justice in Hawaiian Gardens and Jerusalem ( http://www.stopmoskowitz.org ). "They are forced to move. Not just out of Jerusalem, but out of the country if they have any hope of staying alive."

The development in each country, critics say, is the direct result of the influence peddled by Dr. Irving Moskowitz. Opponents claim that the retired Miami physician bought enough influence in Hawaiian Gardens that he persuaded the city council to use public funds to build him a casino. Gross receipts from his card room and the bingo parlor around the corner--estimated to be as much as $35 million per year--have been used by Moskowitz to buy out neighborhoods in East Jerusalem to create new communities for Jewish settlers.

"We are not denying that Dr. Moskowitz used his own money to buy the homes in Jerusalem. In most cases the homes were purchased for twice what they were really worth because the Palestinian owners knew the danger of selling to Jews," explained Moskowitz attorney Beryl Weiner. "The money was probably used by the families to escape the country before the Arabs were able to carry through on their threats."



Bingo in America Feeds Arab-Jewish Conflict in Israel: Hawaiian Gardens, Jerusalem, and The Moskowitz Foundation, Part II
Originally published 01 July 2001
By Dan Aznoff
Julia Sylva was being pulled in many directions. As a Latina, she felt empathy for the low-income residents of her town who had been forced out to make room for a gambling establishment. As a lawyer, she saw how the strategies used by Moskowitz and Weiner confused the members of the city council who served in dual capacity as the town's redevelopment council. As a Jew, she was appalled to learn that the monies generated from bingo by the non-profit Irving I. Moskowitz Foundation were apparently being funneled to Israel to displace Palestinians to make room for fundamentalist Jewish settlers in Jerusalem and along the West Bank.

"The residents of Hawaiian Gardens have suffered in a way that cannot be remedied or compensated with bingo or casino proceeds," said Sylva. "All gains have been for Moskowitz/Weiner, all the losses have been suffered by the residents of the city."

Members of both the Likud and Labor governments in Israel have criticized the estimated $25 million given to Orthodox settlers to establish Jewish communities in Arab neighborhoods. In 1997, then-U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright described the "racist policy" of building of Jewish-only settlements as, "the seizing of Arab lands, demolishing Arab homes, settlement expansion and the construction of Jewish homes in East Jerusalem."

Louis Roth of American for Peace Now has come out publicly against the construction of flats for settlers. "What they are trying to do is establish a Jewish stronghold in Arab neighborhoods with the eventual goal of taking over."



Bingo in America Feeds Arab-Jewish Conflict in Israel: Hawaiian Gardens, Jerusalem, and The Moskowitz Foundation, Part III
Originally published 01 July 2001
By Dan Aznoff
"...Rabbi Beliak urged any person (whether Jewish or not) who supports peace in Israel to visit The Coalition for Justice in Hawaiian Gardens and Jerusalem website.

"Read. Read all the background information. Read the story of Irving Moskowitz and how he has used the people of Hawaiian Gardens for his own personal gain and to delay the possibility of peace in Israel," said Beliak.

"If you read, you will take action. That much I know."



Bingo Operations Need Stronger Controls
Originally published 13 May 2001
By Charles E. Greenberg
There need to be stricter laws governing “charitable” bingo operations. The Moskowitz bingo club in Hawaiian Gardens is an example of an operation that abuses the rules.



Bingo Chief Threatens East Jerusalem Peace
Originally published 11 March 2001
By Phil Reeves
Reporting on Moskowitz's Ras al-Amud development, Reeves writes: "The 132-flat complex is part of the long campaign by fanatically ultra-nationalist Jewish groups to change the demographics of Arab East Jerusalem, which was occupied by Israel in 1967 and later, in a move never recognized by the international community, annexed. Soon, the block will be ready to receive the first residents, ideologically driven settlers striving to secure Israel's control over all Jerusalem. The vanguard of three families moved into a house next door several years ago.”
"Their Palestinian neighbors are preparing for the worst. 'We really feel in danger here,' said Azzam Abu Saud, director of Jerusalem's Arab Chamber of Commerce, who lives next to the site. 'Our friends are too frightened to come to visit us.' But he stresses that he and his family will never leave."



Bingo! Charitable Gaming Scores Big Money for Brea Businessman
Originally published 25 January 2001
By Nick Schou
Twenty-five years ago, after California legislators gave the states charities a monopoly on bingo, high school football teams, senior citizen centers and religious organizations got in on the act. But nobody has earned more money from so-called charity bingo than Brea businessman Donald R. Havard.



Letter to Western U.S. Rabbis About Irving Moskowitz
Originally published 10 October 2000
By Coalition for Justice in Hawaiian Gardens and Jerusalem
The Coalition sent this letter along with a copy of a video documentary about the negative impact of Moskowitz’s gambling operations on Hawaiian Gardens and Jerusalem to Rabbis in the Western United States. The letter explains what Moskowitz has been doing in Hawaiian Gardens and Jerusalem and urges them to contact California Attorney General Bill Lockyer to request that he deny Moskowitz his casino license and revoke his bingo license as well.

"...we believe it's important for you to know what Irving Moskowitz is doing, both in Jerusalem and the small city in Los Angeles County, Hawaiian Gardens. It's important because he's doing it in your name! Moskowitz has access to influential politicians and acts as though he has the support of the entire Jewish community."



