Truman, Mrs. Roosevelt and Reutker Ask U.S. Arms
Aid for Israel: 300 Noted Americans Also Issue _Plea
NEW YORK, (JTA)—Former
President Truman, Mrs. Elea-
nor Roosevelt and Walter Reu-
ther, vice- president of the
American Federation of Labor-
Congress of Industrial Organ-
izations, issued a joint plea for
an immediate United States
treaty with Israel and any Arab
state that wanted it, guaran-
teeing their borders against ag-
gression, and for immediate
U.S. supply of defensive arms
to Israel to offset Communist
arms shipments to Egypt.
The statement was issued by
Mrs. Roosevelt at her home
here and carried her signature
and that of Mr. Truman. Mr.
Reuther has approved the
statement by telephone and will
sign it as soon as it reaches
him by mail. Mrs. Roosevelt
said the statement was issued
in behalf of the three signa-
tories as non-Jewish Americans
interested in preserving t h e
peace of the Middle East, and
not in behalf of any organiza-
tion.
The statement called for im-
mediate incorporation of the
guarantees of " t h e Tripartite
Declaration of 1950 into treaties
"offered on equal terms to Is-
rael and the Arab lands. Be-
cause of Soviet intervention,"
it continued, "such treaties can
no longer be conditioned on
either acceptance by both sides
or by mutual agreement in re-
gard to border changes, since
conditions would, if imposed,
only delay the enactment of
treaties that are essential to
maintaining peace in this area."
Insisting that the United
States "must counteract every
effort by the Soviet Union to
upset the present precarious
balance of power" in the Mid-
dle East, the joint statement
added: "This requires that the
United States should now pro-
vide the defensive arms needed
by Israel to protect itself
against any aggression made
possible or incited by the intro-
duction of Communist arms."
It also urged the United
States to "make clear that any
change in the status quo (in
the Middle East) by force will
Purely Commentary
Harry S. Truman's Memoirs on Zionism
When Harry S. Truman left the • White House, we acclaimed
him as "another Cyrus" who assisted in the Return of the People
Israel to the Land Israel, as prophesied by our Sages, in the
Holy Scriptures Mr. Truman loves to quote. Now we read, in
his Memoirs, that he was "disturbed" and "annoyed" by "ex-
treme Zionist leaders." Needless to say, it is our turn to be dis-
turbed.
It would have been forgivable if the former President had
stated' that at the outset he was annoyed by Jewish appeals but
that later he recognized the justice of their requests, as indeed
he had. Isn't that what actually happened: that he, like many
others in public positions, was not too gracious in his receptions
to Zionist leaders? And, didn't he come through admirably with
a defiance of those in the State Department who always op-
posed assistance to Israel?
But he doesn't say it that way in his Memoirs. The man
whom we pictured as a Cyrus (he wrote to a Detroiter after-
wards that he was grateful for the sentiments of this Commen-
tator in likening him to the hero of Israel's First Return) ; who,
in the first volume of his Memoirs excoriated the anti-Zionist
"striped pants boys" of the State Department, now writes that
"most Americans of Jewish faith .. , are and always havebeen
Americans first and foremost." We take exception to the term
most. Mr. Truman should have said ALL. The issue of dual
allegiance, raised by a handful of unduly frightened, self-hating
Jews and by a few misguided Christians, adds fuel to a fire
raging around Israel's kinsmen in this country. On this score,
Mr. Truman's Memoirs are not helping the situation.
On Feb. 21, 1949, your Commentator headed a delegation of
English-Jewish newspaper editors who met with Mr. Truman
at the White House. The President greeted us with the state-
ment that some Jews doubted his interest in the Jewish cause,
but that he always was Israel's friend and that he was happy
to have played a part in the establishment of the Jewish State.
We believed him then. We believe now that he meant what he
said. But in his Memoirs he was somewhat careless. He emerged
less the courageous HST whom we admired so much, but a man
who suddenly relived again "annoyance" from "extreme Zionist
leaders."
What a crime! That Jews who sought the rescue of fellow-
humans should have been "extreme" in their cries for help. Who,
more than Harry Truman, has ever acted an "extreme" role
when fighting a cause of justice? Why begrudge the Zionists
their success in behalf of a surviving remnant of Jewry?
We are shocked by the former President vacillation. We are
fighting hard against throwing another idol on the junk pile.
.
*
Truman, Reuther and Mrs. Roosevelt to the Rescue
A few days ago, Mr. Truman, together with Mrs. Franklin
D. Roosevelt, issued a statement urging that Israel be supplied
with defensive arms in order that a balance be kept in that
area as a deterrent to war. Walter Reuther concurred in their
appeal. Their plea is most welcome in this hour of real danger
to world peace. That's the position to be taken today by all
men and women who value the American principle of fair play.
