Showing His True Face
THE JEWISH NEWS.
Incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951
Member American Association of 'English-Jewish Newspapers. Michigan Press Association, National Editorial
Association.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17100 West Seven Mile Road. Detroit 35. Mich.,
YE. 8-9364. Subscription $5 a year Foreign $6.
Entered as second class matter Aug. 6. 1942, at Post Office, Detroit, Mich., under Act of March 3, 1879
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
SIDNEY SHMARAK
FRANK SIMONS
Editor and Publisher
Advertising Manager
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the fourth day of Via, 5716, the following Scriptural selections will be
read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Shofetim, Deut. 16:18-21:9. Prophetical portion, Is. 51:12-52:12.
Licht Benshen, Friday, Aug. 10, 7:21 p.m.
VOL. XXIX. No. 23
August 10, 1956
Page Four
The Suez Crisis: A Challenge to Mankind
A column by Joseph and Stewart Alsop,
containing comments on the existing Egyp-
tian situation, included this telling para-
graph:
"If Nasser now triumphantly defies the
power of Britain and America, they will
conclude that Israel is next on the list.
The Israeli may then take 'Preventive ac-
tion,' which would spark a Middle Eastern
or even a general war."
The Alsops here approached one of the
most serious international problems: If
Nasser succeeds in bullying the great
powers, he will then launch his attack
on his smaller neighbors. With Russia
playing a demoniacal role in the world
crisis, anything is possible.
*
*
*
So far, so true. But the implied warn-
ing that Israel may start a war, that
"preventive action" may emanate from
the small state that is kept as if in a vise
and must be on guard lest it be destroyed
and its 1,700,000 people massacred, is an
un List utterance.
One would have imagined that as a
result of the lesson taught the democratic
world by Dictator Nasser's extortionist
and blackmail tactics, that the true cul-
prits would be watched and that their
victims would be protected. But, no, it
is much easier to be suspicious of the little
scapegoat Israel; it is safer, as in the in-
stance of the articles by Hal Tribble in
the Detroit Free P-ress to glorify men like
Henry A. Byroade, whose encouragement
to Nasser makes them allies in the guilt
of the turn that world events have taken.
The plan now is to convene the world
powers to arrange for the internationali-
zation of the Suez Canal. But it has been
stated by Nasser himself—in his semi-con-
ciliatory gesture—that while the waters
of the Suez will be freed for passage of
the vessels of all nations, Israel will be
excluded. If this is justice, then the entire
Political Charlatans
Only two weeks ago, a distinguished
Reform Rabbi, who was for many years a
leader in the American Council for Juda-
ism, quit the ranks of this destructive
movement and charged it with resorting
to the same political tactics it was con-
demning.
But Rabbi Irving F. Reihert's repudi-
ation, and the earlier reproaches of other
rabbis, have not deterred this destructive
group from establishing a propaganda
bureau at the Democratic National Con-
vention in order to instigate delegates
against legitimate appeals that may be
made in defense of embattled Israel.
The outrageous acts of the Council for
Judaism emerge all the more destructive
as a result of the Council Judaists' attempt
to equate Zionists with the Arabs. It is
like comparing a murderer with the mur-
dered in the present situation in the Middle
East where Israelis are threatened with
total destruction by unwisely misled neigh-
boring states. And, in this country, this
discredited group of Jews is poisoning the
minds of fellow-Americans against their
own kinsmen.
Fortunately, the non-Jews understand
the dastardliness of actions by panicky,
self-hating Jews, who are ,so. blinded by
their prejudices that they can not act in
true American fashion of fair play in be-
half of a people that is fighting for its
very existence. Americans can not and
will not yield to appeals to hatred and
self-hatred. We predict that both, the
Democratic and Republican parties, will
speak nobly in defense of Israel and will
go on record, in their party platforms, in
support of little Israel's struggle for sur-
vival against the onslaught of the Arab
nations and their cohorts.
rumpus over the Suez Canal's interna-
tionalization by Egypt is a farce.
If the Suez Canal solution is to be based
on a sell-out of even a single element, it
will be to the discredit of the democratic
nations—our own included.
If Jews are to be excluded from the
Suez now, why take it for granted that
Christians won't be persecuted by the
Egyptians tomorrow—as Christians have
been persecuted by Mohammedans in the
past?
If Israelis are to be banned from the
seas now, how certain are Britain and
France and the United States and Japan—
all the nations of the world'—that one
or all of them won't be the victims of a
conspiracy and of prejudice tomorrow?
The injustice of the "international" ap-
proach to the issue became evident when
Lord John Hope, British Joint Foreign
Under Secretary, replying to questions
raised by members of Parliament, stated
that the Suez Canal question is "not re-
lated" to the Israeli-Arab problem.
Out of power. members of the Labor
Party interceded in Israel's behalf, but
the party in power, under Sir Anthony
Eden, remains indifferent to the injustice
that is marked by inconsistency. While
the powers are uttering lip service in sup-
port of a program of freedom of the seas
and free passage of all vessels through
the Suez, they acquiesce to Egypt's deter-
mination to make an exception of Israel.
The United Nations, before whom the
complaint has been lodged against Egypt's
blockade of Israel shipping through the
Suez, has failed to act and has emerged
inept and impotent in handling the chal-
lenge. Now the Big 3—including the
United States—appear to be submitting
to blackmail in their submission to a policy
of unfairness towards Israel.