Power Play: Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg Muzzles a Chief Critic of Casino Owner Dr. Irving Moskowitz
Originally published 28 September 2000
By Ron Russell
Russell reports on an unofficial Joint Legislative Audit Committee hearing dealing with Moskowitz's casino in Hawaiian Gardens. It also goes over some of the findings in the JLAC's report on the casino.



Ateret Cohanim to Make Trouble Again: Jewish Settlers to Move into House in Disputed East Jerusalem
Originally published 26 September 2000
By AFP
Ateret Cohanim, the militant settler group Moskowitz supports, plans to move families into a house near the Mount of Olives cemetery in Palestinian East Jerusalem.



A Small City In A Big War
Originally published 25 September 2000
By Dan Walters
“This tiny, impoverished and predominantly Latino city in southern Los Angeles County is an unlikely locale for a high-stakes political squabble with international ramifications – but California seems to produce many strange imbroglios.” This article examines the controversial casino operated by Moskowitz in Hawaiian Gardens and what it means in terms of Middle East peace negotiations. It mentions the pressure Jewish and Latino activists are putting on California Attorney General Bill Lockyer to deny Moskowitz's application for a casino license.



Maverick Hearing Adds to Dispute on Hawaiian Gardens
Originally published 19 September 2000
By Joe Mathews, Times Staff Writer
Matthews reports on an unofficial Joint Legislative Audit Committee hearing dealing with Moskowitz's casino in Hawaiian Gardens. The story also covers over some of the findings in the JLAC's report on the casino.



The Bingo Connection
Originally published 01 September 2000
By Christopher D. Cook
“Like all bingos in the state, the Hawaiian Gardens club is run by a not-for-profit foundation. But while most bingos raise less than $100,000 a year for local churches and schools, Hawaiian Gardens is neither small nor local. The operator of the club has made international headlines for inflaming tensions in the Middle East.” Meanwhile, residents are struggling to make ends meet serve as “volunteers” in the bingo club, working solely for tips. This article looks at the Hawaiian Gardens bingo club and casino and controversial business dealings of Irving Moskowitz. It also gives background on Moskowitz's life and a brief history of the city of Hawaiian Gardens.



Letter to the Editor
Originally published 01 September 2000
By Rabbi Jerrold Goldstein
"Dr. Irving Moskowitz and his attorney, Beryl Weiner, have failed in their attempt to delegitimate the report of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee (JLAC) that provides "A Study in Redevelopment Abuse" in Hawaiian Gardens."



Casino Hearing Set
Originally published 25 August 2000
By Joe Segura, Staff Writer
This local newspaper reports that the Joint Legislative Audit Committee set a Sept. 18th hearing on Moskowitz's dealings with Hawaiian Gardens and was considering looking into a recent bond deal that helped finance Moskowitz bingo operation. The paper noted that Hawaiian Gardens officials went to Sacramento to persuade JLAC to ditch the report. Coalition leaders, who were also in Sacramento, heard the bond underwriter tell committee members that the bonds buyers were threatening action because the city hadn't disclosed the JLAC investigation.



Corruption in Hawaiian Gardens? Legislator's report urges criminal investigation of casino owner Irving Moskowitz
Originally published 21 July 2000
By Tom Tugend, Contributing Editor
“Moskowitz has long been a controversial figure in Hawaiian Gardens, a tiny, low-income city in southeast Los Angeles County, where he operates a bingo club and a card casino, and in Jerusalem, where he has bankrolled Jewish settlements in Arab neighborhoods.” This local Jewish weekly summarized the report’s findings, noting that Moskowitz “consorted with a public agency to operate an illegally financed casino.” This article also contains a history of Moskowitz’s dealings in Hawaiian Gardens.



Moskowitz accused of operating illegal LA casino
Originally published 16 July 2000
By Tom Tugend
Moskowitz conspired with a public agency to operate an illegally financed casino, according to the JLAC report. But Tugend reports that Moskowitz’s ties to the city stretch way beyond that.



Moskowitz Blasted in California
Originally published 16 July 2000
By Akiva Eldar, Ha'aretz Correspondent
“The report states that ‘Hawaiian Gardens is an example of what can go wrong when redevelopment is manipulated or used for the benefit of one individual rather than for the benefit of the community as a whole.’”
This article summarizes the findings in the JLAC report, and explains that Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak wants Moskowitz to give the public funds he used to build the casino back to Hawaiian Gardens.



Editorial -- Hawaiian Gardens report: Damning, incomplete and biased
Originally published 13 July 2000
By Long Beach Press-Telegram
This editorial argues that the Joint Legislative Audit Committee's report made some disturbing discoveries about Moskowitz's business practices. "In hindsight, the City Council-Redevelopment Agency may have made some missteps. Having Moskowitz's attorney also do legal work for the city was an unorthodox arrangement," it says. And "Moskowitz didn't create the city's financial problems, but he surely capitalized on them." But, as if to walk a tight-rope, it also argues that the casino is earning money for the city (and, it might have mentioned, for the newspaper, which carries its ads)



State Indicates Wrongdoings in Hawaiian Gardens Casino Deal
Originally published 12 July 2000
By Kathy Lee Scott
Another local paper weighs in, this time summarizing the JLAC’s findings and explaining that Moskowitz violated the law, obtained illegal funds, and should give millions back to the community. This article contains the most concise summary of the casino deal.



