Pearls at White House as Obama signs Freedom of the Press Act

The Pearl family — from left, Adam Daniel, Mariane, Judea, Ruth, Tamara and Michelle — and Sen. Chris Dodd watch as President Barack Obama signs the Daniel Pearl Freedom of Press Act in the Oval Office on May 17, 2010. Photo by Mark Wilson/UPI/POOL

President Obama signed the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act on Monday morning, May 17, joined by six family members of the Wall Street Journal reporter who was killed in 2002 by Islamic extremists.

The president said that he was instructing the State Department to follow and report “with vigor” on violations of press freedom anywhere in the world, as provided in the act.

Obama said that he particularly wanted to thank the Pearl family, “who have been so outspoken and so courageous in sending a clear message that, despite Daniel’s death, his vision of a well-informed citizenry that is able to make choices and hold governments accountable, that that legacy lives on.”

Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and decapitated by terrorists in Pakistan while investigating a story on the al-Qaeda financial network.

The most excited person at the 15-minute ceremony in the White House Oval Office was 7-year-old Adam Pearl, who received a presidentially imprinted yo-yo, M&M packet and coin.

Adam was born three months after his father’s murder. He will mark his eighth birthday on May 28 and was sharply dressed in a blue blazer, gray slacks, red tie and white shirt.

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Other members of the family present were Daniel Pearl’s widow, Mariane, who now lives in Paris with her son; Daniel’s father, Judea — a Jewish Journal columnist — and mother, Ruth, both of Encino; and sisters Michelle and Tamara.

The new law mandates the State Department to identify countries in which there are violations of press freedom; determine whether the government authorities of those countries participate in, facilitate or condone the violations; and report the actions such governments have taken to preserve the safety and independence of the media, and ensure the prosecution of individuals who attack or murder journalists.

“This is a very significant and emotional event for us,” said Judea Pearl, a UCLA professor emeritus in computer science. “President Obama’s signature assures us that violators of press freedom throughout the world now know that they will be closely watched. That is something our son Danny fought for all his life.”

The trip to the White House had its beginning 14 months ago, when Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Pasadena) phoned to consult with the Pearls on introducing a Freedom of the Press bill in the House of Representatives, honoring their son’s legacy.

The bill passed in the House last October and unanimously in the Senate last month, sponsored by Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.). Both Dodd and Schiff attended the White House ceremony.

It was only four days before the ceremony that the Pearls were notified of the event by the White House. Ruth Pearl quickly rounded up the rest of the family, she recalled Tuesday.

While few people get even one White House invitation in their lifetimes, this was the third visit for the Pearls.

In December 2007, President George W. Bush invited the couple for a Chanukah celebration. For the occasion, they brought along a menorah, which Judea’s grandfather, Chayim Pearl, had brought with him from Poland when he emigrated to Palestine in 1924 to found the strictly Orthodox community of B’nai Brak.

A few days later, Ruth Pearl returned to the White House as a delegate to a conference on human rights and anti-Semitism, attended by Bush.

Ruth Pearl, who was born in Baghdad and arrived in Israel with her parents in 1951, spoke then about the suffering and loss of property inflicted on Jews expelled from Arab countries.

Bush showed a great deal of interest in the subject, asked numerous questions and took up the issue when he visited Israel shortly thereafter.

Ruth Pearl, an electrical engineer and industry consultant, met her future husband when both were students at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa.

Following their son’s murder, Judea and Ruth Pearl established the Daniel Pearl Foundation to further Daniel’s legacy of promoting cross-cultural understanding through a global program of journalism, music and innovative communication.