Purely
Commentary
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
AN EXPOSE OF IBN SAUD
Prof. A. S. Yahuda of the New School
of Social Research of New York, one of
the most eminent Orientalists in the
world, last week charged, in a letter to
the New York Times, that the official
translation of the letter of King Ibn
Saud to President Truman departed from
the original text. His letter is of suffici-
ent importance for us to share its con-
tents with our readers. It reads:
TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW YORK TIMES:
The local Arabic paper AI-Hoda published in
its issue No. 163 the original Arabic text of King
Ibn Sanci•s letter to the President. which ap-
peared in THE NEW YORK TIMES of Oct. 18,
1946. The discrepancies . between the English
translation furnished by the Saudi-Arabian
Legation in I..11th/n and the original Arabic text
suppla cl by the Saudi-Arabian Legation in
Wet,hington are so conspicuous that I consider
it necessary to draw public attention to the
rriattcr
In the first place. Ibn Saud expresses doubt
in the velacity of statements attributed to the
Pre,iiient. thus throxing a bad light on the
United States gov , :rnincnt for issuing a false
1.1.0 I' Yll , nt This paragraph. which I quote be-
r. entirely omitted In the English trans-
lation
In in, second place. in the English translation
■ • r .• is
made to the Arab country "who
g.•en thou,inds of her sons to fight for the
Alheil cause ' Not a single word of it is said
in the Arabic text.
T.,
how the differences in the Arabic original
And the English translation. I give the following
i•xnerpts from an exact translation of the letter.
• f .on s urprised by the recent publica-
I n,ns V. Inch attributed to
Your Excellency a
0,, I.iraton in support of the Jews (in their
a
4' basil to, P:t ICA tne. and to open
its doors to
tt.,•ir immigration, thus disturbing the conditions
laid clown at present. and contradicting previ-
ous engagements • • •
- My
surprise was therefore the greater when
I react the statement of Your Excellency, caus-
ing to to doubt the correctness of its attribu-
1,0 to you. because it contradicts the promises
of I he United States government and the state-
ments issued from the White House in August.
'•l
am quite certain that the people of the
United States, who have generously given their
blood and their wealtn in rising against brutal
aggression. cannot now permit the Zionist ag-
gression against a friendly Arab country • which
ha. committed no other sin than to believe in
the manifestations of justice and equity for
which the United Nations, supported by the
United States, have fought. and to which Your
Excellency, succeeding your great predecessor.
have zealously contributed, • •
The translator obviously wanted to eliminate
from the letter the suspicion entertained by
Ibn Saud against the United States government,
and attributed to him the reference to the thou-
sands of Arab sons sacrificed in the Allied cause
which is not contained in the letter.
In diplomatic correspondence it is customary
to be meticulously exact in rendering one into
another. The present case—with omissions and
additions—shows that no confidence can be had
in the translation of Arabic documents.
Friday, December 6, 1946
THE JEWISH NEWS
Page Two
1897
Zion's Convocations
MI MIMI
1946
By CHAIM NACHMAN BIALIK
(Translated by SAUL KLEINMAN) - •
(EDITOR'S NOTE: The following poem was written on the occasion of and dedicated to the
first World Zionist Congress held in Basle in 1897. On Dec. 9, 1946. the 22nd World Zionist
world wars have been
Congress will again convene in Basle. In the intervening half century two
in almost every
fought and tremendous political. social and economic revolutions have occurred
part of the globe. In these world upheavals the Jews, the proverbial scapegoat of mankind's ills.
comparison
in
the
annals
of human
no
suffering
has
have been the most tragic victims, their
martyrdom. Now. as 50 years ago. they are homeless and ill-treated. This poem. might have been
written today and dedicated to the 22nd Congress. The translation is therefore very pertinent
and the readers, I trust, at this time, will read the sentiments expressed by the immortal Poet
Laureate—Saul Kleiman).
Strictly
Confidential
By PHINEAS J. BIRON
Copyright, 1946, Seven Arts
Feature Syndicate, Inc.