A small group of people—the only safe ally of the western
nations in the Middle East—is fighting for its life, and heartless
people are adding fuel to purgatorial fires that are being kindled
in an effort to roast little Israel.
Now we shall see what happens to the new attempts to
eliminate the Middle East situation from political discussions.
The only way to protect the peace of the Middle East is to talk
about it. It should be discussed on a non-partisan basis, but it
must not be hushed up. Once public opinion is silenced, we shall
see threats to other major issues. Next, we may be asked- 2-be-
cause it involves foreign considerations—to stop talking about
the infamous McCarran-Walter Act, whose revision is in some
measure—all-too-limited, to be sure—advocated by President
Eisenhower himself.
A word of admonition to the hesitant and the frightened
people who are afraid to speak up for liberty the moment Mr.
Dulles asks for silence on the Arab-Israel issue: a great Amer-
ican once admonished us that "eternal vigilance is the price of
liberty." Remember it, and in being eternally vigilant do not
hesitate to speak up for a just cause.
*
*
*
`Put Not Your Trust in Princes ...
Disillusionment with the actions of men in public office
causes us to • find consolation in the wisdom of our Sages. "Put
not your trust in princes," is the warning in Psalm cxlvi, and
we gain confidence when we read on in that Psalm: "Happy
is he . . . whose hope is in the Lord his God .. . Who secureth
justice for the oppressed . . . "
We turn also to Psalm cxviii: "It is better to take refuge in
not be recognized or tolerated.
It rejected the idea of "gnaw-
ing" at or "rolling back" the
borders of Israel, underscoring
that no part of its present ter-
ritory was ever part of Egypt
or Jordan. Additionally, it de-
clared that Israel "cannot eco-
nomically or politically afford
to admit more than a small
number" of Arab refugees and
pointed out that there are more
than enough suitable areas for
the resettlement of the Arab
refugees in the Middle East,
stressing the United States de=-
dared willingness to assist fi-
nancially such a program.
More than 300 noted Amer-
icans, Jews and non-Jews, ad-
dressed an appeal to the
Truman's Disappointing 'Ex-
treme Zionist Leaders' Reference B y Phili p
The 13i-Partisan' Political
Dilemma . . . Koestler's Unreal- Slomovitz
istic Anti-Jewishness.
the Lord than to trust in princes .. . The Lord is my strength
and song, and He is become my deliverance .. I shall not die,
but live, and recount the works of the Lord . .. "
This is to say: we have faith. The hours of decision are ap-
proaching, and we are firm in our confidence that the combined
forces of Israel's enemies will perish under the strength of the
just cause of a small people that is defending its last ramparts.
Am Israel hai—the People Israel lives—is not an empty phrase.
We dare resort to augury: within weeks, the sun will shine again
upon Israel's fortunes on the international arena. This is a pre-
diction based on the faith that justice and fair play can not be
trampled in the dust, whether it is by Khrushchev or Nasser.
*
*
Arthur Koestler's Unrealistic Anti-Jewishness
In his study of the temperature chart on which the growing
power of homo sapiens is represented over his enviorment, in his
newest book "The Trail of the Dinosaur and Other Essays,"
published by Macmillan (60 5th, NY 11), Arthur Koestler asserts
his own guess and hope of "the spon-w7477 ,z-,,----,-:zwszm
taneous emergence of a new type
faith which satisfied the 'great sober
thirst' of man's spirit . . . which rele-k
gates reason to its proper humble place
yet without contradicting it • . . The:„
indignation of one's Catholic, Protes-/
tant, Jewish and Moslem friends mu-
tually cancel out Every culture and
every age did have its faith 'cut to
measure,' and did restate the perennial
content of all religions on its own level,
and in its own language and sym-
bols . . ."
Tracing the trail of the dinosaur,
raising the question whether the new
Koestler
nuclear and bacteriological weapons will lead homo sapiens to go
the way of the dinosaur "or mutate toward a stabler future,"
Mr. Koestler writes: "Once we hoped for Utopia, now, in a
chastened mood, we can at best hope for a reprieve; pray for
time and play for time; fbr had the dinosaur learned the art of
prayer, the only sensible petition for him would have been to
go down on his scaly knees and beg 'Lord, give me another
chance.' "
This and most of the other essays in the new Koestler book
will hold the reader's attention by the excellence of style of this
distinguished writer. Once again, however, he has uttered senti-
ments about Jews and Judaism that will be questioned, chal-
lenged and condemned. It is his essay "Judah at the Crossroads"
to which we take exception. He reiterates in it the views Pre
expressed in "Promise and Fulfillment" and "Thieves in the
Night," and he elaborates upon them.
Briefly, his idea is that the established Jewish State endS
the "Jewish problem," that Jews outside Israel should assimilate
completely and give up their identity, that American Jews
should eliminate their "separateness as a religion and social com-
munity."
