Purely Commentary Israel Seizes Arms-Carrying Ship,

By

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Exciting Auguries for 19$3

The new year has begun with a sure indication that this
won't be a tame twelve-month era by a long shot.
We are already in the midst of a battle against what Jewish
and liberal ranks consider is a most un-American McCarran law.
Israel is in the midst of a struggle for economic security
and American Jewry must play a major role in assuring it.
A few headlines point to controversies and the need for vigi-
lance on many fronts. Here are some examples:
"Britain Insists on Selling Jet Planes to Arab Countries"—
thus rejecting Israel's protests; "Israel Will Not Conscript U. S.
'Citizens Into Arnty"—because of the provisions of the McCar-
ran Act; "Germany Will Not Yield to Pressure Against Pact
With Israel". but the "West German Parliament Has Voted to
'Reconsider Indemnification Bill"; "Communist governments to
Purge Jews from -Diplomatic Service"—pointing to an endless
battle with the Soviet satellies."
These controversial issues are multiplying. There will be many
of them to challenge our attention in the months to come and to
force us to be on the alert against abuses to civil rights in this
country and defiance of Jewish rights everywhere.

Aggravating Arab Munitions Issue

'

Direct JTA Teletype Wire to
The Jewish News

Protests by Israel
to cancel the pact with Israel
In the United Nations, Israel but offering the Arab states fav-
is initiating conferences with or able trade considerations.
the United States, British and Later, Premier Naguib asked for
French governments over the further clarification of the Ger-
recent seizure by Egyptian au- man note, and Saturday Ambas-
thorities of a shipment of Is- sador Pawelke told newsmen
rael-bound meat aboard a ves- Naguib was "getting" the clari;.
sel in the Suez canal. This ac- fication he asked.
tion was seen as a possible ,pre-
Another dispatch rep or t e d
liminary to Israel's raising the that the Cairo newspaper Al
issue before the United Nations A hr am carried an interview
Security Council or at the forth- with Gen. Naguib in which the
coming General Assembly ses- Egyptian "strong man" threat-
sion in February. The Egyptian ens non-cooperation with the
delegation at the UN argued West for regional defense over
that the Egyptian authorities the B i g Powers' support of
had permitted several meat car- peace negotiations between Is-
goes destined for. Israel through rael and the Arab states.
the Suez canal.
The British Zionist Federa-
Commenting on the Israeli tion called on their govern-
charge that a meat shipment ment to "arrest the arms race
The McCarran Mess
was removed from the Norwe- in the Middle East" and the
The mess createa by the McCarran Act may drag in a relig-
gian freighter Rimfrost last Oct- American Zionist Co u n c i 1,
ious issue, although the State Department denies it. Our Wash-
ober, the Egyptian delegation through its president, Louis
ington correspondent informs us that Section 42.30 of the law
said the cargo was seized be- Lipsky, sent a letter to Secre-
states that "the requirements of the Act that an immigrant
cause it was originally identified tary of State Dean Acheson
should state in his application his race and ethnic classification
as coming from the Sudan. objecting to contemplated
does not pertain to his religion." Our correspondent points out,
After a protest from Eritrea, arms shipments to Egypt.
however, that—
whence the meat was shipped,
The State Department has
"The issue is seen here as still not finally resolved' This is
the Egyptian Foreign Ministry decided there is no useful pur-
because the terms "Jewish" or "Hebrew" may be construed by
intervened with the customs of- pose in making any statement
consular authorities as an ethnic label rather than as descrip-
ficials and the meat was,. re- on Israel F or e i g n Minister
tive of a religion. Section 222-A of the Act requires that each
their statement said.
visa applicant.state his race and ethnic classification. The race Rokach Quits Mayoralty leased,
Sharett's complaint con-
Opposition to Bonn Pact . Moshe
of a Jew would be 'white' but how would his Ethnic classification' For Cabinet Position
cerning shipment of arms to the
tGen.
Egyptian
Premier
.
Mo-
be labelled?
Arabs, according to reports from
hammed Naguib conferred with
"The question of the ethnic background' of Jews Must be
TEL AVIV, (JTA)—Tel Aviv's West German Ambassador Gun- Washington. The U.S. Govern-
answered although the Visa Division has now ruled that this Mayor Israel Rokach, who be-
ment view is that Israel's com-
does not pertain to religion. No one in Washington who will came Minister of Interior in the ther Pawelke on the Bonn-Israel plaint is confined to jet aircraft
reparations
pact
and
Arab
op-
speak officially for the government will say what should be the new Cabinet,
sold by Britain and has nothing
position to it.
ethnic classification of Jews and how they will be described
to do with other arms. In-
turned over his
The parley, at which Egyptian formed sources said they did not
ethnically if not by religion."
office to Deputy
Foreign Minister Mohammed know of any shipment from the
Here is one of the many quandaries that will haunt us. A Mayor Haim
Fawzi was present, was the lat- U.S. of important quantities of
