Friday, June 15, I956—THE DETROIT JEWISH NE
Purely Commentary
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Egyptian Newspaperman's Childish Game
- For all-too-brief a period, there was excitement in liberal
ranks. The visit in Israel of Ibrahim Izzat, the Egyptian news-
paperman, as guest of the Israel government, was expected to
establish an interchange of communication between the • two
neighboring countries. Israel's Prime Minister Ben-Gurion took
the passing phase of neighborliness and cordiality seriously,
and he followed it up with an assertion that he is ready to
discuss peace terms with Egypt's Premier Nasser — even by
personally going to Cairo for that purpose. But Izzat seems to
be playing a childish game. Based on rumors, he wrote an
article in which he charged that 98 per cent of the Arabs in
Israel "live in subhuman conditions."
It is no wonder, therefore, that the Israelis were angered
by his misrepresentation of facts. As one instance in refutation
of Izzat's charge, Israelis point out that only last week 25 young
Arab villagers, ranging in ages from 17 to 19, completed a six-
week course in irrigation methods, sponsored by the Israel
Ministry of Agriculture's department for the development of
Arab villages. The course was given at the Hadassah Rural
Vocational Training Center at Kfar Vitkin, at a Youth Aliyah
camp near the school. The youths returned to their villages to
teach other Arab farmers the methods they had learned.
Other instances of concern shown in the status of the Arabs,
and urgent steps taken to improve the lot of the Moslem minority
in Israel, are in evidence very often, and the libels published
by Izzat are shocking examples of a policy aimed at undermining
the peace of the Middle East.
When it first became known that the Egyptian newspaper-
man visited Israel "with the approval of both sides," the New
York Times wrote an enthusiastic editorial on "Israel's peace
move" and stated with reference to Izzat:
"He is able to tell (the Egyptians) that, contrary to their
propaganda, Israel does not want war and that peace is the
dream of all Israelis, from the Premier down. He is also able
to tell them, again contrary to their propaganda, that Israel
is not falling apart and is actually making great economic and
industrial progress. Thus the first breach in the curtain set-up
by the Arabs against Israel has let some fresh air into a
stifling atmosphere, and the visiting newspaper man, Ibrahim
Izzat, and his magazine, Rosa el Youssef, deserve due credit for
this. May others follow their example."
But Izzat and his Cairo bosses apparently had in view the
capitalizing on negative issues as a result of his 11-day tour- of
Israel. In a revealing wireless report to the New York Herald
Tribune, Arch Parsons Jr. stated that the fact of Izzat's visit "is
almost lost in discussions of these other issues arising from his
visit: 1. What was the . purpose of his expedition? 2. What effect
has it had on Arab-Israeli relations, if any? 3. How much value
would there be in repeating this type of 'contact between Israel
and its Arab neighbors?
Mr. Parsons' expose of Izzat's claiits follows in part:
As to the first question, the title of the first article Mr.
Izzat wrote for his Cairo newspaper, "Rose el Youssef,"
after he left Israel was "I Spied on the Enemy Country."
In an introduction, his editor wrote:
"The journalist has been termed 'the. people's spy.'
There are times in which the journalist is called upon to turn
spy for the benefit of his people. I refer to times of war.
Ibrahim Izzat has. brought us information from the enemy
country. .'. When we get acquainted with the enemy's real
face, we will know how to defeat him."
In the article, Mr. Izzat maintains that he never told
Israeli authorities his "true identity"—he traveled through
Israel as "George Ibrahim Harib, Brazilian journalist of
Arab descent"—and that the authorities never learned of it.
If by this statement Mr. Izzat meant that the authorities
did not know he was an Egyptian, he' was misled. The gov-
ernment here knew perfectly well who he was. His "visit
had been cleared personally by Foreign Minister Moshe
Sharett. Foreign Ministry representatives who accompanied
him during his tour spoke of him to other correspondents
who knew him, including this one.
If he meant that the Israeli government did not realize
that he came here as a "spy," this possibility obviously had
not been ruled out. He reported that he got to see whatever
he wanted to, but he also wrote that he was met at the
airport upon his arrival by the airport director and an
Israeli Foreign Ministry official, that the driver of the car
put at his disposal slept every night in the hotel room next
to his, that his luggage underwent a "rigorous search" and
that he was dogged at every stop during his visit by a
Foreign Ministry representative.
Perhaps one should note a distinction between a "people's
spy" and a government agent. There is little doubt here that
Mr. Izzat was not the latter. He himself said in a press
interview after he returned to Cain that Prime Minister
Lt. Col. Gamal Abdel Nasser had been surprised when he
informed the Egyptian leader of his trip.