Koesler, the thoroughly assimilated Jew, advocates com-
plete abandonment of their Jewishness by Jews. Here is his
prescription: "The only alternative to the perpetuation of Jewish
separateness for that nondescript majority who have outgrown
Jewish nationalism and the Jewish religion, is to renounce both,
and allow themselves to be socially and culturally absorbed by
their environment. All that I have said before leads up to this
harsh but inescapable conclusion."
The new material in his book contains the complete text of
the interview with him published in the London Jewish Chron-
icle, in which he was accused of extreme bias. "Assimilation . .
solves nothing," is his quotation from an attack upon him by the
president of the Ang1O-Jewish Association.
The reader of this essay will be shocked by its conclusions
and prescriptions. Mr. Koestler speaks as if the Christian world
were ready to embrace the Jews — an idea that is in itself
questionable; but his proposal that Jews disappear—just because
there already is an Israel to perpetuate a small remnant of Jewry
—is fantastic. The unreasonableness, coupled with the unreality,
of Koestler's approaches, will amaze and shock his readers.
In view of the latest developments, we wonder whether
Arthur Koestler is prepared to revise his idea. Israel is not
secure nor 'self-sufficient. Israel is in danger. The small state,
whose creation appears to have satisfied his earlier Zionist de-
votions, is threatened with war, and only Jewish kinsmen can
help her. Would Koestler abandon Israel to the Arab and Com-
munist wolves? Would he forsake Israel to the oil interests? If
he' persists in his views, he will keep us in a state of amazement.
We find it difficult to call him an anti-Semite, but we certainly
view his dinosauric anti-Jewishness as a fantastic puzzle. How
can a realistic person be so blind to established facts?
"
U. S. Government pointing
out that Israel is in danger
because of "lavish supplies of
weapons of destruction"
given by Communists coun-
tries to Egypt, and asking for
American arms for Israel to
be given immediately —"be-
fore it is too late." The ap-
peal, made public by the
American Christian Palestine
Committee, also urges the
conclusion of an American
security pact with "our sister
democracy of Israel."
"We cannot accept the view
held by some of our British
friends that war can be fore-
stalled or prevented by apply-
ing pressures to Israel to yield
territory to the Arab states,"
the appeal says. "We- recall the
historic failure of the Munich
Conference to avert World War
II by forcing democratic Czech-
oslovakia to surrender its terri-
tories to Nazi Germany. The
appetite of aggressors feeds
upon appeasement.
"As a first step in restoring
equilibrium and creating a
more favorable climate of sta-
bility and peace in the Middle
East, which - has been deeply
disturbed by the supply of
Communist arms to Egypt, we
appeal to our Government to
make available to Israel with-
out delay the legitimate means
for its self-defense. We also
urge our Government to con-
clude as soon as possible secur-
ity treaties with Israel and
those of her neighbors who de-
sire peace, guaranteeing their
present frontiers against alter-
ation by force. Such measures
would clear the way for the
Arab states and Israel to nego-
tiate a peace fair to all.
"We believe that these posi-
tive actions by the United
States Government will be wel-
comed by the overwhelming
majority of the American peo-
ple. In the name of justice,
humanity, and America's good
name among the nations, we
urge our. Govelnment to act
firmly before it is too late."
Announce Agenda for
Federation Meeting
Judge Theodore Levin will
deliver the presidential report
at the Jewish Welfare •Federa-
tion's 30th annual meeting, 8
p.m., next
Tuesday, at the
Esther Berman
Branch of the
„United Hebrew
Schools.
The meet-
ing's a g enda
includes elect-
ing nine mem-
bers-at-large to
Federation's
board of gov-
ernor s, and
voting on an
Judge Levin air Andment to
Federation's by-laws. The nom-
inees for elected places on the
board of governors are: Irving
W. Blumberg, Jacob A. Citrin,
Samuel Frankel, Mrs. Harry L.
Jones, Theodore Levin, Nathan
Silverman, Abraham Srere,
Mrs. Leonard H. Weiner and
Max J. Zivian.
The Fred M. Butzel memo-
rial award for outstanding lead-
ership in communal service will
be presented at the meeting.
Members of the Women's Di-
vision will present a musical
review of Detroit Jewish life.
Participating will be Mesdames
Leonard W. Fox, director and
author, Robert Alpern, Gerald
Aptekar, Harry B. Aronow,
Bernard M. Feldnian, Lewis S.
Grossman, Eugene Hirsch, Wil-
liam Lansky, 'Leon H. Lewis,
Albert Newman, Donald S.
Schiller, Major A. Siegel and
Morton Zuckerman. Mrs. Leon-
ard Birndorf is pianist.
,
Detroit Jewish News
Friday, February 3, 1956
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