Executive Summary of JLAC Report: The "Gateway" Redevelopment Project in the City of Hawaiian Gardens: A Study in Redevelopment Abuse
Originally published 10 July 2000
By The Joint Legislative Audit Committee, State of California
The Committee's Findings on the Redeveloper and his Agent/Counsel include:

The redeveloper successfully co-opted the Cities and Agencies efforts to fulfill a public interest for his own private interest.

The redevelopers attorney made a series of misleading and often contradictory statements to public officials in order to benefit his client.



Press Conference Statement by Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak
Originally published 10 July 2000
By Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak
Read the statements made at the Coalition's July 10, 2000 press conference on the JLAC Report

Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak | Rabbis Steven Jacobs and Jerry Goldstein | Walter McKinney | Mina K. Meyer | Sharon Raphael



Press Conference Statement by Rabbis Steven Jacobs and Jerry Goldstein
Originally published 10 July 2000
By Rabbis Steven Jacobs and Jerry Goldstein
Read the statements made at the Coalition's July 10, 2000 press conference on the JLAC Report

Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak | Rabbis Steven Jacobs and Jerry Goldstein | Walter McKinney | Mina K. Meyer | Sharon Raphael



Press Conference Statement by Walter McKinney
Originally published 10 July 2000
By Walter McKinney, Former Chief of Police , City of Hawaiian Gardens
Read the statements made at the Coalition's July 10, 2000 press conference on the JLAC Report

Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak | Rabbis Steven Jacobs and Jerry Goldstein | Walter McKinney | Mina K. Meyer | Sharon Raphael



Report Alleges Spending on Card Club by City Illegal Hawaiian Gardens: State legislative panel says $4 million went illegally to help build casino. Club owner's lawyer says deal was legal.
Originally published 10 July 2000
By Hugo Martin, Times Staff Writer
Hawaiian Gardens illegally spent about $4 million in public funds to help Moskowitz build a casino, according to the JLAC report. Moskowitz's attorney, Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak and attorney general Bill Lockyer's office all have their say in the report’s findings. Lockyer later stated his contempt for the report.



Press Conference Statement by Sharon Raphael
Originally published 10 July 2000
By Sharon Raphael, Ph.D. , Professor of Sociology California State University, Dominguez Hills
Read the statements made at the Coalition's July 10, 2000 press conference on the JLAC Report

Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak | Rabbis Steven Jacobs and Jerry Goldstein | Walter McKinney | Mina K. Meyer | Sharon Raphael



Press Conference Statementby Mina K. Meyer
Originally published 10 July 2000
By Mina K. Meyer, Co-Chair, Coalition for Justice in Hawaiian Gardens and Jerusalem
Read the statements made at the Coalition's July 10, 2000 press conference on the JLAC Report

Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak | Rabbis Steven Jacobs and Jerry Goldstein | Walter McKinney | Mina K. Meyer | Sharon Raphael



Casino May Be Funded Illegally
Originally published 07 July 2000
By Joe Segura, Staff Writer
The state’s JLAC urges Hawaiian Gardens to stop all business with Moskowitz, after a report found that his casino was illegally financed.



Two Cities, Two Stories, One Philanthropist-Kingpin
Originally published 01 April 2000
By Joey Fishkin
n Abu Dis, a tiny Palestinian town just east of Jerusalem, a secretive Jewish businessman named Irving Moskowitz recently bought land a few months ago for a Jewish settlement. Tensions ran high - the Palestinian penalty for selling land to Jews is death, and this particular site has recently gained international prominence as a possible capitol for a future Palestinian state. The Palestinian and Arab press denounced Moskowitz, and contended that he was acting at the secret behest of Israeli leaders - a view bolstered by the fact that Moskowitz is a personal friend of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Many have accused Moskowitz of deliberately disrupting the peace process. Whatever his intentions, this purchase, like several previous high-profile actions by Moskowitz in Israel, could not be better calibrated or timed to imperil the chances of a "land-for-peace" settlement.

Halfway across the world from Abu Dis, a largely Hispanic crowd plays an extremely fast, dollar-a-board game of "speed bingo" in the bingo club of Hawaiian Gardens, California, which at less than a square mile is the tiniest town in Los Angeles County. It's an unusual scene. The glitzy club, open seven days a week, operates like a casino and takes in a staggering $33 million a year. Casinos are illegal in California, but this club is not because the law allows 501(c)(3) organizations such as churches to run volunteer, charitable bingo games. In this club, recent immigrants from Mexico, legally "volunteers," work the tables full time and subsist on tips. It seems almost inconceivable that this oddly intense bingo game, or these Californians, could have anything to do with Palestinian-Israeli politics. Yet, because of Irving Moskowitz, they do.

The 501(c)(3) this unusual bingo club supports is the Irving Moskowitz Foundation, which sends most of its money to Moskowitz' causes in Israel, according to its Form 990 reports filed with the IRS. In addition to the bingo club, Moskowitz now owns and runs the rarest of cash cows in California - a real card-playing casino, legal only because of a special referendum the town passed several years ago, in a high-profile election that involved tremendous spending by Moskowitz. Between the taxes he pays on his casino and other properties, and voluntary contributions he makes periodically through his Foundation, Moskowitz is responsible for much of the City of Hawaiian Gardens' bottom line.



Bingo Club Sued Courts: Latino Rights Group Says People Called Volunteers Are Employees
Originally published 20 March 2000
By Joe Segura, Staff writer
A major Latino civil rights organization filed a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday alleging that the Bingo Club is abusing its staffers by calling them volunteers and not paying them salaries.
MALDEF is seeking a temporary restraining order to force the club to pay salaries while the case makes its way though the courts. The suit also seeks back pay for the staffers.