The question. of Mr. Izzat's role in ISrael is important
because his Cairo press interview had created pleasant sur-
prise in Israel, and hope was expressed that perhaps some-
thing new and good was in the wind. But his first articles
dispatched much of that feeling. His favorable judgments—
"The man in the street in Israel does not want war"—were
considered objective. Critical ones."Israel women are mor-
-- ally degenerate"—created anger.
It is fortunate that Mr. Parsons was in a position to call
Izzat's bluff. But the Egyptians meanwhile are being misled, and
instead of witnessing the paving of a road to peace, we are now
.an audience at a farce in which those who seek peace are
maligned and the war-mongers are spouting falsehoods.
This discouraging development is unfortunate from many
points of view. A gesture in support of Israel appeals for peace
would go a long way in setting at ease those who live in
constant fear of war on Israel's borders. Instead, tensions are
permitted to rise—at the UN, as evidenced by the unfortunate
scrapping of a peace clause in the latest resolution to be
adopted by the Security Council; in Cairo, where students rioted
in protest against a music book that contains the "Hatikvah"; at
Bandung, where Israelis were barred from a students' conference
—and in Israel, where, instead of the freedom of striving for
the entire area's cultural and economic development, the people
must gird for the defense of their lives and property!
Who is to blame? Who else if not the world powers whose
statesmen are dominated by fear and whose panic makes them
ridiculously helpless - in a situation that calls for firm steps to
Hundreds of Detroit Unai Brith
Assist in Planning for District 6 Conclave
Local Bnai Brith committees
are actively carrying out their
assignments for the 88th an-
nual convention of District
Grand Lodge No. 6 of Bnai
Brith, to be held in Detroit
at the Sheraton Cadillac Hotel,
June 30 through July 3. There
will be delegates and digni-
taries from eight mid-western
states and four Canadian prov-
inces. Women's District Grand
Lodge No. 6 will hold its 24th
annual convention at the same
time.
In Detroit there are more
than 15,000 Bnai Brith men
and women in 41 lodges and
chapters. Detroiter Sidney J.
Karbel is president of Dis-
trict Grand Lodge No. 6.
Dr. Lawrence I. Yaffa, chair-
man of the district convention
committee, states that a num-
ber of committees have been
working for several months
preparing for the coming con-
vention.
The registration of delegates
will be in charge of a commit-
tee headed by Hy Crystal, as-
sistant executive secretary of
District Grand Lodge No. 6,
with Kurt Ellenbogen as co-
chairman. The welcoming com-
mittee is co-chairmened by
Jack Caminker and Louis E.
Labor Zionists
Honor Zuckerman
at June 22 Elient
- The Labor Zionist movement
in Detroit is sponsoring a fare-
well gathering, Friday evening,
June 22 at the Labor Zionist
Institute, for Baruch Zucker-
man, veteran leader of the
movement, on the - occasion of
his departure from America for
permanent settlement in Israel.
Active in the national leader-
ship of Labor Zionism for half
vs- * '''''''''''''' century, Mr.
Zuckerman has
been a fre-
quent visitor to
Detroit.
Born in a
small town in
the province of
Vilna, Mr.
uckerman
emigrated t o
America in his
early teens and
became ac-
tively associ-
ated with the
Zion.
Poale
Zuckerman party a t the
age of 17. He was the sixteenth
person to join the organization
before even Borochov or Syrkin
arrived in America. He was one
of the moving figures, together
with Justice Louis Brandeis and
Pinchas Ruttenberg, in the
founding of the American Jew-
ish Congress in 1917. In 1932
he went to .Palestine. He trav-
elled to South Africa, Europe
and England in the interest of
the World Jewish Congress and
the Keren Hayesod (Palestine
Foundation Fund).
Mr. Zuckerman was elected
to the executive committee of
the World Jewish Congress and
Vice President of the Zionist
Actions Committee. In 1938 he
returned to America. In 1946 he
was elected a member of the
Executive of the Jewish Agency
until the 24th Zionist Congress.
His wife is Nina Zuckerman,
one of the founders of the Pio-
neer Women's Organization and
a member of its national board.
They have two daughters, Dr.
Aviva and Naomi Zuckerman,
both living and working in
Israel.
The Zuckermans will take up
permanent residence in Jeru-
salem
The arrangements committee
for the function, representative
of all divisions of LZOA, in-
cludes Morris L. Schaver, Mor-
ris Lieberman, Harry Schumer,
David Sislin and Harold Berke
and Mesdames Gerson I. Berris
and Harold.NoVeck.
•
DR. LAWRENCE I. YAFFA
Barden. Transportation commit-
tee chairman is Alfred Lakin.
Road signs will be placed on
all principal highways under
the chairmanship of Albert
Tucker. Window displays in
downtown stores are handled
by a committee under the
chairmanship of Louis Russ-
man. Harry Pearson heads the
Electric Menorah committee. A
huge menorah will be erected
on the Michigan Avenue side
of the old City Hall. Karl C.
Berg is in charge of convention
exhibits.
