When Irish- jeivish Eyes Are Smiling 20—DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, August 20, 1954 Israel OKs Women's Right Convention Genocide's Birthplace Now Its Resting Place The entire religious schoel of Dublin's Progressive Congrega- tion came out to greet an eminent American educator on a visit. Visitor • is Dr. EMANUEL GAMORAN, director of education of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, who recently returned from a sabbatical tour during which he lectured at Reform temples in France, England and Ireland, and at Hebrew University in Israel. To the left of Dr. Gamoran is Mrs. Gamoran, who ac- companied the famed educator on tour and appeared with him before the student body of Ireland's Reform temple. BONN, (JTA) — The United Nations Genocide Convention is now a law in this country— the land which originated the crime outlawed by the UN. President Theodor H e u s s signed the bill passed by the West German Parliament in- corporating into the penal code the provisions of the In- ternational Genocide Treaty already adopted by the United Nations. The Official Gazette immediately p u b - lished the law, thereby com- pleting its promulgation and formal enactment. The measure interpolates into the penal code an article providing that life imprison- ment — the highest physical penalty in the German penal code — may be imposed on any person guilty of genocide in this country in the future. Israel Ministry Asks Funds for Immigrants JERUSALEM, (JTA) — The Ministry of Welfare asked the government for an additional allotment of 1,000,000 Israeli pounds to help provide the min- imal needs of approximately 50,- 000 newly-arrived immigrants now housed in the government's transitory camps for new ar- rivals. According to t h e Ministry's figures, the transitory camps cared for 27,515 persons in June who depended entirely on gov- ernment relief allowances. Ap- proximately 23,000 others had to be given supplementary relief by the government. The additional allocation, according to the min- istry, would be expended in the (tamps for food needs only. community and the related pur- poses which you claim to serve. "The fact that the Jewish Telegraphic Agency enjoys the financial support of a number of Jewish national organizations and fund-raising institutions, in- cluding many local welfare funds, I believe places an addi- tional responsibility on this agency, lest its behavior be laid at the door of these organiza- tions," he asserted. Mr. Rocker, in his reply, told Mr. Katzen that "the manage- ment of the Jewish Telegraph- ic Agency has full confidence in the integrity and sincerity of its staff" and in its loyalty to JTA policy and "the prin- ciples of a free and honor- able journalism." He declared that "we must flaty reject your sweeping and completely unsubstantiated denunciation." He added, however, that "if you will submit specific com- plaints and the supporting evi- dence, you may be assured that our board of directors will give them proper attention." Mr. Rocker also communicated the text of the statement he had is- sued previously to newspapers asking for comment on the Kat- zen charges. In that statement, he declared: "Mr. Katzen's attack on the Jewish Telegraphic Agency is a shocking assault on freedom of the press. As such, it will be re- sisted to the limit by JTA with, I am confident, the full support of the American Jewish press and community. "Mr. Katzen's implied threat that national and local Jewish organizations will be held re- sponsible for the activities of JTA is unprecedented in Ameri- can political affairs. It will not deter JTA from doing its job to the best of its ability." The attack made upon the Jewish Telegraphic Agency was severely condemned by the English-Jewish press. Newspa- per editorials voiced support of the JTA, and approved the statement by Mr. Rocker. The Detroit Jewish News, in an edi- torial entitled "Erring Politici- an," said that Mr. Katzen had "committed worse than a blun- der when he resorted to high pressure in seeking 'publicity' from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. That was the height of arrogance." Some of the English-Jewish newspapers also criticized Mr. Katzen for his attack on Mr. Irving Engel, president of the American Jewish Committee, whom he charged with being "partisan" for criticizing the McCarran - Walter Immigration Act which is being opposed by all major Jewish and liberal organ- izations. Mr. Engel refuted the charge, emphasizing that the American Jewish Committee fa- vors revision of the McCarran- Walter Act because, since the . AJC's establishment, in 1906, it has been keenly concerned. with immigration legislation, - Final Merger of USNA and HIAS Is Scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 24 !TA Contradicts Republican