HE JEWISH NEWS
Proposal to Add
'Under God' to
Pledge to the Flag:
Does It Conflict
With First
Amendment?
Commentary, Page 2
A Weekly Review
17100 W. 7 Mile.—VE. 8-9364—Detroit 35, March 5, 1954
War Threats
To Israel:
The Dangers
In Egypt
Michigan's Only English-Jewish Newspaper—Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle
VOL. 24—No. 26
..
of Jewish Events
Analysis of,
Editorial, Page 4
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450 'Illegal Returnees' Granted
Extended Stays in Foehrenwald
-Prophecies and Shadows
Middle East's Troubles Cast
Gloom Over United Nations
By DAVID HOROW I TZ
Special Jewish News Correspondent at the UN
UNITED NATIONS, N.Y. — This writer is often compelled
by world events to quote from the greatest of all history books,
our Hebrew Bible. Indeed, the more he views the world political
trends from this excellent UN vantage point the more con-
vinced he becomes that the Hebrew prophets, under Divine
inspiration, fully foresaw the future, including the events hap-
pening in our day. For example, anyone who wishes to have
a good preview of what the coming years will bring as a result
of the East-West conflict should open the Bible to Ezekiel, chap-
ters 38-39, and follow them by a reading of Joel 1-3 and
Zechariah 12-14. There can be no doubt that Ezekiel's "Gog of
the land of Magog" is present-day Russia. All the signs, geo-
graphical and otherwise, point to the Soviet Union.
Of course, the greatest of all prophetic fulfillments, as
alt vious Christians realize, is the resurrection of Israel as
a sovereign state after 2,000 years of exile. The Bible abounds
with prophecies pointing to Israel's return to the ancient
komeland. And what is witnessed today is but the beginning.
But there are other aspects relative to the Middle East
that fit into the prophetic picture. Egypt, for example, and
Syria. According to prophecy, Egypt in particular is to play a
vital role in opposing Israel's rise, only later to enter a peace-
ful coalition with the new State. But the sudden fall of the al-
most legendary Mohammed Naguib, following the exile of play-
boy-king Farouk, and the deposition of dictator Shishekly of
Syria, come as a confirmation of the prophetic promise that the
Rock of Israel will "frustrate the counsel" of Israel's enemies.
Thus, the disturbances in Egypt involving factional strife are
but a long-awaited echo of the following prophecy in Isaiah
18, verses 2-4:
.
"I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians; and they shall
fight everyone against his brother and everyone against his
neighbor . . . And the spirit of Egypt shall be made empty
within it; and I will void the counsel thereof .. . And I will
give over the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel lord (Malen-
kov?) . . . And the river shall be drained."
The trouble in Egypt and Syria have cast an evil shadow
upon the World Organization already beset by a number of
seemingly insoluble Middle Eastern problems. No one here in
UN circles doubts that these latest events will greatly aggravate
matters. The delicacy of the explosive situation was reflected
here on Feb. 24, when the Security Council met to resume its
discussion on the Suez Canal blockade complaint. Indeed, all
the leading delegates were present—Jebb of the United King-
dom; Lodge of the United States; Hoppenot of France; Malik
of Lebanon, etc. Also, Egyptian Azmi with his aides as well as
Mordecai Kidron with his new press officer Joshua Justman
were on hand, all ready to be called up. But what do you
think happened? Security Council President Leslie Knox Munro
opened the meeting and declared:
"Before I call upon the representatives of Egypt and Israel
to take their seats at the Council table, there is a procedural
matter with which I think the Council should deal. There are
no draft resolutions before the Council on this important ques-
tion. It is important that the Council should speedily consider
the adoption of a suitable resolution." Having said this, Mr.
Munro surprised the spectators in the gallery by suggesting
an immediate adjournment. "Unless I hear any objections to
the course I have proposed," he said, •"I shall declare the Coun-
cil adjourned." And that ended the quickest Security Council
meeting on record.
Encountering Mr. Hammarskjold directly after the meet-
ing, I said to him rather jovially, "Quite a quick meeting, wasn't
it?" To which he replied meaningfully, "Very efficient indeed!"
From this reply I gathered he must have meant that for adjurn-
inent delegates can be quite efficient, but not for solving major
issues.
And what is the story behind all this? Fear, undoubtedly.
Fear of Egyptian reactions; fear of the Soviet Union's inroads
into the Middle East. That is, some members of the Security
Council, including the United States, it was reliably learned,
are afraid that any new resolution censuring Egypt in a
manner similar to that in the Resolution of September 1951,
might provoke Mr. Vishinsky and give him another chance
to come forth as the "Protector of Islam" in the manner of
kis veto against the three-power resolution on the. Bnot
Yaakov Canal project.
New Zealand, France and the United Kingdom, however,
have taken a more definite position. They believe that any new
resolution should at least reaffirm the validity of the one of
September 1951 which censured Egypt and condemned her for
her canal restrictions. Mr. Munro, who volunteered to explore
the possibilities for the drafting of a new resolution, has a dif-
ficult job on his hands. During a Correspondents Association
luncheon in his honor the day following the Council meeting
he revealed that he is seeing delegates behind the scenes in
the hope of working out an acceptable resolution to be- ready
Within a week.
MUNICH, (JTA) —The 450 "illegal" returnees from Israel and elsewhere, who have
been living at the Jewish DP camp at Foehrenwald since last August under an agree-
ment whereby they were required to emigrate from Germany within six months, were
granted a few more months in which to leave or make arrangements for emigration.
