Word: shamir
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...Yitzhak Shamir is virtually besieged. Infuriated American Jewish leaders have descended on Jerusalem to berate the Prime Minister for promising to meddle with Israel's definition of who is a Jew. Thousands of angry calls and letters flooded his office, and secular Israelis took to the streets to denounce religious coercion. Acknowledged one Shamir aide: "I'd say he's got a bit of a problem on his hands. Blood pressures are soaring...
...unprecedented uproar from U.S. Jews complicates Shamir's exquisite dilemma. His Likud bloc must either embrace the religious and right-wing parties to form a narrow coalition at odds with most American Jews, or entice the Labor Party into a broad coalition that would dilute Likud's strong-arm policies toward the Palestinians. After four weeks of marathon negotiations, the Prime Minister has yet to make the choice...
...Shamir sparked the fire storm by promising to amend Israel's Law of Return, which grants automatic citizenship to any Jew. Shamir professes little personal interest in the details of Jewish conversion; his courtship of the religious parties simply reflects his determination to control the government...
...safer alternative for Shamir might be to lure Labor into a broad coalition. But the party would be a junior partner, and the opening round of talks proved humiliating for its leader, Shimon Peres. "It's a joke," said Labor Party member Yossi Beilin. "They need us as a fig leaf, and their demands are impossible...
...Yitzhak Shamir heads the Israeli Likud party, which is expected to form the next Israeli government...