PARABLE
Your people's woes and direful plight
Have summoned you all from far abodes
Of exile and formed a lofty sight.
A pure, immaculate tear that bodes
Good faith, it warmly drew in its wake,
A cherished hope of hearts that ache!
"He dreamed all the Jews in the world
began to believe the rumor and super-
stition and propaganda that had been cir-
culated against them," Groucho told us
. . . "They became convinced that they
were responsible for all the world's
troubles, and they were so mortified they
decided to remove themselves from the
world. They committed mass suicide—all
but one lone American Jew who had
remained unconvinced . . . This one
American Jew was gratified to discover,
after all his brothers had vanished, that
Engulfed in grief, o'ercharged with pain,
Our hearts' dire plaints have pierced the sky!
Pleading is even 'Sheol's domain . . .
Who will not with spirits high,
With throbbing souls, greet you all
And cheer and bless your ilk withal?
the world wascpretty much in the same
spot it had been in when the Jews were
in it. There still seemed to be plenty of
trouble to go around . . . But then peo-
ple began saying that it was because this
one American Jew was left . . . Even he
began to wonder. It seemed to him that
the only sporting thing to do was to com-
mit suicide and give the world a chance.
So he went out to a mountains he knew,
and began trudging up the steep slope to
Not songs but tears you've brought with you,
Laments of old, renewed each day,
Exposing the woes to world's clear view
Of a suff'ring nation immersed for aye
In the blood of itself as in water—a sight
That shocks, a scene of fear and fright!
Let all the exiles' tears be bent.
Redemption may not yet be nigh,
But our Redeemer liveth on high.
The hour will come redemption bent
And He Who is the last on earth *
Shall make you witness our rebirth.
a cliff from which he proposed to leap
. . On his way up, however, he passed
two men coming the other way, engaged
in a very violent conversation. It seems
one of the men was saying to the other:
'Don't get me wrong, Joe—some of my
best friends are Catholics' . . .
My friend, the priest, tells me he
doesn't know whether the Jew jumped
off the cliff or went back down the hill,
because when the priest heard that crack
about Catholics—he woke up."
Reserved shall be your sacred tears
In our annals of martyrs, seers;
And when at last salvation nears,
Those who laid the corner stone
Shall be acclaimed, forever known;
And, like a never setting sun,
Will shine the deeds that they have done!
•
INTERRACIAL NOTES
( * According to Rashi (Job, XIX, 25),
"He Who is the last on earth" refers to God.
Heard in
The Lobbies
By ARNOLD LEVIN
It is possible that we are making a
(Copyright. 1946. Independent Jewish
'mountain out of a molehill by calling
Press Service. Inc.)
attention to this letter. But even if a
ARAB PRESS
single element of truth can be clarified
Too bad that the American press, whose
in the present muddled situation affect-
Correspondents canvas assiduously Arab
ing Palestine-Tit should be done.
•
•
•
League opinion in the Middle East, has
failed to take note of opinion in some
THE TRUTH, GENTLEMEN!
sections of the Arab press right in this
Your Commentator is beginning to be-
country, where the Christian Lebanese
lieve that if some of the foreign cor-
Arabs are less inhibited than they are
respondents would stop spreading false
back home. Take the Christian Arab
information about Arab-Jewish rifts the
newspaper, Al-Hoda for instance. Its edi-
problem in Palestine would emerge as
tors are worried by their countrymen's
less serious by far than it is generally
position "in the Moslem sea." Al-Hoda
believed to be.
resents the suggestion that Lebanon join
The recently proclaimed Arab boycott
other Arab states in some kind of protest
of Jewish-made Palestinian goods pro-
feints against American policy in Pales-
vides an opportunity to study the sensa-
tine." To consider unfriendly acts towards
tionalism of correspondents' stories. Al-
America is absurd; to push one's head
though the boycott was heralded by wri-
against a giant and be crushed to death
ters as a move certain to destroy the
is suicide," Al-Hoda writes and quotes,
Jewish economy in Palestine, all doom-
as additional authority. an editorial in the
prophecies have since been proven false.