If there will be continued discrimina-
tion against Israel by Egypt, in the event
of an international agreement on free-
dom of the use of the Canal by the
nations of the world, it will mean the
condoning of a crime and of prejudice.
The condoning of such prejudice must be
viewed as worse than the prejudice
itself.
What an international disgrace this is!
* * *
Thus, we could not possibly concur
in the optimism of many of our people
who believed that the Suez Canal de-
velopments will lead to protection for
Israel. It is yet to be proven that Israel's
position will be fully recognized by the
world's powers as a result of the shocking
outbursts of the Egyptian president whom
France's Premier Guy Mollet has likened
to a would-be-dictator who is imitating
Hitler.
There is a lot of wishful thinking, such
as the construction of a competing canal
from Akaba to the Mediterranean. True:
Theodor Herzl foresaw the possibility of
a new route to India, and predicted that
trouble with Egypt was inevitable in the
course of time. But this can not be inter-
preted as meaning that Israel—"the mod-
ern Jewish Palestine" of which Herzl
spoke—would suddenly emerge as a victor
for justice in a world that is groping in
darkness.
The crisis created for the entire world
by the Suez Canal issue challenges man-
kind to come to terms in matters involving
East-West conflicts. It is not Egypt alone
that is involved, but Russia as well. Per-
haps it should be said "Russia primarily."
If the rest of the world, especially Israel,
is not to become a scapegoat in a tragic
battle for power, the democratic leaders
must act wisely and firmly in reaching
solutiOns to nullify the Nasser dictatorship
and to avert a world conflict. Else, we
may well begin to weep over the fate of
our children.
Nazi Brutalities Re-Evaluated
Tenenbaum's 'Race and Reich'
Joseph Tenenbaum, in "Race and Reich: The Story of an
Epoch" (published by Twayne, 31 Union Sq., W., N.Y. 3)-, makes
a thorough study of 10 years of Nazism and outlines the Hitlerite
fight on religion, the development of
the German race theory, the Fuehrer's
plan for the "final solution" of the
Jewish problem—the aim to extermi-
nate our people.
It is not a pleasant story, but it is
factual and it serves again as a warning
against the possible recurrence of the
horrors that. were perpetrated by the
beasts described in this volume.
Dr. Tenenbaum calls attention not
only to the anti-Jewish program of
the Nazis, but also to their aim at
destroying the Gypsy "race." He re-
views the deportations, the tragedies
of the concentration camps, and offers
the documents of Hitler's last testa-
ment to illustrate the aims of the Nazi
Dr. Tenenbaum
leader's destructive mind.
Sterilization, the mass massacres as well as the murders in
the gas chambers, Streicher's shocking proposals, the mean
Madagascar plan and other schemes are recalled by Dr. Tenen-
baum, who has made a study dating back many years of the
tyrannical forces that ruled Europe for a decade.
Richly annotated, "Race and Reich" has a valuable section
containing the names of "The Reich Leadership." It should serve
as a guide in detecting names of people who turned murderers.
`Ten Years of Holiday'
Joan Comay's 'Land of the
Bible' Included in Fine Book
Clifton Fadiman, in an introduction to "Ten Years of Holiday
—Selected by the Editors of Holiday Magazine," goes into ecstasy
over the features from Holiday incorporated in this impressive
work, published by Simon and Schuster (630 5th, N.Y. 20). There
is a better than even chance that readers of this compilation
will concur in his enthusiastic appraisal of the book.
Referring to the many lands and peoples described in the
essays included in this book, Mr.-Fadiman writes: "The rest of
the world is no theater; we Americans are no audience. All of
us are in the play together and if there are any critics they can
only be posterity. All the more reason for us to understand each
other's roles and even learn by heart each other's cue lines. To
that end such books as Ten Years of Holiday can make their
contribution."
To prove his point, the reader can turn to Irwin Shaw's
"Paris! Paris!", Budd Schulberg's "Florida's Gold Coast"; Silas
Spitzer's "Everybody Loves Spaghetti"—a charming Italian pasta
story; Arthur Miller's "The American Theater"; and Mr. Fadi-
man's "On Being Fifty," and the score of other good essays.
We are especially intrigued by the inclusion in this volume
of "Land of the Bible" by Joan Comay, the wife of the Israeli
Ambassador to Canada, Michael Comay.
Those who have read .Mrs. Comay's fine piece when it first
appeared in the February 1955 Holiday will recall the charm of
her style, the nostalgia that marked her descriptions of the land
she had adopted as her own, the understanding she showed in
describing Israel's position in the world today.
She proposes "the Bible open on his lap" for Jew or Christian
who travels "around Our small Country," and she assures that
it is "an enthralling experience."
Biblical history is entwined here with analyses of current
conditions, with descriptions of the interesting elements who
make up the State of Israel.
"All around the Bedouins, science is bringing the barren
land to heel, and the nomad tribes are being encouraged to
settle down gradually as tillers of the soil," Mrs. Comay tells
in her story of Bible-Land.
This 15-page article, together with the 40 others in this
book, make "Ten Years of Holiday" a truly interesting, instructive
and entertaining collection by very able writers.