Workers at Bingo Club Mistreated, Suit Claims -- Labor: MALDEF Alleges That Charity Operation Avoids Paying Employees a Wage by Calling Them Volunteers
Originally published 20 March 2000
By Eric Malnic, Times Staff Writer
Low-income Latino workers at Moskowitz’s bingo club are not paid fair wages, while their employer takes in as much as $50 million a year. MALDEF is suing to get back wages for unpaid "volunteers."



KCET Life & Times Transcript
Originally published 15 March 2000
By KCET - Los Angeles, CA
Coalition coordinator Haim Dov Beliak explains how Moskowitz uses the Hawaiian Gardens bingo to thwart Israeli-Palestinian peace in this public television magazine show.



Letter to Attorney General Bill Lockyer: Violently Hateful Website Operated by Cherna Moskowitz
Originally published 22 February 2000
By The Coalition for Justice in Hawaiian Gardens and Jerusalem
"...At the least, given the violent and obsessively hateful nature of the site, I know you'll agree that it is now impossible for you to grant a license to the Moskowitzes to operate the Hawaiian Gardens Casino."



Letter to California Governor Gray Davis: Violently Hateful Website Operated by Cherna Moskowitz
Originally published 22 February 2000
By The Coalition for Justice in Hawaiian Gardens and Jerusalem
I respectively ask you to review the attached translation of an Israeli news report about a violently hateful website operated by Cherna Moskowitz, an applicant with Irving Moskowitz for a gambling license for the casino they own in Hawaiian Gardens.

The report appeared yesterday in Israel's largest circulation newspaper, Yedioth Aharonot. I'm also faxing you a copy of the original report. (see: http://www.stopmoskowitz.org/assassination_story.shtml)



Vigilance To Prevent Violence
Originally published 22 February 2000
By Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak
An even more frightening show of contempt for democracy appeared last winter on another Web site, this one owned by Moskowitz's wife, Cherna Moskowitz. The site featured an assassination "game," which encouraged visitors to blow up, with the click of a mouse, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, former Prime Minister Shimon Peres, and other pro-peace Israeli officials. "Hunt down the Judenrat and stop them from handing Israel over to the PLO Nazis," said the opening screen. At the conclusion of the game, the screen reads, "Thanks for helping save the Jewish people from its enemies. Total Judenrat eliminated: [whatever number of heads the player has blown up]."

When the Israeli paper Yediot Aharonot exposed this Moskowitz site, the hosting company removed it. But our coalition downloaded a copy of the "game" and posted it on our Web site, www.stopmoskowitz.org.

Alarming material, don't you think? Cherna Moskowitz apparently felt so immune to criticism, she registered the site domain as "ehudbarak.net." And last February few news organizations picked up on our news release about the violent site.



Resolution of the Pacific Association of Reform Rabbis
Originally published 06 January 2000
By The Pacific Association of Reform Rabbis
Passed on January 6, 2000

The Pacific Association of Reform Rabbis, representing the largest rabbinic body in the Western United States, urges the California State Attorney General to open an investigation into the relationship between business operations under the control of Dr. Irving Moskowitz and the City of Hawaiian Gardens, California, where Dr. Moskowitz operates a casino and other business entities. We further commend the State of California's Joint Legislative Audit Committee's investigation into the same.



News Release: Coalition Seeks Asbestos Investigation
Originally published 05 January 2000
By Coalition for Justice in Hawaiian Gardens and Jerusalem
The Coalition for Justice asks environmental officials to investigate the handling of asbestos in the demolition of a structure near a school. The coalition has learned that, despite the known presence of asbestos, Hawaiian Gardens officials allowed the politically powerful Hawaiian Gardens Casino to demolish the structure, a donut stand at 11913 1/2 Carson Street, without the notification and documents required by state and federal laws regulating asbestos.



Hate Website Ownership Documentation Proves: Cherna Moskowitz is host to an Assassination "Game"
Originally published 19 December 1999
By stopmoskowitz.org
The search results page that proves that Cherna Moskowitz owns the domain name "ehudbarak.net."

http://www.stopmoskowitz.org/cherna_website.shtml

See more about the Assassination game on StopMoskowitz.org at:
http://www.stopmoskowitz.org/assassination.shtml



News Release: Appeal to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak
Originally published 16 November 1999
By Coalition for Justice in Hawaiian Gardens and Jerusalem
Coalition Appeal to Prime Minister Barak
The Coalition for Justice appealed to then Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, to ask California’s governor and attorney general to stop Moskowitz's gambling operations in Hawaiian Gardens, which are harming that city and funding the activities of Israeli extremists opposed to peace with the Palestinians. The Coalition wrote to Barak because he was visiting the United States at the time.



Letter to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak
Originally published 15 November 1999
By Coalition for Justice in Hawaiian Gardens and Jerusalem



Settler Sponsor Target Of Probe
Originally published 12 November 1999
By Lawrence Cohler-Esses
After learning that the Joint Legislative Audit Committee staff had finished preparing its report on Moskowitz, Cohler-Esses reports that "The probe, by the legislature’s Joint Audit Committee, will look into Moskowitz’s drive to start up a local casino seen by Jewish critics as a potential source of new revenues for his Jerusalem efforts. The casino’s financing, which includes government redevelopment funds, is being probed under the committee’s broad mandate to investigate reports of government corruption and waste. Cohler-Esses also reports that "sources close to the investigation say Moskowitz’s activities in Hawaiian Gardens were first brought to its attention by the Coalition for Justice in Hawaiian Gardens and Jerusalem, an unusual coalition of local Jewish activists, Hawaiian Gardens residents and others who decry his role in both cities."