Official, Calls 'Partisan' Charge Attack on Press NEW YORK. (JTA)—The Jew- ish Telegraphic Agency has re- jected, as "completely unsub- stantiated," sweeping charges made against it by Bernard Kat- zen, consultant on Jewish affairs to the Republican Committee, Louis P. Rocker, president of the announced. "The Jewish Telegraphic Agen- cy has no axe to grind," Mr. Rocker told the Republican offi- cial. "Its policy since its incep- tion in '1917 has been, and will continue to be, to present the news honestly and impartially to the best of its ability, to seek Out and report faithfully and accurately all information on current developments of concern to the Jewish community and to provide the community with the facts on which to base judg- ments and decisions." In a letter to Dr. George 0. Wise, chairman of the JTA board, which he released to the press before it was delivered to the JTA, Mr. Katzen complained of the "obviously partisan na- ture of the reports disseminated by your agency." He said he was 'aware of the duty of news agencies to keep the public alert as to the doings of the govern- ment and of men in public life," adding that however, when the picture is always one-sided, then it ceases to be faithful reporting and turns into partisan agitation and propaganda." Mr. Katzen conceded that he was not submitting a "bill of particulars illustrative of this point, although I assure you of my ability to do so." He as- serted that "any unbiased reader of these reports must be aware of it. Not only are the reports one-sided, but very of- ten distorted with half truths and editorialized with uncalled for interpretations and com- ments. "I feel," he declared, "that such a partisan attitude is not only incompatible with the principles of a free press and American journalistic traditions, but is also harmful to the in- terests of the American Jewish Israel became the 11th country to ratify the Convention on the Political Rights of Women, which provides that women shall be entitled to vote in all elections, to be eligible for election and to hold public office on equal terms with men. Seen here at the con- clusion of the ratification ceremony at the UN are (right to left): MORDECAI R. KIDRON, Deputy Representative of Israel to the UN; Mrs. ZINA HARMON, Advisor, Social Affairs of Israel Dele- gation; Mrs. SOPHIE GRINBERG VINAVER, Secretary of the Commission on the Status of Women, and CONSTANTINE STAV- ROPOULOS, Principal Director in charge of the UN Legal Dept. Czechoslovak Communist Organ Attacks JTA WASHINGTON, (JTA) — The Czechoslovakian C o m m u n is t publication "Vestnik" has at- tacked the Jewish Telegraphic Agency because of dispatches de- picting the circumstances of Jewry behind the Iron Curtain. Accusing the JTA of "lying" about Communist anti-Zionism, the Communist periodical said "The Jewish Telegraphic Agen- cy seems to specialize in this. NEW YORK — The United Service for New Americans (USNA), major Jewish resettle- ment agency in America, and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), 70 year-old Jewish glo- bal migration agency, are sched- uled to be merged on Tuesday, into a single national and inter- national Jewish migration and resettlement agency to be called "United HIAS Service, Inc.," it was announced by an interim committee arranging the final details or me consolidation On the Record By NATHAN ZIPRIN (Copyright, 1954, Seven Arts Feature Syndicate) which will include the overseas ' migration services of the Joint Distribution Committee. Last week the memberships of both organizations unanimously I approved the consolidation plans which have been in the process of formulation for nearly two I years. All that remains to be ac- ' complished before the board of directors meet on Tuesday are formal legal steps, which are ex- pected to be completed within a week or ten days. The interior committee is corn- posed of five members of USNA and a similar number from HIAS, under the chairmanship of Ed- win Rosenberg, who acted as chairman of the group which negotiated the merger. Merger proposals, announced on Jan. 28 of this year gave the first indication that USNA and HIAS would consolidate into one agency all their respective func- tions and services, which include the migration services of the Joint Distribution Committee. The United HIAS Service, Inc. was planned to accord with the desires of the Jewish community at large to eliminate duplication and overlapping in the migration field. The Name Is the Same French anti-Semites have been giving Mendes-France some anxious moments. Some weeks ago it was the outstanding com- munist theoretician Duclos who daubed the Jewish Premier as a "dirty Jew" and as a Frenchman with Jewish complexes. Now the hate mongers of another color in France are employing a new line of