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Our coalition has been working since 1998 to stop Irving Moskowitz's activities in Jerusalem and Hawaiian Gardens, a small, predominantly Latino city in Los Angeles County, California.
In Hawaiian Gardens, Moskowitz operates a bingo hall and owns a casino; he controls the government for the benefit of his gambling operations. In East Jerusalem, he uses profits from those operations to thwart Israeli-Palestinian peace by buying strategically placed Palestinian real estate for Jewish settlers and supporting militant anti-peace organizations. (For more background information, please read our illustrated
brochure)
August 18, 2005. The California Gambling Control Commission renewed Irving Moskowitz's license to operate the Hawaiian Gardens Casino. Please click here to read our report on the hearing. Meanwhile, as part of our plan to reduce our expenses, we are going to take down our credit card form shortly. We encourage you to use this occasion to make a donation by using the form in the left margin. You can also send checks to P.O. 67903, Los Angeles, CA 90067. Thank you very much!
August 11, 2005. With the hearing on
Moskowitz's gambling license renewal set for August 18th, the Coalition has sent the California Gambling Control Commission photographic proof that Moskowitz is violating a condition of his license. After our complaints last year that the casino gates, across from a middle school, were always open, the Commission conditioned Moskowitz's license on keeping the gates guarded and keeping out everyone under 21. Our photos, which you can see by clicking here, along with our letter, shows children all around the open gates and one actually traversing the casino property.
The license renewal hearing will be at the Commission's Sacramento headquarters at 1:30 PM on August 18th. Because last year the Commission was so dismissive of our copious evidence establishing Moskowitz's unsuitability for a license, we are not encouraging you to attend or even to write the Commission. However, we are encouraging you to help us cover the costs of the Coalition co-directors testifying against the license renewal. Please use the secure donation form on the left of this page. And thank you very much.
July 28, 2005. The Coalition for Justice in Hawaiian Gardens & Jerusalem today asked the California Gambling Control Commission to request Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca's current assessment of the benefit, if any, of the Hawaiian Gardens Casino to the local community. The Coalition's request comes in the wake of the tragic murder of a Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff in Hawaiian Gardens and less than a month before the Commission's consideration of the license renewal application of casino owners Irving and Cherna Moskowitz.
The Coalition urged the Commissioners to deny the application on the grounds that the recent slaying and the subsequent issuance of a gang injunction in Hawaiian Gardens are a sad result of casino owner Irving Moskowitz's indifference to the welfare of the city. Please click here to read more.
News! Moskowitz visits, promises help to settlers who will resist withdrawal from Gaza Strip. In early April 2005, Moskowitz led a mission to encourage settlers slated to be evacuated when Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip this summer. He promised them financial help to resist the evacuation. Cherna Moskowitz, his wife and partner in his Hawaiian Gardens Casino, was quoted by WorldNet Daily praising the settlements in the densely populated Palestinian land. She termed them "beautiful, spacious, modern homes with businesses and schools surrounded by lush landscapes and a gorgeous beach" and said she felt "safer and more at peace here than at my home in Miami Beach." Leaders of organizations that Moskowitz supports with funds from his Hawaiian Gardens Bingo were also on the trip. To read more details, please click here.
Commission
ignores evidence, grants Moskowitz casino license. On August 19, 2004 the California Gambling Control Commission voted 3 to 0 to award Irving Moskowitz a conditional license to operate his Hawaiian Gardens casino. We believe the Commission failed in its duty to keep unfit individuals out of California's gambling industry. Commission Chairman Dean Shelton dismissed as "unfounded" all the evidence we and others presented showing that Moskowitz failed to meet the state gambling code's requirements. (Please click here to see our letter to state legislators matching code sections with Moskowitz's failures.) The fourth commissioner, Arlo Smith, abstained, saying he still had unanswered questions and that he understood a civil grand jury investigation was under way. Please click here to read our full account of the Commission hearing.
The Commission awarded the license despite a Los Angeles Times report that day about a class action suit against the casino by workers' alleging that the casino forced employees to buy their jobs and give up part of their tips. Please click here to read the report and other news coverage. We note with particular satisfaction a Long Beach Press-Telegram editorial critical of the Commission's decision.
We want to thank all of you who wrote and emailed the Commissioners urging them to deny the license. Hundreds - as many as a thousand - of your messages were on display in two thick binders. It was very inspiring - as though all of you were with us in the Sacramento auditorium where the Commission met. Thanks also to those of you who encouraged us to continue our work and oppose the license renewal in 2005. Please watch this site for details as they become available. (Or, better yet, join our email list.)
The
Gambling Control Commission held hearings in December 2003 and January 2004 on Moskowitz's license application. Our Coalition for Justice in Hawaiian Gardens and Jerusalem presented compelling arguments for denying the license, as did numerous other organizations and individuals. We also submitted a detailed confidential document to the Commission. Please click here for detailed summaries of that document and the hearings, including our response to Moskowitz's rebuttal of our presentation and news coverage.
We've posted the slide show we've been presenting to organizations. We have converted our Powerpoint presentation into an easily opened PDF file, giving our supporters quick access to the basic facts -- and a presentation to give to their own associates!
Please click here to open the presentation (a PDF file).
Visitors, please take a moment to make a donation to support our campaign. Our Coalition is an all-volunteer effort, but we still have monthly office and internet expenses. We urge you to use the secure donation form at the left to support our work for Israeli-Palestinian peace and gor the restoration of Hawaiian Gardens' political autonomy. Thank you in advance for helping us to continue!
Moskowitz reportedly thwarted in attempted purchase of Jerusalem property key to peace deal. Moskowitz also reportedly donated money to settlers fighting Israel's announced withdrawal from Gaza. Please click here to read the Israeli news reports about these developments.
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