Panel Investigating Hawaiian Gardens
Originally published 06 November 1999
By Joe Segura
After the state’s Joint Audit Committee launched its probe into Moskowtiz’s dealing with the city of Hawaiian Gardens, Segura reported: “The JLAC chairman has ordered city officials to provide documents on their dealings with Moskowitz over the past 10 years. The committee's probe focused on "possible noncompliance" with a state law that prohibits any form of direct assistance to a gambling business. The city’s Redevelopment Agency has been involved with Moksowitz for the past few years in an effort to build a multi-million-dollar card club.”



Press Release: APN Reveals Irving Moskowitz Assault on U.S. Security Aid to Israel
Originally published 29 October 1999
By Americans for Peace Now
"Americans for Peace Now (APN) today revealed that Dr. Irving Moskowitz is working to undermine U.S. security aid for Israel. A Moskowitz-developed web site, called Our Jerusalem, has posted two "Action for Israel" alerts asking his supporters to call their Members of Congress in opposition to Wye implementation funding, including $1.2 billion in security aid for Israel. Moskowitz has also funded two of the hard-line American Jewish groups that are actively fighting the Wye appropriations package. APN's mission is to enhance Israel's security through the peace process and to support the Israeli Peace Now movement."



Letter to Attorney General Bill Lockyer Regarding a Gambling License for Moskowitz
Originally published 01 September 1999
By The Coalition for Justice in Hawaiian Gardens and Jerusalem
For months, the Coalition for Justice has been encouraging letters to Lockyer (like this sample letter) asking him not to grant Moskowitz a license. The letter campaign focused on the questionable use of redevelopment funds for the casino. Letter-writers also voiced concern about the Moskowitz Foundation's bingo operation exploitation of Latino "volunteer" workers to generate millions of dollars for organizations fighting Israeli-Palestinian peace far from Hawaiian Gardens.



Controversy in a Small, Casino Town
Originally published 25 March 1999
By Douglas P. Shuit
"The physician considered by some to be the city of Hawaiian Gardens' absentee landlord is stirring the pot again.

This time, Irving Moskowitz -- who controls legal gambling in Hawaiian Gardens and keeps the city alive by funneling millions of dollars in gifts through a charitable foundation -- is said to be the force behind the abrupt resignation of City Atty. Julia Sylva. And the city attorney is not going quietly."



Hawaiian Gardens Card Club Faces Legal Wrangle
Originally published 24 March 1999
By Joe Segura
This story reports that Hawaiian Gardens' assembly member called for a review of Hawaiian Gardens card-club development plan. It also reports that city attorney Julia Sylva, a Moskowitz opponent, resigned after a new solidly pro-Moskowitz government took office.

"HAWAIIAN GARDENS - Assemblyman Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, said Wednesday he wants to review Hawaiian Gardens' card-club development plan to determine whether state law restrictions on public-fund use is being ignored. The city's Redevelopment Agency has been involved with Irving Moskowitz for the past few years in an effort to build a multimillion dollar card club - and the city's tab has reached about the halfway mark of a potential $20 million bill, according to former City Attorney Julia Sylva." Meanwhile, as a new, solidly pro-Moskowitz government took office, Julia Sylva, the Hawaiian Gardens city attorney long at odds with Moskowitz' attorney and local potentate Beryl Weiner, resigned. [The coalition heard residents say that, if Sylva hadn't resigned before the first meeting of the new City Council, she'd have been fired during that meeting.] "



The Last Good Cop
Originally published 18 February 1999
By Ron Russell
Walter McKinney, the former Hawaiian Gardens police chief, lost his job in a
tale of justice run amok involving the local Mexican Mafia prison gang. The
good cop lost his job in a combustible combination of local politics,
Sheriff's Department resentment, an exceedingly aggressive district
attorney's office, and a judicial system that, in the end, chose to punish
an exemplary cop's lapse of judgment with its eyes closed.



The Last Good Cop
Originally published 18 February 1999
By Ron Russell
Walter McKinney, the former Hawaiian Gardens police chief, lost his job in a tale of justice run amok involving the local Mexican Mafia prison gang. The good cop lost his job in a combustible combination of local politics, Sheriff's Department resentment, an exceedingly aggressive district attorney's office, and a judicial system that, in the end, chose to punish an exemplary cop's lapse of judgment with its eyes closed.



Building in Arab Neighborhood Will Begin Soon, Developer Says
Originally published 13 January 1999
By Naomi Segal
During a 1999 visit to Israel, Moskowitz discussed his Ras Al-Amud development with then Prime Minister Netanyahu and said that, after Israel halted the project in 1997 under pressure from the US State Department, he believed that Netanyahu would let it go forward. Noted the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA): “Attempts by Moskowitz and his supporters to build Jewish homes in Jerusalem’s mostly Arab neighborhood of Ras al-Amud have been a repeated source of strain between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.” JTA also reported: "Moskowitz's status as a champion of Jewish settlements was affirmed when he visited Hebron on Wednesday. Children danced while settlers sang nationalist songs to welcome Moskowitz to the often volatile West Bank town."
Between 1991 and 2001, Moskowitz gave $754,300 to the Hebron Fund. Only 520 heavily-guarded settlers live in an enclave in Hebron's Old City. Another 6,500 settlers live on Hebron's eastern border, in the settlement of Kiryat Arba. The Palestinian population of Hebron, or Al Khalil, is around 170,000. Israeli authorities often impose a curfew on the Palestinians for the settlers' security.



