T A B L E+T A L K Size-ism: How big a problem is it? Discuss discrimination experienced by overweight people in the Social Issues area of Table Talk   R E C E N T L Y Who's behind ethnic violence in Indonesia? By Peter Dale Scott "Provocateurs," most likely within the military, are trying to bury the country's hopes for a secular civilian democracy (12/01/98) "Black people must be stupid" By Joel Dreyfuss David Horowitz can't accept that African-Americans shrewdly voted their self-interest in the last election (12/01/98) A conversation with Jonathan Pollard By Walter Ruby Betrayed by Gingrich and Netanyahu, the convicted spy for Israel blasts the politics behind his latest failed hope for clemency (11/30/98) One big happy family By Alan Wolfe The election was a referendum on morality, after all, but Americans voted for tolerance, not vengeance (11/25/98) The "young lady" who got under Kenneth Starr's skin By Joan Walsh U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren is pressing the independent counsel to think harder about when he learned of Linda Tripp's tapes (11/25/98) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Browse the Newsreal Archives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - S A L O N E M P O R I U M FREE! 12-ounce bag of Salon Blend with a purchase of $30 or more. While supplies last.
		Debunking the "ethno-bomb" U.S. EXPERTS ARE SKEPTICAL THAT ISRAEL HAS DEVELOPED A BIOLOGICAL WEAPON THAT CAN TARGET ARABS. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - BY JEFF STEIN American biological warfare experts are reacting skeptically to a report that Israel is working on a biological weapon that could infect and kill Arabs but not Jews. The top secret Israeli "ethno-bomb" project is the product of medical research that has identified distinctive genes carried by some Arabs, particularly Iraqis, according to a report last month in the London Sunday Times. The project's aim is to manufacture a genetically engineered bacterium or virus that would kill certain Arab ethnic groups, the paper said. The notion that the Jewish state is developing a bomb targeting people by "race" outraged some members of Israel's parliament. But ethics and morality aside, American experts are skeptical that sucha weapon is possible today. "I think it's nonsense," said Bill Richardson, a deputy assistant secretary of defense responsible for chemical and biological warfare programs in the Reagan and Bush administrations. Even if an "ethno-bomb" were developed in a petri dish, he said, "there's a long leap from having a mechanism to having an environmental viability, a weapon, or vector, or means of dissemination," he said. Likewise, Dr. Daphne Kamely, a leading microbiologist who has worked on environmental safety issues for the Defense Department, as well as the National Institutes for Health and the Environmental Protection Agency, said, "That sounds too far-fetched to me." "It's like saying to a person, because your skin is black, the rest of you is different, too," added Kamely, who has led several delegations to Middle East scientific conferences. "It's not. It just doesn't make much sense, from a scientific point of view." One hurdle in assessing the report is that Israel's chemical and biological weapons program is shrouded in secrecy. The program is said to be based at the biological institute in Nes Tziyona, the main research facility for Israel's clandestine arsenal of chemical and biological weapons. N E X T+P A G E+| A double standard on Israel