attack on the Premier—his name. Agonized by the mere thought of a Jew bearing the name France, these purists have been feed- ing the French public with the misinformation that the Premier has but recently and deceptively assumed that name when the truth of the matter is, as borne out by old tombstones and arch- ives, that the name Mendes-France can be traced back to the sixteenth century. Interestingly enough of the four Jews who held premiership posts in the past 50 years, excluding of course Ben-Gurion and Sharett, three were Frenchmen—Leon Blum, Rene Meyer and now Tri-Country Incidents Mendes-France. The fourth one was Luigi Luzatti of Italy who Flare on Israel Borders was the first Jewish Premier of this turbulent century. The first Premier of Jewish origin in the history of western civilizatLon was TEL AVIV, (JTA) — Three Britain's brilliant statesman Disraeli who was however converted more anti-Israel attacks—along to Christianity long before he began his dazzling political ascent. the borders of Egypt, Jordan and * * Syria — flared on the Israeli East and West frontiers over the weekend The Western world in all its aspects "is a world of explanation, marking • the resumption of while the Eastern world is that of implication. The West is cen- Arab-made incidents which have trifugal, living in an unstable dynamic equilibrium; East is cen- broken a short period of rela- tripetal, drawing into itself. It will therefore probably survive us tive quiet. for a long time." This masterful contrast of two worlds in words On the Jordanian border, as measured as the idea they express is immense, is culled from a southwest of Jerusalem, infiltra- most exciting book about the most wondrous and least known land tors fired on Jewish farmers in the world, Secret Tibet from the fine Italian hand of Fosco while they were working in the Maraini and published in English translation by the Viking Press. fields. The Israelis returned the fire, a military spokesman- here One Man's Opinion said. There were no casualties The adage that a courageous press is the most potent instru- among the Israelis. ment in the preservation of a free press was perhaps never better Syrians opened fire on the illustrated than by the recent reaction of the English-Jewish press settlement of Shamir in the to the impudent attempt of the Republican "consultant" on Jewish north. Here, the military spokes- affairs to set himself up as dictator and censor over Jewish news man declared, a number of coverage. But apart from this, and whatever the calculations of buildings were hit but, again, the Republican National Committee, establishment of what ap- there were no Israeli casualties. pears to be a Jewish department within a major political party is The third incident occurred a precedent fraught with potentially dangerous consequences near the troublesome Gaza strip since it implies a specialized or ghetto approach to the Jewish along the Egyptian border. In community. • There is no quarreling with Republican leadership when it this latest flare-up, the military striver to cultivate the Jewish vote—a term which, incidentally, is spokesman reported, an Israeli purely fictitious since it is predicated on the wholly false and de- civilian jeep was the target of rogatory premise that Jews vote as a bloc when the truth of the Egyptian automatic fire across matter is that their political alignments are determined by the the Egyptian lines tear same factors influencing general political affiliation -through pro- Reim. The car was hit in fo.k::. viding the Jewish press with material favorable to the administra- places, but none of the jee!', - tion. But when an attempt is made to harness that press to the occupants was hurt. cause of the political party in office through pressure that what 1,8 good for the party is good for Jews, particularly when that strange Rabbi Named Prison Chapli, thesis is coupled with threat that critical coverage of the Wash- SAN FRANCISCO, (JTA)- , ington scene is harmful to the interests of the American-Jewish community and the related interests served by the Anglo-Jewish Rabbi Julius A. Leibert, an:An . press, it merits sharp rejection not only as a shocking assault on chaplain in two World Wars, b the freedom of the press but as a brazen effort to graze in pastures been appointed chaplain for S2: • Quentin Prison. He succeeds where trespassers have no business. • It was indeed a wholesome omen that so large a segment of Rudolph I. Coffee, whose activi- the English-Jewish press summoned the courage to meet this grave ties as chaplain of state prisons development. It was a sign of maturity and of profound awareness over many years won consider- of the great role that the press is yet destined to play on the able attention throughout the American Jewish scene, country.