California Gambling Law
Originally published 11 October 1997
By State of California
The Coalition for Justice in Hawaiian Gardens and Jerusalem believes that Attorney General Bill Lockyer must determine that Irving Moskowitz doesn't meet the state law's requirements for the gambling license he needs to operate the 250-table casino he's building in Hawaiian Gardens. Read the law for yourself. We've used bold-face type to highlight relevant sections.



A Tale Of Two Cities
Originally published 26 September 1997
By Lawrence Cohler-Esses
Irving Moskowitz, who shakes Jerusalem politics to its roots, also dominates a tiny Latino enclave in California. It's the beginning of his money pipeline to the Holy City.

HAWAIIAN GARDENS, CALIFORNIA Francelia Morales, a 36-year-old Mexican immigrant living in a roach-infested apartment with mildewed walls, has been thinking a lot about the crisis in the Middle East lately.

"I feel a link to the Palestinians I never knew before." she said as she sat with her husband and three children amid the cardboard storage boxes. childrens toys and English-language instruction video cassettes that crowd her small living room.

Her neighbor from just a few doors down feels similarly.

"I feel like I understand what the Palestinians are going through." nodded Arturo Perez. Its the same thing like what we are going through here."

Like 16 other families in this row of clapboard apartment units set on a narrow asphalt alleyway outside Los Angeles the Morales and Perez families have received 30-day eviction notices from their landlord, Dr. Irving I. Moskowitz, the controversial right-wing Jerusalem developer who emerged last week at the center of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. But unlike most of them, the Morales and Perez families, and three others, are defying him.



An Uncomfortable Line
Originally published 26 September 1997
By Eric Silver
The door of Irving Moskowitz's home near the Montefiore windmill in Yemin Moshe, Jerusalem's first Jewish neighborhood built outside the ancient walls a century ago, was barred and bolted. The shutters were sealed. A gossipy neighbor said the owners were seldom there, two or three days at a time, then off again.

It was noon on Friday, Sept. 19, barely 14 hours after three Jewish tenant families had evacuated houses bought by the Miami-based bingo magnate in the Arab neighborhood of Ras al-Amud on the other, eastern side of the Old City.

Earlier in the week, Moskowitz had stood in that gritty, neglected urban village on the flank of the Mount of Olives, hammering a mezuzah on a door post and telling the world's TV cameras that this was where "we" are making "our" home. Yet the truth was that as soon as he had signed a face-saving deal with the government of Israel, he was on the plane back to Florida in time for Shabbat.



Just who is Irving Moskowitz? A retired doctor-turned-bingo-king
Originally published 23 September 1997
By Matthew Dorf
An Israeli doctor working in a Manhattan hospital asked his colleague last week, "Who"s the prime minister of Israel?""

"This week, of course, it"s Dr. Irving Moskowitz,"" Joseph Frager told his questioner.

While they laughed, the real Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, locked horns with Moskowitz, the Miami millionaire who at least for the moment is setting Israel"s political agenda.

Moskowitz threw Netanyahu"s government into turmoil last week when he opened the doors of a house he had purchased in Ras al-Amud to three Jewish families.

After heated negotiations, Netanyahu convinced Moskowitz to kick the families out of the Arab neighborhood in eastern Jerusalem, on the Mount of Olives. Instead 10 yeshiva students will guard and maintain the property.



The Clinton administration makes Moskowitz pull back
Originally published 17 September 1997
By U.S. Department of State
In 1997, when Moskowitz moved militant settlers into his strategically placed property in Ras Al-Amud, the Clinton State Department termed Moskowitz’s actions “a lightening rod for an increase in tensions” that might harm the peace process and the state of Israel. The US and Israeli governments negotiated a stand-down to the diplomatic problem Moskowitz created.



Jewish purchase of Arab lands could trigger IRS investigation
Originally published 14 January 1997
By Cynthia Mann
U.S.-based charities raising money to purchase Arab-owned land in Israel"s disputed areas could be scrutinized for possible violations of U.S. tax laws.

Critics of these purchases charge that they are a political and provocative act by those who seek to change the facts on the ground and sabotage the peace process.

They say such ideological activity cannot legally be financed with the help of U.S. dollars, through charitable tax exemptions and deductions.

Both a current and former official with the Internal Revenue Service said publicity of the issue, such as a recent segment on the CBS "60 Minutes"" program, could trigger an audit by federal tax authorities.

But the results of such an audit are far from certain.

Tax experts say determining whether organizations are violating their tax-exempt status is highly subjective and rendered on a case-by-case basis. They say the complexity stems in part from IRS guidelines that are highly nuanced. The charities in question, such as Ateret Cohanim, defend their tax-exempt status as legitimate, saying that their mission is humanitarian or educational. They say any related property acquisition fulfills the religious and Zionist call to redeem the Land of Israel and that it is anti-Semitic to restrict Jews from living in certain places, Israel most of all.

Some add that by helping settlers, they are filling gaps caused by the United Jewish Appeal"s policy of not allocating funds over the Green Line, or beyond Israel"s pre-1967 borders.