The new agreement was worked out at a meeting between representatives of the
Joint Distribution Committee, HIAS and Israel Purchasing Mission, on one side, and
representatives of various Bonn government departments, on the other.
Originally, some 700 "illegal" returnees registered with the German authorities last
summer. Since then about 250 have managed to find new countries of permanent settle-
ment and have left. The remainder include 260 who have already made arrangements
for leaving and were granted until July, at the German-Jewish conference. The remain-
ing 190 must either leave by March 15 or be able to show they have arrangements for
leaving for another country within a few months.
When the 700 registered last summer, the Jewish organizations aiding refugees in
Germany were convinced they could find homes for them abroad in six months. How-
ever, the arrival of more Jewish refugees without German visas and residence permits,
coupled with German arrests of several hundred such "illegals," forced the organizations
to give priority in emigration arrangements to the newest arrivals. The result has been
the backlog of the 450.
During last week-end's conference, the German representatives acknowledged that
JDC and HIAS have made "significant efforts" to help the refugees leave Germany
for permanent homes. The majority of the "illegal" returnees — both old and new
groups—is composed of people who went to Israel but could not adjust either to climatic
or to economic conditions. These people came to Germany because they viewed it as a
springboard for transmigration to countries of the Western Hemisphere.
Dr. Chaim Yachil, deputy, head of the Israel Purchasing Mission, which also has
some diplomatic functions, reaffirmed his government's readiness to accept any of the
returnees who desire to be repatriated to Israel. It is understood that in recent months
about a dozen persons have taken advantage of this offer.
Jewish. DP Children Welcomed by Official of Bavarian State
Forty children from the Foehrenwald camp Jewish school entertained Jewish and
non-Jewishinmates of old age homes gathered at Bierderstein, near Munich. The event
was organized -by the "Bavarian Organization for the Aid of Victims of the Nuremberg
Racial Laws.'
State Secretary Walter Stein, speaking in the name of the Bavarian Ministry of
Refugees welcomed the children and other Jewish guests. He stressed that the inhabi-
tants of Foehrenwald—last remaining Jewish DP camp in Germany—should not regard
themselves as displaced persons but as guests and welcome inhabitants of Bavaria.
German Government Asked to Implement Indemnification Law
A meeting of the Bavarian Council for Freedom and Justice, attended by several
deputies of the Bavarian State Parliament, has protested the fact that the Federal gov-
ernment has not yet enacted implementation regulations for the indemnification law
which was brought into force six months ago.
The meeting was told that the position of aged and ill victims of Nazism was "des-
perate" and that immediate steps for implementation of the indemnification law were
necessary if their position was to be ameliorated.
Ask U.S. to Act on
Release by Iraq of
Arrested Israelis
WASHINGTON, (JTA) — Sen.
Lehman has written Secretary
of State John Foster Dulles to
use the United States Govern-
ment's diplomatic resources to
the fullest extent in bringing
about the freedom of three Is-
raelis whom the Iraq government
has kept in prison since early
last month.
The New York Senator said the
detention of three individuals
who inadvertently found them-
selves on Iraqi soil when a Brit-
ish plane on a flight from Cy-
prus to Iran made a forced land-
ing at Bagdad, was a matter of
deep and proper concern to the
United States and all govern-
ments which abide by traditional
standards of decency with re-
spect to the treatment of travel-
ers encountering adverse condi-
tions whether on the high seas
or in the air.
In The Hague, the Netherlands
government made known that it
had intervened, unsuccessfully
thus far, in behalf of Mrs. Min-
nie Barnes-Gruenfeld, one of the
three Israelis jailed by the Iraqi
authorities. Her husband is a
Dutch national. It is understood
that Holland is still pressing its
intervention 'in the case.)
Arab Revolts Bring B-G
To Tel Aviv to Confer
On Security Situation
TEL AVIV, (JTA)—David Ben-Gurion, former Premier
of Israel, left his place of retreat in the Negev and came to
Tel Aviv to confer with Defense Minister Pinhas Lavon on
problems of Israel's security arising from the revolutions
which took place in Egypt and Syria in the last few days.
Minister Lavon anct leaders of Israel's armed forces
emphasized in public statements that the Israel Army is
prepared to guard the borders of the country against any
danger that might flare up as a result of the instability
of the neighboring Arab countries.
Egyptian Premier Seeks Destruction of Israel
Gen. Moshe Dayan, Army Chief of Staff, told a public
meeting that Col. Gamel Abdel Nasser, the Egyptian Army
officer who unseated Gen. Naguib as Premier and who re-
mains as Premier even with Naguib's return to the Presi-
dency, sought, among his various aims, the destruction of
Israel. Gen. Dayan said that the Israel Army would take
care to prevent the realization of Col. Nasser's goal in this
instance.
The palace revolt in Egypt and the Army revolution in
Syria continue to be the chief topic of discussion here.
While the Israel authorities continue watching events to
the South and North closely, no special movements of
Israel's security forces have been reported. On the financial
exchanges, the Israeli pound was reported to have made
gains against dollars and gold following news of the two
Arab revolts.
Among the Druzes settled in the north of Israel, there
was rejoicing over the downfall of Col. Shishekly whose
regime had employed repressive measures against the Jebel
Druze and who had used bloody measures to suppress a
Jebel Druze revolt only a few weeks ago. The Israeli Druze
reported that Sultan Pasha al Altrash, Jebel Druze leader
who took refuge in Jordan with 35 of his followers following
suppression of their revolt, will now be able to return home
to Syria. •