Lebanese newspaper As Sahafi at-Tayeh
Clay Gowran, Chicago Tribune cor-
which scored a Lebanese statesman who
respondent in Jerusalem, exposed the
stated: "The Lebanon can be self-suffici-
Arab boycott in an interesting cable in
ent and can exist without relying on ei-
which he showed not only how the boy-
ther the East or the West. She can pro-
cott fails to work but also how Jewish
tect herself." As Sahafi warned that "if
and Arab merchants, determined to car-
this government follows such a policy
ry on business, had joined hands in pre-
against America, the Lebanese people
Venting it—in spite of the proclamation
will rebel and overthrow the govern-
of the entire middle east Arab world that
ment."
Jewish goods must be placed on the pro-
• • •
scribed list.
BOOKS
Mr. Gowran tells some interesting stor-
Sholem Asch's latest novel East River
ies. He reveals how the three Jewish-
(Putnam) suffers first and foremost, from
owned chocolate manufacturing concerns
in Tel Aviv continue to supply their an inept translation. The expert hand of
Maurice Samuel who translated most of
products to their Arab customers by pro-
Asch's other works, is lacking. The new
viding them with Moslem labels. He also
translator's language is shoddy, loose and
shows how aluminum kitchen utensils
colorless, failing to convey any of the
made by Jews are sold to Arabs—again
tense emotionalism of Asch's style, and
with Arab labels. "The zany point is,"
Jews who took exception to the Naz-
Mr. Gowran wrote, "that even the phony
arene and The Apostle, will have all the
labels are products of Jewish owned
more reason to take exception to this
print shops."
story of the East Side in which the Abie's
This is not all: "The world to date has
Irish Rose motif culminates in the bap-
not heard this about the Nejada (militant
tism of the child of a mixed marriage,
Arab Boy Scout movement in Palestine)
an act which does not appear to disturb
—that the copper badges sported by its
Mr. Asch and which, he tries to convince
members, which bear the slogan, 'Arab
us, even enjoys the tacit approval of the
lands for Arabs,' are products of a Jew-
orthodox Jewish father-in-law.
ish factory in Jerusalem."
We are not so proud of Jews manufac-
contention that those who made much of
turing such badges, or of Jewish engra-
the Arab boycott were sensation-seekers,
vers in Palestine who make the lurid anti-
let them read Mr. Gowran's best boy-
Jewish cartoon plates for Arab newspa-
cott anecdote: An Arab bought a bugle
pers. It is as bad as the actions of Jewish
in a Jewish music store in Haifa. The
printers in this country who produced
next day, as the owner sat outside his
literature for rabble-rousers before being
shop watching an Arab parade to adver-
shamed into refusing such contracts. But
tise the Moslem boycott, he saw his cus-
the stories show convincingly that the
tomer of the day before playing his,bu-
Arab boycott has resulted in a total flop.
gle in the front row of the band.
If there are some who still doubt our
Between
You and Me
By BORIS SMOLAR
(Copyright, 1946, Jewish Telegraphic
Agency. Inc.)
DIPLOMATIC NOTES
Few people know British Foreign Sec-
retary Bevin absented himself from the
meeting of the "Big Three" Foreign
Ministers one day last week to see Pres-
ident Truman to discuss the Palestine
issue. . . . Bevin also met with Judge
Proskauer, president of the American
Jewish Committee, last week and had
a lengthy discussion with him on Pal-
estine. . . . Zionist leaders, including
David Ben Gurion, were aware of the
Bevin-Proskauer meeting since the lat-
ter revealed to them in advance such a
meeting was to take place.
It can now be disclosed that during
his talks with Dr. Abba Hillel Silver.
the British Foreign Secretary was
anxious to impress upon the American
Zionist leader the importance of Jewish
participation in the London Conference
on Palestine Which is to be resumed
after the World Zionist Congress. . . .
