E JEWISH NEWS
Unity Urgently
Needed:
Only Israel Will
Lose From a
A
Split in
Zionist Ranks
Editorial, Page 4
Weekly Review
of Jewish Events
The Arlosoroff Case:
Shocking Revelation
The UN Ten
Years Ago:
Reminiscences
tvlirchiaon's Only English-Jewish Newspaper— Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle
Commentary, Page 2
—41
VOLUME 27, No. 18
17100 W. 7 MILE RD., Detroit 35—July 8, 1955
$4.00 Per Year, Single Copy 15c
U. S. B cks Bums as Truce Chief
ut Egypt Seeks His Withdrawal
WASHINGTON, (JTA)—State Department circles in-
dicated that the United States Government has complete
confidence in Maj. Gen. E. L. M. Burns, United Nations
truce chief in Palestine, who is now trying to bring Israel
and Egypt together on steps to relax the tension in the
Gaza area.
The reaffirmation of U. S. support of Gen. Burns was
expressed while Egypt is seeking to have Gen. Burns re-
placed.Members of the American delegation to the United
Nations have emphasized that they see no reason why
Gen. Burns should not be continued in his present position,
and UN. Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold had made it
clear that he intends to retain Gen. Burns.
Meanwhile, the Israel-Egyptian talks at Gaza, held
under the chairmanship of Gen. Burns, are in suspension.
They were held for two days last week but it is not certain
whether they will resume on Wednesday as scheduled.
Egypt's Foreign Minister, Mohmoud Fawzi, was asked over
a coast-to-coast radio-television broadcast whether he had
requested that the Canadian government withdraw Gen.
Burns. He gave an answer which was taken by correspon-
dents who questioned him over • the air as a virtual admis-
sion that he had done exactly that.
Reports of reactions of Western diplomats in Cairo
and Jerusalem were to the effect that the West "deplored"
Egypt's efforts to oust Gen. Burns. While the Cairo press
was attacking the UN truce as being "pro-Israel," Big
Three diplomats in both the Egyptian and Israel capitals
were reported convinced that Gen. Burns has been impar-
tial and that he was still the best possible go-between.
U.S. Scouts Welcome Israelis:
Marking the first time in his-
tory that Israel will participate in the World Jamboree of International Roy Scouts, nine
Israeli Boy Scouts including Moslem and Christian youths, arrived in New York City
aboard the S.S. Jerusalem, enroute to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, the site of this year's
international gathering of scouts. The Israeli scouts were welcomed by a delegation of
American Boy Scouts who presented them with an American flag and in turn received an
Israeli flag from the boys from the Near East. The Israeli scouts were selected from
among 5,000 Israeli Boy Scouts to represent their country. The Israelis included a Catho-
lic scout leader from Nazareth and a 1 5-yea r•old Moslem from Tira in the triangle section
of Israel. This photo, taken aboard ship, shows the Americans making the flag presenta-
tion to Zwi Keren (scoutmaster) while the others look on. The American Zionist Council
is coordinating the scouts' trip throughout the states. New York's Acting Mayor Abe
Stark officially received the delegation of nine Boy Scouts from Israel in his office at
City Hall. The khaki-clad youths presented to Mr. Stark a volume tracing the 3,000
years of the City of Jerusalem, Included in the group were Naeem Hassan Abdullah
Mansoor, the 15-year-old Moslem, and Farid Nasri Makhleh, the Nazareth-born Catho-
lic Scout Leader. The presentatiori to Mr. Stark was made by Moshe Ben Jacob, 17, of
Jerusalem. The boys range in ages from 15 to 17 and most of them are native-born Israelis.
Before the City Hall ceremonies, they went on a sight-seeing tour of lower Manhattan and
expressed amazement at the height of the buildings and the bustle of New York's traffic.
See EDITORIAL, Page 4
`Slaylock' Does Us Utile Good
Play's Revival a Depressing Experience
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
STRATFORD, Ontario.—Justice-loving men
and women felt a sense of humiliation here
on June 29, on the opening night of the pre-
sentation of the "Merchant of Venice" by the
Stratford Shakespearean actors; and Jewish
spectators experienced a feeling of being whip-
ped and derided in the play,
We were assured, by members of the cast,
by the director of the play, Dr. Tyrone Guth-
rie; by the manager of the festival, Tom Pat-
terson—in advance of the staging of the play
— that it would not emerge as an anti-Semitic
production : that Frederick Valk would rise to
great heights as "Shylock" and that the Chris-
tians in the play would be exposed for what
they are: a pack of unmerciful rascals. These
predictions did not materialize: the play re-
mains one of the vilest anti-Semitic produc-
tions on record, and Valk, the Czechoslovakian
Jewish refugee actor, genius that he is, plays
the role of a villain who is most effective only
when he keeps shouting "I'll have my bond."