battle looms in the nation's capitol. The entire country will be Levanon, at a
est in a series which began with arms to Egypt or any of the
involved in it. By persisting on pressing for a just solution to the ceremony_ at
an Egyptian prbtest to Bonn other Arab states.
McCarran mess, liberals still have a chance to win their case.
City Hall. Rep-
last September after German
But it'll be a tough fight. Anyone who opposes McCarran resentatives of
and Israeli signature of the
will be a Communist. The Commission on Immigration, whose all parties in
pact. - Last month the Germans 2—THE JEWISH NEWS
studies embraced every imaginable field of activity in this the council
Friday, January 9, 1953
handed Egypt a note refusing
country, already, has been branded mercilessly by the Nevada praised Ro-
genius who has concocted a scheme that is dragging this country kach's devotion
into disrepute. Rightminded Americans should make it possible to city interests
Rokach .
for sensible people to recognize the ludicrousness of this legisla- since he became Mayor in 1936.
tor's thinking.
President Ben Zvi became an
honorary citizen of Tel Aviv at
By BORIS SMOLAR
a special meeting of the city
Germany Yet To Be Dealt With
(Copyright, 1952, Jewish Teligraphic Agency. haeJ
There still is Germany to be dealt with. Much has been made council. Thousands of men,
of last year's reparations agreement. The pact remains unsigned women and children crowded Israeli Reflections
and while there are assurances that there will be no yielding to the streets to see the President
Orthodox leaders in the United States feel uncomfortable
anti-Jewish Arab moves to destroy it, the current issue of News- on his first official visit here. over the fact that religious groups in Israel have lost the strong
The
,President
also
visited
a
week carries this item under the heading "Scrap of Paper?":
trade school, a new park and position they held in the Israel Cabinet . . The feeling is that
"German banker Hjalmar Schacht has been hinting to the
other municipal institutions.
Syrians (whom he's currently advising on finance) that Bonn
they will never regain that position . .. It is no secret that re-
will repudiate its pact with Israel wafter the occupation ends. He
ligious parties in Israel are constantly losing in following .
says the West forced Bonn into this agreement, involving heavy
Gardner's Account of
This is true not only of the extreme Orthodox Agudas Israel, but
reparations for the destruction of Jewish lives and property Rabbi Sperka's Aid to
also Mizrachi and its affiliated parties ... It holds true even for
during the Nazi regime. Schacht, it will be recalled, was Hitler's
Gross Wins Plaudits
the Chief Rabbis of Israel . They, too, are losing authority
financial adviser."
The remarkable thing is that although large sections of the ag-
Well, Schacht still apparently is "Hitler's financial adviser."
Nationwide attention has been nostic population in Israel tend to drift closer to religious values,
The reparations are not as "heavy" as the Newsweek item would
lead its readers, to believe. The losses were immeasurable and the drawn to the work of Rabbi the political-religious elements are losing their hold on the pop-
reparations would, at best, be a fractional repayment for pillage. Joshua S. Sperka who was in- ulation because the religious precepts of Orthodoxy have nothing
Now, with Schacht back on the scene, we may have another strumental in securing the re- special to offer the state in solving the problems of public , service.
battle to force adherence to a pact that involves many moral lease from Jackson prison of ... Who will run electric power stations on the Sabbath? ... Who
Louis Gross.
will run other essential services, including the army? . . How
issues.
The Gross story and the cou- about essential farm work on the Sabbath? . . To these and
Thus, 1953 will have its headaches.
rageous role played by Rabbi other basic questions religious leadership in Israel has not yet
Sperka is told in Erle Stanley found a satisfactory answer Some religious Jews have tried
The Hobbs Wise Incident
Gardner's "The Court of Last to solve these problems on their own . . . Most of them have
The death of 88-year-old Dr. William H. Hobbs, retired Uni- Resort," an exciting account of either compromised with tradition, in which case all other reli-
versity of Michigan geology professor, serves to recall the exciting investigations of similar cases, gious Jews reject them ... Or they have been strictly traditional,
controversy that raged, prior to this country's entrance in World published by William Sloane As- in which case their value to the general public suffers . . Or-
War I, between this interesting man and the late Dr. Stephen S. sociates, 425 Fourth Ave., New thodox Jewry as such has not yet told the Israel Jews how a
Wise. Prof. Hobbs was strongly anti-German and demanded ac- York 16.
state can be run by Jews alone on a seven-day week . . . Even on
tion against the Kaiser's government by this country. Rabbi
Mr. Gardner pays tribute to the issue of women serving in the Israel army, the religious groups
Wise, a pacifist, disagreed with him, and in an address in Detroit Rabbi Sperka's efforts in the took no fundamental stand ... They do not object to women in
ridiculed "hob-nabbing." Later they were both in the same ranks, Gross case, .nd confesses that general doing army service; they only object to service for "re-