Luncheon seating for three
noon-day sessions will be han-
dled by Milton M. Weinstein.
Banquet seating, July 3, is di-
rected by Victor Bloomfield,
chairman. Rabbis for all ses-
sions, luncheons, banquet, me-
morial services and daily min-
yan are being - enlisted by Al-
fred H. Bounin.
Other convention chairmen
include:
Page boys, Henry Wald;, dai-
ly newspaper, managing editor,
James N. Laker, editor, Fred
Serkow; printed banquet pro-
gram, Harry Katz; stenographic
help, Lawrence Kopel; type-
writers, Leo Sobel.
Entertainment, Micky Woolf;
refreshments, Max Sossin;
prizes, Samuel G. Bank; gift
shop, Harry Weinberger; flow-
ers, Al Cooper; gift baskets,
Oscar Bank; baby sitters, Harry
Mirvis; delegates' wives enter-
tainment, Mrs. Lawrence I.
Yaffa; list of restaurants, Leon-
ard Gurwin.
Delegates badges, Leo Sobel;
souvenirs, Harry Weinberger;
photography, Merwin J. Solo-
mon; newspaper, radio and tel-
evision publicity, Rudolph Mey-
ersohn.
In addition to the committee
chairmen named above several
hundred Bnai Brith members
representing the 22 local lodges
.are working diligently on these
convention committees through
the Greater Detroit Bnai Brith
Council.
MINIF04 ■ 1.0i1.0•11M11.1=11143111111111
Boris Smolar's
'Between You
and Me'
...
(Copyright 1956,
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
Behind The Scenes:
What is the game Moscow is playing with regard to the
Arab-Israel issue? . . . Why did the Soviet delegate at the United
Nations Security. Council suddenly vote for elimination from the
British resolution of the phrase which spoke of a peaceful Arab-
Israel settlement "on a mutually acceptable basis?" . . . The
phrase was exactly the same as one in the communique issued
by Bulganin, Khrushchev and Eden during the Soviet leaders'
recent visit to London. ... Has anything changed in the Soviet
policy on the Middle East since the return of the two top Soviet
leaders to Moscow? . . . The answer to all these questions lies
in something that took place behind - the scenes at the United
Nations a week before the British -resolution was presented to
the Security Council . . . Soviet delegate Arkady Sobolev pri-
vately approached British delegate Sir Pierson Dixon and made
him an offer. . . . He invited Britain, United States and France
to join him in presenting a four-power resolution to the Council.
... Britain was prepared to accept the offer, France was strongly
tempted, but the United States opposed it. . . . Washington felt
that the time was not ripe to convert the "Big Three" into a
"Big Four" and to permit the Soviets to take the initiative at
the UN on a possible settlement of the Arab-Israel problem. . • .
The result was that Moscow decided to "get even" with the West
and to side with the Arabs against any mention of a "mutually
acceptable" peace. . . In United Nations circles the feeling
exists that had the Big Four been in the position of jointly
sponsoring the peace plea, Mr. Sobolev would have had no
opportunity to abandon, even temporarily, the line to which
Bulganin and Khrushchev committed themselves in London. . . .
Some observers at the United Nations consider that the West
lost a golden opportunity to drive a wedge between Moscow and
the Arab world by refusing to join Moscow in a four-power
move on the Arab-Israel issue.
.
* * *
Soviet Juggling:
What was the resolution which the Soviets considered offer-
ing Britain, United States and France for sponsorship? . . . Ac-
cording to those who are acquainted with the ideas proposed by
Sobolev to the British delegation, the resolution would have
called upon the Arabs and Israel to abide more strictly by the
armistice and to Cooperate fully with UN Secretary General Dag
Hammarskjold. . . . It would also have put the Security Council
on record as stating that full observance of the armistice was'
not an end in itself--as the Arabs consider it—but preliminary to
a general peace. . Moreover, the Soviet draft would have
called upon the Arabs and Israel to make continued efforts for
over-all peace. . . . Mr. Hammarskjold would have been author-
ized to give such furthur assistance to that end as might be
required. . .. All this is what the Arabs are bitterly opposing
at the present moment. . . Whether_ they would have been in a
position to oppose it when pressured jointly by the Soviets and
the Western Powers is difficult to say. . . By rejecting Sovolev's
offer, the "Big Three" have given the Soviet Union an oppor-
tunity not only to escape Arab ire, but to pose again as their
champion. . . . At any rate, from the Soviet move at the Security
Council a picture emerged showing that Moscow is involved in a
juggling operation on the Arab-Israel issue. . . The Kremlin
apparently wants to avoid a full-scale shooting war between the
Arab countries and Israel, lest such shooting draw British and
American troops into an area on the southern border of the
Soviet Union. . . . On the other hand, Moscow wants to maintain
close working relations with the Arab states which it does not
_want_i
who_