That UJA policy evolved in part in deference to the political sensitivity of the U.S. government, which provides grants to the UJA"s system for refugee rescue and resettlement.

The ideological back and forth over the purchases by the charities could continue without resolution, but for one claim by the critics: that the charities" tax-exempt status is illegal if their raison d"etre is primarily political and ideological. And these critics say they are intent on calling it to the attention of U.S. tax authorities.



Moskowitz Bought 3 Dunams on Mount Scopus
Originally published 10 January 1997
By Hillel Cohen
Dr. Irving Moskowitz, patron of the settlers, plans to construct a yeshiva and dormitory between Beit Orot and Hebrew University.

Dr. Irving Moskowitz, patron of Ateret Cohanim (and also contributor to the Tehiya party, Golan settlers, and many others), recently completed another land deal in East Jerusalem. Not far from the Augusta Victoria hospital, quite near Hebrew University, the doctor bought a large plot with the intention of establishing on it a yeshiva and dormitories for its students. This time it will not be in the heart of an Arab area, like Ras al-Amud, but on the periphery, on the seam between East Jerusalem and the Mount Scopus enclave from before 1967.

The purchase was effected by the Everest Foundation, one of the non-profits set up by Moskowitz and his friends in Israel and the U.S. for purposes of land and property acquisition in East Jerusalem. The source of funding for the purchase is the bingo parlor that Moskowitz runs in California, most of whose patrons are lower-class Hispanics. According to the tax authorities of California and the agreement between Moskowitz and Hawaiian Gardens, where the bingo parlor operates, Moskowitz must use the profits only for educational or charitable purposes. In a correspondence between the Everest Foundation, which requested the money, and the Moskowitz Foundation, asked to make the contribution, the lawyer of the Everest Foundation in the U.S., Oren Ben-Ezra, said that this allocation of funds is for goals that are legitimate, since educational institutions and student dormitories will be constructed on that location. Negotiation about the deal began as far back as 1993, and the registration of the land under the name of the Everest Foundation was just completed several months ago.



Money For Settlements in Abu-Dis, Not for Poor Neighborhoods
Originally published 10 January 1997
By Eyal Hareuveni
Out of its own pocket, the Jerusalem municipality is paying for the planning of a new settlement in abu-Dis, even though it's private property. Other plans for public use were frozen due to budget cuts.

The Jewish municipality will cover the cost of planning the Jewish settlement in abu-Dis, 298,000 shekel [$92,000], from an improvement tax to be charged to residents of the settlement, if it gets built. The plan is for development of privately owned property, including a lot owned by Dr. Irving Moskowitz, the patron of extreme right Israeli organizations.



Jerusalem Municipality Planning Another Jewish Settlement In Abu-Dis. The Solution: Irving Moskowitz
Originally published 03 January 1997
By Eyal Hareuveni
According to initial planning, 250 units will be constructed in the settlement on 82 dunam [=20.5 acres], and it will extend beyond the Jerusalem city limits. The architect of the neighborhood also planned the settlement in Ras al-Amud for the patron of the extremist right, Irving Moskowitz, who is behind this initiative as well.

On Tuesday, the Jerusalem City Council approved the allocation of 298,000 shekel [=$92,000] for planning a Jewish settlement in abu-Dis on land owned by Jews adjoining the planned route of the eastern ring road. The area of the planned settlement is 82 dunam [=20.5 acres], of which 62 dunam [=15.5 acres] are within the city limits. According to the plan, some 250 units can be built on this site. In the past, Dr. Irving Moskowitz, the patron of the settlers' associations Ateret Cohanim and Elad, tried to take control of these lands through a bid issued by Amram Blum, former head of the Bureau of State Bequests. After publication of the affair in Kol Ha'Ir and the intervention of the Ir Shalem association, which filed an appeal to the High Court of Justice, the bid was disqualified by the Attorney General, Michael Ben-Yair, and it was agreed then that the lands would be managed by the Bureau of State Bequests at least until January 1997. Now the Municipality is trying to revive Moskowitz's initiative using public funds.



Diamonds in Silwan
Originally published 16 October 1996
By Hillel Cohen
The diamond family Ben-David bought a home in Silwan through the Elad association. Tension in the village.

New residents moved into Silwan this week. The Posen family settled into what is called Rimon House, which guards hired by the settlers had entered the night of the elections. The house, bought through Elad, was acquired using monies from the diamonds and hotel businesses of the Ben-David family, and actually belongs to them. They plan to renovate it for use by one branch of the family, while the current residents, a young couple, lives there for the time being. This family then joins donors from all over the Jewish world, especially France and the U.S., who invest their money in Silwan and East Jerusalem. The family is known to have many investments in the territories, both financial and ideological, from the Palm Beach Hotel in Gush Katif [Gaza Strip] to donations to Channel 7 [pirate religious radio station] and other bodies.



The Millionaire Behind the Tunnel
Originally published 04 October 1996
By Zadok Yehezkeli
Dr. Irving Moskowitz contributed to excavating the Tunnel at the Wall and was among the few who participated in the opening. He is a personal friend of Netanyahu, one of his major donors, and is considered the patron of the settlers in East Jerusalem and Gush Katif (in the Gaza Strip).