upholding this country's hands in the fight on Germanism. Times, the Gross case was his "first ligious' women"—for their own women . . . They do not mind the
their tempers and human reactions play their tricks upon their experience with a Jewish rabbi." others being "exposed"—as they believe—to the moral dangers of
personalities. The Hobbs-Wise argument certainly was one that
camp life or to entering the professions and the work-a-day world.
involved two strong characters,—and Dr. Wise, when he made his Sharett Heads Israel
. . . They believe that national service will "infect" the young
peace with an opposing view, recognized the vision of a man who
girls, but they do not mind non-religious girls being "infected" by
could not be fooled by the forces whose militarism has left a Socialist Delegation
such menial tasks as defense, nursing and other services — . It is
lasting scar upon humanity.
To Burma Conference
this distinction that is scorned in Israel, contributing to the de-
cline in Orthodox influence in the country.
TEL AVIV, (—TA)—A Mapai
Against Capital Punishment: Clemency for Rosenbergs
Opponents of capital punishment haye closed ranks in urgent delegation left for Rangoon, Domestic Developments
pleas for clemency for the Rosenbergs. It is generally agreed that Burma, to attend a conference
Among 120 Jewish communities reporting their final or esti-
they are guilty. Yet, men like Detroit's Christian clergyman, Dr. of Asiatic Socialist parties, mated final welfare fund campaign totals only four can boast
Henry Hitt Crane; the Jewish theologican Dr. Abba Hillel Sliver; which opens Jan. 15. Israel's that they raised more money in 1952 than in the preceding year.
the Nobel Prize winner Harold C. Urey and others have joined Minister, Moshc Sharett, will ... These are Cleveland, Hartford, Harrisburg and San Diego, . „
in the appeal for mercy for the condemned couple. The Rosen- head the delegation.
Most others showed a drop of between 10 and 12 percent ... The
bergs plead innocence. Their denial of guilt is strongly repudiated.
total raised by these 120 communities in .1952 is $63,255,700 as
Nine
Local
Rabbis
But if there is a single chance in a million that they are not
against $70,404,324 in the preceding year ... The drop in the larger
guilty or less guilty, a two weeks' or a month's stay of sentence Endorse Hapoel Hamizrachi
Nine Detroit area rabbis will communities is especially noticeable . . . Chicago raised approxi-
may help give them the "justice" they plead for. As the date set
mately $1,000,000 less in 1952 than the $8,500,000 of a year ago' . „
for their execution approaches, it is sincerely to be hoped that be among the 500 spiritual lead- Baltimore
raised $3,100,000 as compared with $3,407,000 in 1951 _
President Truman will at least stay execution, should he refuse ers to endorse the -program of Detroit did
better than some of the other large communities, tak-
Hapoel
Hamizrachi.
Services
this
to assume responsibility for commutation of the sentence.
sabbath will commemorate the ing in only $300,000 less than the $4,700;000 raised in 1951
*
*
*
progress of the movement and Newark was only $200,000 behind the $2,300,000 raised in the pre-
A Remarkable Community Demonstration
vious year . . . Philadelphia raised $4,500,00 in 1952, which is
urge its support.
It is estimated that nearly 12,000 people inspected Sinai Hos-
The rabbis lending their about $780,000 less . .. St. Louis, which in 1951 raised more than
pital during the dedication week. The admiration shown for the backing are: Jacob H. Brown, $2,000,000, was on record in 1952 with $1,800,000 . . . Pittsburgh
new health center and the approval that is being given the under- M. J. Fischer, Leo Goldman, Is- raised $1,925,00 in 1951 and only $1,775,000 in 1952 • . Miami,
taking comprise the vote of condence the hospital authorities have rael I. Halpern, Max Kapustin, which raised $1,200,000 in 1951, reached the same amount in 1952
been awaiting in their consistent planning—from the moment Joshua Sperka, Joseph Thumim, . . . San Francisco raised about $85,000 less than the $1,700,000
the first blueprints were publicized—that the first Jewish hospital Max J. Wohlgelernter and Louis which was contributed in 1951 . . . Cleveland raised $4,200,000
in Detroit should be a nonsectarian institution.
1952, which is $70,000 more than the preceding year.
Kaufman, of Mt. Clemens.

:

LONDON — The Israel-Egypt-
ian Mixed Armistice Commis-
sion met in the Gaza area Tues-
day to discuss the Israeli cap-
ture of an Egyptian vessel carry-
ing armaments in Israeli terri-
torial waters.
R e p o r t s stated that the
Egyptian vessel, with a cargo of
"surplus war material" valued
at $36,000, was en route to a
Syrian port when it sailed into
Israeli waters and was seized.
The same reports stated that
the Egypitian government was
informed of the capture of the
80-ton Samir and its crew of six
by the Mixed Armistice Com-
mission.
Another dispatch from Cairo
revealed that the Inter-Arab
Committee which conducts the
economic boycott against Israel
has issued a communique in
the Egyptian capital warning
foreign countries against estab-
lishing branches in Israel. The
communique threatened to ex-
tend the Arab boycott against
the products of such branches.

Between You and Me

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