Seldom does a theater witness a demon-
stration as prolonged and as warm as the one
that was given to Valk at the end of the play.
The audience rose and cheered and called for
him again and again; but he disappointed us
deeply: he was just another Shylock—and
what is worse, the most effective speech in the
play—"hath not a Jew eyes . . . if you prick
do we not bleed!'—lost its effeetivenejs 1V."
his German accent. It was difficult to hear
him pronounce it, and he emerged the blood-
thirsty Jew,
The experience at Stratford convinced us
that this play does us little good; that it has
no place in modern society; that it is pure,
unadulterated anti-Semitism and must be
branded as such.
Furthermore : the result of the staging here
—and the "Merchant of Venice" is scheduled
for a total of 30 performances—proves the
justice and the wisdom of the appeals that
were made six months ago by the spokesmen
for the Canadian Jewish Congress that the
play should not have been included in the
Stratford repertoire. It would have been the
better part of valor and the higher sense of
justice if Guthrie and Patterson had acceded
to the advice of the Canadian Jewish leaders.
Perhaps some good will come out of this
development, which subjects Jews to unfair
scrutiny and misrepresentation by the thou-
sands of innocent spectators who will be see-
ing the play.
In the decades during which Jews have
protested against the "Shylock" theme, our
appeals have been directed not against the
theater, but at the schools. We have pleaded
—and our viewpoint has received fair consid-
eration—that if "The Merchant of Venice"
,Continued on Page 21
Aron Wiener, head of the irrigation work department
of the Israel government, arrived here to confer on tech-
nical details of the Johnston water development scheme.
It was _learned in connection with the water develop-
ment scheme that Eric Johnston, President Eisenhower's
special envoy for negotiation of a water agreement in the
Arab-Israel area, has again postponed his visit to the Mid-
dle East, this time until August. State Department sources
attributed the delay to the upcoming Israel elections and
to the continual flare-ups in. tl4e Gaza strip area, Mr. John-
ston last visited the Middle East in December.
Declares Israel-Egyptian Talks Must Succeed
UNITED NATIONS, N. Y., (JTA)—The efforts of Mai. Gen.
E.L.M. Burns, chief of staff of the United Nations Truce Super-
vision Organization in Palestine, to ease Israel-Egypt tensions
along the Gaza frontier through the talks begun at the Gaza
Continued on PAge 2
Educators from 50 Nations
Make International Study of
Bias in History Textbooks
NEW YORK, (JTA) — Educators in more than 50
countries outside the Iron Curtain have been enlisted in
an international survey of history textbooks, the first of
its kind ever undertaken, it was announced by Dr. Howard
E. Wilson, secretary of the Educational Policies Commis-
sion of the National Education Association. The survey is
sponsored by the World Brotherhood organization which
was formed in 1950 to lessen frictions created by national,
religious and cultural differences.
"This study seeks to determine how well history text-
books, used in the elementary and secondary schools, are
fostering wholesome intergroup relations," Dr. Wilson de-
clared. "It is designed with the aim of ultimately improv-
ing the history textbooks used in the classrooms around
the world. In scrutinizing and evaluating the contents of
their textbooks, the participants in the survey are asked
to pay particular attention to such matters as the presenta-
tion and treatment of different religious, cultural, ethnic,
and socio-economic groups in their countries," Dr. Wilson
said.
A similar study of school text books used in American
schools was completed in 1949 by the American Council
on Education under Dr. Wilson's direction. His report was
based on an examination of 267 school texts, 49 college
manuals and 100 of the most widely read children's library
books. The findings of the American survey showed that:
1. Our textbooks fail to cope adequately with problems of
group understanding; 2. That this failure essential to under-
standing of minority problems is not presented to young
pupils; and 4. That too many of our textbooks are biased in
their treatment of minorities.
The American survey resulted in setting up new guide
posts for writing better textbooks used in this country.