The Activist Ambassador

Zalman Shoval is a man who understands challenges. From 1990 to 1993, he served as Israel’s top envoy to Washington during a time of enormous stress in the U.S.-Israel relationship. His tenure encompassed the bitter debate over loan guarantees for Israel; firefights with former Secretary of State James Baker; and the Gulf War, when Shoval’s calm demeanor as Israel’s top U.S. spokesman belied tough behind-the-scenes diplomacy over Israel’s role in the war against Iraq.

Washington — The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum has suffered another embarrassing public relations setback that supporters say could leave the institution more vulnerable to political control.

John Roth, the Claremont McKenna College philosophy professor whose appointment as head of a new academic arm of the museum generated ferocious attacks from the right and unease among some mainstream Jewish leaders, stepped down Monday before assuming his duties.