Just a handful of people close to him were invited to the opening ceremony of the Hasmonean Tunnel that was held the night after Yom Kippur, orchestrated by the Mayor of Jerusalem, Ehud Olmert. The media were not there. On the other hand, two Jewish moguls from the American diaspora were present: the millionaire Sandy Eisenstadt of the Lubavitch movement, in the oil drilling business, and Dr. Irving Moskowitz, a right wing extremist, Miami resident, the patron of the settlers in Judea and Samaria, and a member of the club of donors to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Moskowitz has already become a living legend among the right as the largest purchaser of houses in East Jerusalem. He also donated monies for excavating the controversial tunnel. Those in the know do not exclude the possibility that the timing of the opening of the tunnel was set by Moskowitz's movements: the doctor simply was in Israel on Yom Kippur.

In the last ten years, it is estimated that Dr. Moskowitz invested tens of millions of dollars in Judea, Samaria, and East Jerusalem. Dubbed "the well-known benefactor" by settlers, Moskowitz is the money behind the acquisition of houses by the Ateret Kohanim organization in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City; he is owner of the land and the building of the Beit Orot Yeshiva on the Mount of Olives; he acquired the old Shepherds Hotel (now known as Shetier) in East Jerusalem; he owns land in Ras al-Amud on which a new Jewish neighborhood is planned; he helped finance acquisition of the St. George Hostel near the Church of the Holy Sepulcher; and he financed acquisition of the White House at the Gush Katif junction, a building that today serves as a restaurant and minimarket. All of this was in addition to his contributions to propaganda campaigns of the Council for Judea. Samaria and the Golan; to Channel 7 (a pirate religious radio station) to yeshivas; to the campaign to light Palestinian autonomy; and more.



Opening of the Tunnel at the Wall: Some of Netanyahu's Financial Considerations
Originally published 27 September 1996
By Ya'ir Ettinger
How American donors of Netanyahu and Ateret Hakohanim are tied in with the opening of the Tunnel at the Western Wall

The opening of the tunnel at the Western Wall following Yom Kippur was carefully hidden from the media, and of course from the Palestinians. The only two journalists who were invited promised not to publish anything about it in advance. Among those who knew and were invited were representatives and donors of the Society for the Development of East Jerusalem and the Fund for the Heritage of the Wall. One of the main donors of the Fund who was present at the opening was Dr. Irwin Moskowitz, the patron of Ateret Kohanim, who bought a great deal of property in East Jerusalem (including Beit Orot, Sheffer Hotel, and land in Ras al-Amud). Until the opening of the tunnel to tourists, Ateret Kohanim settlers were among the few who held the keys to the tunnel. Guides trained by them would lead groups of tourists in an effort to get donations on behalf of Ateret Kohanim from those participating in the tours.



Over a Week Ago, Netanyahu Rejected a Proposal by Kahalani to Delay Opening the Tunnel
Originally published 27 September 1996
By Akiva Eldar
The Western Wall Heritage Foundation, a non-profit organization associated with the National Religious Party (Mafdal), is in charge of managing the controversial tunnel, which charges visitors a fee, while the state has invested public money in the site through the Society for the Development of East Jerusalem. This information appears in a document submitted by former minister Yossi Beilin to the government of Shimon Peres early this year and is characterized as "a public scandal that demands investigation".

The document, brought to the attention of several ministers in Benjamin Netanyahu's government, includes a recommendation to delay opening the new tunnel exit until after the elections, and even then to do so at the appropriate moment and while engaging in dialogue and reaching understanding with the Muslim religious authorities in Jerusalem.

Last Thursday, Netanyahu rejected a proposal made by Avigdor Kahalani, the Minister for Internal Security, to delay opening the tunnel until implementation of the redeployment in Hebron which might have lessened the anticipated Palestinian protest.

Deterioration of the tunnel incident began on September 4th following an order to halt restoration work at Solomon's Stables issued by the City of Jerusalem, without holding senior level discussions about the implications of that decision. In response to the order, Waqf leaders gave orders to step up the pace of work. Police officials anticipated that enforcement of the order would provoke riots in Jerusalem, so the Prime Minister decided not to enforce it, but instead to allow for opening of the tunnel.



The "Isenberg Amendment"
Originally published 12 July 1996
By Assembly Member Isenberg
For reasons that have never become clear, the amendment to the DDA, passed on August 15, 1995, did not explicitly state that the project was to be a card club, as California casinos are called. Instead, it was simply called "a commercial development of between 50,000 to 80,000 square feet."

Moskowitz may ultimately come to regret those vague words, which may cost him, retroactively, the CRA subsidy. One of Hawaiian Gardens' own State Assembly representatives, Alan Lowenthal, announced last year that he would investigate whether the agency's spending on Moskowitz's casino was illegal under 1996 legislation called the " Isenberg Amendment ." That measure prohibits spending redevelopment agency funds on gambling establishments contracted after April 1, 1996. Lowenthal, who represents about 70 percent of Hawaiian Gardens and chairs the Assembly Housing and Redevelopment Committee, said in an interview with this writer: "My sense is that amendment was written for Hawaiian Gardens."



Bingo King Aids Israeli Right Wing
Originally published 09 May 1996
By Hope Hamashige and Paul Lieberman and Mary Curtius
Dr. Irving Moskowitz Has Sent Millions From Hawaiian Gardens Club To Groups Trying To Thwart Mideast Peace By Buying Land In Contested Areas. His Activities Raise Controversy At Home And Abroad.

Although the article excerpted here was published over six years ago, it remains the most comprehensive account of gambling mogul Irving Moskowitz’s activities in Hawaiian Gardens. We have interspersed the excerpts with updated information in italic typeface




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