It can also be revealed that Ben Gurion
indicated to Bevin through a third per-
son that if he wanted to meet with him,
he would have to see him by a certain
date . . . Ben Gurion left New York for
Europe without seeing Bevin.
In all the meetings between Bevin
and Jewish leaders in New York, David
Dubinsky, president of the International
Ladies' Garment Workers Union, played
a very important role. . .. The scheduled
talks on Palestine between Bevin and
Secretary of State Byrnes are now tak-
In the mean-
ing place in New York. .
learned that
Zionist leaders
time
Byrnes is not too friendly to the Jewish
position . . . He is stated to have indi-
cated in private talks that it would be
best for the displaced Jews if they
were repatriated to their native lands.
•
Groucho Marx passes on a dream re-
lated to him recently by a priest . . .
•
•
DOMESTIC AFFAIRS
American Jewish Conference leaders
are discussing the fate of the- Confer-
ence. . . . Some of these leaders are of
the opinion the Conference can become
a permanent over-all representative
body of American Jewry without inter-
fering with the Jewish agencies conduct-
ing relief activities overseas or civic
protective work within the U. S. . .
Some are even flirting with the idea of
inviting the American Jewish Commit-
tee to rejoin the ranks of the American
Jewish Conference. . . . The ambition
of these leaders is to see the Conference
Harry Hershfield, whose contribution
to the battle against bigotry is summed
up by his degrading dialect "jokes," has
come forth with a critical judgement of
Miss Margaret Halsey's fine book on
racism . . • "Miss Halsey's theme, 'Color
Blind' defeats its purpose" . . . Hersh-
field pontificates . . . No more. no less
. . . Content with this one sentence, he
goes on to tell us a story about a stray
dog . . . This model of critical brevity
(just think how much paper would be
saved in a year if all books were re-
viewed by the Hershfield method) ap-
pears in Mr. Hershfield's Nov. 17 column
for Hearst's "New York Mirror."
Bob Fitzgerald, Irish tenor. is the latest
addition to the show at Old Romanian,
kosher Broadway nite spot.
•
•
•
ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER
Robert K. Christenberry, owner
of
New York's Astor Hotel, had consistently
denied that American Action. Inc.. is
anti-Semitic .. . Information disclosed in
this column and elsewhere proved other-
wise . . . Mr. Christenberry, who donated
heavily to the United Jewish Appeal,
has now resigned from American Action.
• • •
UNHEALTHY
In the inner recesses of the N. Y. Times
we found three column inches of very
good news . . . It seems that the small
German town of Lauf, which is near
enough to Nuremberg to have heard Hit-
ler address the Nazi conventions at the
latter city without the help of radios, has
served notice that they don't want Fritz
von Papen around . . . With a clearer
idea of guilt for fascist crimes than the
International Military Tribunal which
acquitted the Third Reich's ace diplo-
mat, the people of Lauf promised that
if von Papen • visited their Sanitarium,
they'd hang him the moment he arrived
. Needless to say, Fritz will not be go-
ing to the Lauf Sanitarium.
as the only central body speaking and
acting on behalf of American Jewry on
matters concerning Jews in this ¶ountry
and abroad.
As to agencies such as the Joint Dis-
tribution, Committee, the Anti-Defama-
tion League and others active on the
"domestic scene," these leaders are dis-
cussing the possibility of bringing the
above agencies into the orbit of the
American Jewish Conference in an in-
direct way. . . . The proposal is to have
the Jewish relief and defense agencies
submit regular reports about their activ-
ities to the Conference and receive guid-
ance from the Conference in the,, form
of advice aimed at eliminating duplica-
tion and strengthening the work of these
agencies . . . This project, I learn, is not
backed by all leaders of the Conference
and is still in embryonic form ... How-
ever, it has the backing of those who in-
sist that the Conference must cease to
be a temporary war-time body.